Engineering Manager At African Development Solutions (Adeso)

POSITION SUMMARY
We are seeking an experienced Engineering Manager to lead and oversee our technology initiatives. The ideal candidate will have at least 10 years of software engineering experience, with at least 6 years in an engineering leadership role, managing teams that develop and deploy scalable solutions. As an Engineering Manager, you will be responsible for driving the strategic technical vision, managing a crossfunctional team of engineers, and ensuring the successful delivery of complex and diverse products, such as KujaBuild (a Business Process Outsourcing platform), KujaLink, KujaLearn, and KujaConsult, each tailored to empower impact-driven organizations. This role involves both hands-on technical leadership and people management. You will collaborate closely with the product, design, and business teams to deliver products that empower impact-driven organizations. The role requires experience across the full engineering stack, excellent problem-solving skills, and a passion for leveraging technology to drive community-led impact.
POSITION ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES
Strategic Leadership and Vision:
Develop and drive the overall engineering strategy to align with the organization's long-term goals and objectives. Define and communicate the technical vision to the engineering team and ensure that all engineering efforts contribute to achieving the product roadmap and organizational strategy.

Technology Roadmap & Product Development:
Collaborate with product managers, designers, and stakeholders to define the technical aspects of the product roadmap. Ensure all technical solutions are aligned with business objectives, market needs, and customer requirements. Lead the engineering team to deliver high-quality products that meet performance, security, and scalability standards.

Full Ownership of the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC):
Oversee and manage all phases of the SDLC, from ideation and concept through development, testing, deployment, and ongoing support. Ensure efficient, timely, and cost-effective development processes that adhere to best practices and industry standards. Foster a culture of continuous improvement by implementing agile methodologies and fostering team collaboration.

Team Building and Mentorship:
Build, mentor, and scale a high-performing engineering team. Foster a collaborative and innovative culture and ensure the professional growth and development of engineers through mentoring, performance reviews, and training opportunities. Attract and retain top talent to sustain growth.

System Architecture and Technical Leadership:
Take ownership of architectural decisions and ensure the design and implementation of scalable, secure, and robust systems that support the company's growing needs. Drive technical excellence and best practices, including microservices architecture, cloud-based infrastructure, API-first approaches, and DevOps integration.

Operational Efficiency and Automation:
Establish a streamlined process for delivering reliable software products. Drive automation in testing, continuous integration (CI), continuous delivery (CD), and infrastructure provisioning. Work with the DevOps team to improve system reliability, monitoring, and scaling capabilities.

Cross-functional Collaboration:
Collaborate closely with various departments (product, design, data science, marketing, sales) to understand business requirements and ensure alignment of technical deliverables with business goals. Facilitate clear communication between engineering teams and non-technical stakeholders, ensuring transparency and shared ownership of deliverables.

Quality Assurance and Testing:
Implement and enforce rigorous quality assurance standards, ensuring that software is thoroughly tested, secure, and optimized for performance. Ensure that both manual and automated testing processes are fully integrated into the development cycle.

Security and Compliance:
Ensure all systems and software developed by the engineering team adhere to international standards for security, privacy, and compliance, particularly in data-sensitive industries. Oversee the implementation of security protocols and industry best practices to safeguard company and customer data.

Technical Documentation and Knowledge Management:
Establish best practices for creating and maintaining technical documentation, ensuring high standards for clarity and completeness. Ensure that documentation serves as an up-to-date resource for developers, engineers, and other relevant stakeholders.

Budget and Resource Management:
Develop and manage engineering budgets, ensuring the optimal use of resources. Identify and mitigate risks related to resource allocation, timelines, and project scope. Advocate for the necessary resources to ensure the engineering team is well-equipped to deliver on product initiatives.

COMPETENCIES
Technical Expertise:
Demonstrates deep knowledge and hands-on expertise across the software development stack, including system architecture, cloud computing, and scalable infrastructures. Has a keen understanding of front-end, back-end, and database technologies, as well as modern development tools and practices.

Leadership and Mentorship:
Proven ability to lead diverse teams in a fast-paced, dynamic environment. Empowers team members, fosters accountability, and builds a strong culture of collaboration, innovation, and continuous learning. Demonstrates strong emotional intelligence and a passion for mentoring future leaders.

Strategic Problem-Solving:
Demonstrates exceptional critical thinking and problem-solving abilities. Able to approach complex challenges with a clear, structured process to deliver innovative and scalable solutions.
Prioritizes efficiently, balancing short-term goals with long-term vision.

Communication and Stakeholder Management:
Excellent verbal and written communication skills, capable of articulating complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders. Able to foster productive relationships across departments and build trust with leadership, peers, and external partners.

Agile Methodologies and Project Management:
Deep understanding and experience in leading teams using Agile, Scrum, or other iterative development methodologies. Effectively manages project timelines, milestones, and deliverables, ensuring high-quality outputs in a fast-moving development environment.

Innovation and Continuous Improvement:
Champions a culture of innovation and exploration within the engineering team. Always seeks new tools, technologies, and practices that can improve efficiency, scalability, and product quality.

Risk Management and Compliance:
Strong understanding of security, compliance, and privacy standards, particularly in datasensitive environments. Experience managing and mitigating technical risks in global, distributed environments.

ESSENTIAL SKILLS AND QUALIFICATIONS
Educational Background
Bachelor's degree (master's preferred) in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, or a related field. Equivalent industry experience will also be considered.

Experience:
Minimum of 12 years of professional experience in software engineering, with at least 5 years in a leadership or management role overseeing engineering teams. Experience working in global or cross-functional teams, preferably in fast-growing start-ups or organizations with complex technical ecosystems.
Technical Proficiency:
Expertise in backend programming languages (Python, Java, Node.js, Go, or similar) and modern frontend frameworks (React, Angular, Vue.js).
Extensive experience with database management systems (e.g., PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB) and cloud-based infrastructure (AWS, GCP, Azure).
Solid understanding of containerization (Docker, Kubernetes), CI/CD pipelines, version control systems (Git), and cloud architecture patterns (microservices, serverless computing).
Proven experience integrating third-party APIs, RESTful services, and external data sources.

Agile and DevOps Practices:
Extensive knowledge of Agile development methodologies and experience implementing DevOps best practices, including continuous integration and deployment pipelines, monitoring tools, and infrastructure as code (IaC).

Software Architecture and Design:
Strong understanding of software architecture patterns (MVC, microservices, event-driven architecture) and design principles, with a proven ability to architect and scale high-performance systems.

Security and Compliance:
Strong knowledge of global security protocols, data privacy standards (e.g., GDPR), and regulatory compliance. Experience in implementing secure development practices and building security into the software development lifecycle (SDLC).

Global Standards and Emerging Technologies:
Keeps up-to-date with the latest industry trends, global standards, and emerging technologies.
Experience working with AI, machine learning, blockchain, or other advanced technologies is a plus.

Soft Skills:
Excellent time management, organizational, and delegation skills. Highly motivated, proactive, and capable of working in high-pressure environments with evolving priorities.