Vice
President of Engineering
Location: Nairobi - Kenya
Reports to: President
About Bridge International
With
that guiding insight, Bridge International developed a strategy that would
enable it to launch a large-scale network of high-quality, ultra low-cost,
for-profit primary schools.
Operating
a network of schools supported by a strong central headquarters gives Bridge
International the scale, experience, and capacity to invest in systems of
management, support, training, and innovation that allows individual schools to
dramatically increase their effectiveness.
Using
this model, Bridge International is able to profitably deliver high-quality
education for $4 per child per month. This ensures that its academies
will continue to successfully serve its communities as long as parents value
the educational service provided.
The
first Bridge International Academy launched successfully in Kenya in 2009 and
over 70 academies are operating in Kenya today. Through rapid and
strategic expansion, Bridge International will provide a quality education to
over a million students in the coming years.
We have and are continuing to develop one of the most sophisticated operational approaches to providing affordable education to MILLIONS of children in one of the most challenging environments in the world!
Our
success relies on our “School in a Box”, a sophisticated set of custom
developed systems, tools and processes (think McDonalds or Starbucks) that are
used by all Academy Managers, as well as by support teams at headquarters to
audit, monitor and support all of our academies.
While
the end-user technology at the academy is limited to paper and a smartphone,
all of our systems and processes are underpinned by a sophisticated set of
supporting and enabling technologies that allows schools to operate cost
effectively and efficiently, with oversight by headquarters.
About this position
About this position
The Vice President of Engineering will be responsible for managing the software development, product management, data reporting, IT support and IT infrastructure teams and projects at the company.
We
currently have two in house scrum teams developing both mobile applications for
use in the field and web applications for use at headquarters.
We
also have a product design team responsible for business analysis and UX
design, a data team responsible for reporting infrastructure and responsive
reporting, and an IT infrastructure and services responsible for the network
and IT helpdesk.
In
addition to managing these teams we expect the VP of Engineering to recruit and
train at least two more scrum teams to increase our capacity to build software
as well to expand our use of outsourcing.
The
VP Engineering will also be responsible for recruiting a software architect who
will ensure that our systems are built on a solid foundation that can scale to
support our rapid expansion.
Key Responsibilities
- Manage
the development and maintenance of all IT systems across the company from
conception through deployment. Manage software project schedules and
report progress and risks to the executive team. Demonstrate
ownership and accountability for the entire product delivery process.
- Supervise
multiple agile multidisciplinary software teams responsible for software
development, product design and quality assurance
- Recruit
and train additional in-house software teams and identify and develop
relationships with external software development resources
- Allocate
resources appropriately across various projects, juggling immediate needs
with longer term company goals
- Set
the technical direction for the software development organization, drive
the evolution of the systems architecture, and make appropriate technology
choices. Evaluate and introduce new and emerging technologies and
techniques to the team as appropriate
- Work
with team leads and senior team members to improve software development
and project management practices within the team including the continued
adoption of agile methods
- Implement
processes and metrics to monitor and ensure that the software engineering
organization is efficient and able to meet goals and deadlines
- Work
with departments throughout the company to understand their business
processes and requirements and find creative IT solutions to their
problems
- Work
directly with the executive team to develop, prioritize and manage the
corporate technology roadmap
- Work
closely with IT the infrastructure and support team to develop plans for
application deployment, user training, user support and SLAs for IT
systems
- Foster
a culture of creativity, collaboration, speed, innovation, excellence and
a fun work environment while continuously elevating the quality and
caliber of the software development organization
- Contribute
to overall IT strategy of the company
Specialist knowledge required
- Knowledge
and experience of software project management best practices, including
agile methodologies, and the ability to put them into practice in software
organizations
- Knowledge
of the full software development lifecycle including release management,
deployment and post-deployment support
- Knowledge
and experience of taking business processes and implementing them in
software including requirements gathering, workflow design, and UI design
- Ability
to lead and mentor software professionals
- Strong
technical understanding of the development of mobile applications, web
services and web applications
About you
- 15
years of experience in software development with at least 8 years in a
management role
- Bachelor’s
degree in Computer Science or related technical field (MBA preferred)
- Demonstrated
experience managing multiple simultaneous projects and multiple project
teams across multiple geographic locations
- Solid
track record of leading the development of multiple technically complex,
scalable and robust mission critical software systems through the entire
software life cycle
- Experience
developing enterprise web and mobile applications
- Experience
developing ERP systems for companies with locations in multiple countries
- Planning
and organizational skills
- Leadership
skills
- Analytical
skills
- Writing
and oral communication skills
- People
management skills
- Ability
to be adaptable and flexible
Only short listed candidates will be contacted