Tugende: Manager Business Support (Technology) Job 2019
DESCRIPTION
Job Title: Manager Business Support (Technology)
Duty location: Head Quarters, Kampala
Job Opening: 9th August, 2019
Application Deadline: 25th August 2019
About Tugende
Tugende is a technology enabled asset finance company with a social mission. We provide an affordable path to ownership of income-generating assets for proven entrepreneurs. Our primary product is a lease to own motorcycle financing package which includes training, life and health insurance, and active support. Tugende currently serves tens of thousands of clients in Uganda and we are preparing to extend our offering into Kenya.
With a market for motorcycle taxis of over 800,000 drivers in East Africa alone, Tugende is expanding rapidly in our core product. We are also building a platform with our staff, branches, data, systems, and deep knowledge of the informal sector, to expand into other asset financing as successfully as we have with our current core product.
About this Role:
We are looking for competent and motivated individual who can work independently with limited direction to provide guidance and mentorship for our existing IT Team, and a link between the I.T Systems and Innovations Team (systems developers and systems administrators) working on our existing and future systems and the Head of I.T Systems and Innovations.
Tugende’s mission is: “Helping people help themselves. The Manager Business Support is responsible for managing both systems development and upgrade projects through all phases of the Software Development Lifecycle. This will involve but not limited to Requirements collection and elicitation, resource allocations, quality assurance, roll out strategies, and documentation. General administration of existing infrastructure and project management of ongoing I.T projects will be at the center of this role. On a few occasions, supporting the developers with actual programming skills will be required.
Key duties to be performed:
The job holder will perform the following duties:
1) Project Execution to Support Key Growth Goals
Software Development Life Cycle
- Project Management for inhouse projects using Industry Project management principles and methodologies. Ensures that each project executed meets the requirements set forth and is delivered in time using the right resources like the budget, human resource etc.
- Evaluation of risk in projects at all stages and timely escalation when need arises.
- Light touch programming as and when need arises
- Manage relationship between Tugende and External consultants
- Ability to take on different roles on different projects i.e. an example of this is doing quality assurance on one project and designing requirements on another.
- Ensure high standard of system documentation and implementing bug fixing procedures with reference to best practices
2) Supervise the System Administration And Maintenance Team
Systems Administration
- Oversight of systems administration in the company. This may include assigning of permissions to specific users/groups, prevention of malicious actions, detection when they occur, recovery after they have occured etc.\Advise management on ways of improving systems administration in the company
Technology Reviews
- Conduct technology reviews of systems used at Tugende and benchmark on current trends and advise on improvements to be made.
- Active participation in strategic planning for technology roadmaps.
Manage Help Desk Tickets
- Ensure an optimal Issue resolution process for the Tickets that are reported from users
- Manage escalations made by direct reports forwarding help desk tickets for attention.
- Coordinate with all stakeholders involved in a specific issue to ensure they are aligned until the issue is concluded
Hardware Maintenance
- Maintain an up to date inventory of all I.T hardware in Tugende including but not limited to Printers, Laptops, Routers, Projectors etc.
- Supervision of third party hardware maintenance providers (if any).
- Advise on the best value for money procurement of I.T Equipment
3) Supervision of direct reports
Task allocation and scheduling
- Break down projects into clear tasks for the direct reports
- Quality assurance of the deliverables from Direct reports
- Share Constructive Feedback with direct reports to ensure growth
- Coordinate with the Head of Systems and Innovations on the status of the tasks pipeline and seek help for issues identified in the process
Performance Management
- Ensure all direct reports annual performance goals are approved and captured in the Tugende HR system
- Ensure all direct reports have established expectations and objectives.
- Conduct performance appraisals with all direct reports.
REQUIREMENTS
Prefered skills, knowledge & abilities
The I.T Business Support Coordinator should be able to demonstrate his | her technical and soft skills in the following aspects:
Knowledge
- Knowledge of project management techniques
- Knowledge of the Agile Approach to Solutions development
- Knowledge of Human Centered Design.
- Knowledge of development frameworks and their purpose
Abilities
- Should not be afraid of leading from the front or getting their “hands dirty”. This specifically refers to help out when direct reports are stack or overwhelmed. In general, a broader skill set within the required range is preferable to a deep specialisation.
- Ability to research and continuously discover, evaluate and implement new technologies to maximize operational efficiency.
- Mentoring and training direct reports to help with ICT support across offices
- Manage the development of new features and make modifications to existing software using up to date technologies
- Ability to learn new business concepts and new technologies in a fast paced environment
- Demonstrate high standards of people management skills and interpersonal skills to work in teams.
Technical skills
- Understanding of Systems Administration, Networks and Database Administration
- Skills in policy formulation and implementation for the I.T department.
- Implementation of data protection mechanisms for Tugende’s data. (Prevention of misuse, detection of breach of protocols and disaster recovery)
- Knowledge of rapid prototyping and concept development techniques.
- Project Management skills
- Understanding of general coding concepts e.g. object oriented development, model view controller, restAPI, Object Relational Mappers.
- Proficient understanding of code versioning and deployment tools (such as Git, Bit bucket, Mercurial SVN or Ansible)
- Basic understanding of front-end technologies, such as JavaScript, HTML5, and CSS3
Preferred Qualifications and experience:
- Bachelor’s degree in Software Engineering, Computer Science, Information Technology or a related discipline, obtained from a recognized university
- At least 2-3 years of proven work experience in leading teams on projects.
BENEFITS
What will you gain?
Career Trajectory: This is a role with significant leadership potential to grow as the company and operations function grow. Someone who does this job can be promoted to; Head of IT, Systems and Innovations among others.
Career Development: You will constantly develop skills and further your career while working with Tugende by building knowledge and skills using Tugende systems, understanding of lease accounting, Improve computer skills, learning new methods to work with clients and help them overcome repayment challenges, Stay abreast of new innovations and financial services so as to better meet customer needs, participate in programing: Attend career development programs organized by Tugende and learn how to ride a motorcycle
Hours and compensation: This position is for a full-time employee who can take on additional responsibilities as new tasks and projects come up.
Meaningful Work: Tugende’s work gives entrepreneurs the tools to earn a living for themselves and their families. We are changing the face of the boda industry in Uganda, and proving that young men with little education can take on the responsibility of financing a significant asset and earning a livable wage. Help be part of this movement!
Great Team: Tugende has a smart, fun, and growing team of 250+ Employees. We take our work seriously, but love to joke and have fun. We regularly have fully-paid, voluntary team outings, as well as fun parties for our clients. Our headquarters are in Kampala, and we also have offices in Eastern and Western Uganda.
More About Tugende
Tugende means “let’s go” in Luganda and signifies the company’s mission and what you say on the back of a motorcycle taxi. Tugende has been recognized as a 2012 Unreasonable Fellow,2014 Echoing Green Global Fellow, 2016 GSBI Fellow, and received the MIT Zambezi prize in 2015 as one of the top 3 financial inclusion start-ups in Africa. We have appeared in The Guardian, BBC, Economist, and elsewhere.
As part of our regional expansion in East African,Kenya is now launched! Beyond geographic growth, Tugende’s future will include multiple asset finance products, and tools to help Tugende to reach millions of customers without losing high touch personal support.