Kenya - Engineering Lead at Tala (formerly InVenture)

The Engineering Lead (EL), Kenya recruits and manages the engineering organization in Nairobi. As a coach and mentor, the EL guides the team towards advancing Tala’s mission and business objectives. The EL ensures consistent practice of Tala’s global engineering processes and career development while building the Kenya organization.

This is a senior leadership role within Tala’s management track. You will report to the Head of Engineering and collaborate cross-functionally with all Tala teams across the globe.

What you'll do:

• Recruit, mentor, and level-up and engineering team of 10-15 people (ICs and managers)
• Propose and execute organization structure for backend, mobile, devops, and QA
• Lead and manage team to execute Tala’s roadmap for Kenya
• Effectively interview and onboard candidates to meet Tala’s technical and hands-on coding standards
• Ensure consistent application of Tala engineering practices
• Review design documents, perform code reviews, and weigh in on implementation choices
• Support and collaborate with cross functional teams (Product, Data, Credit, and Business Development) to ship scalable software solutions
• Design and architect technical designs and TDD (Test Driven Development) to solve engineering challenges
• Provide guidance for integrations with external partners including user/events tracking, monitoring, and payment/KYC systems integration

What you'll need:

• 10+ years of hands-on technical management within software engineering industry
• 5+ years coding in one or more of the following languages: Java, Kotlin, Scala, GoLang
• Demonstrated ability to recruit and manage technical teams (including managers)
• Developed and launched large scale consumer mobile applications with the backend on Cloud infrastructure (AWS or Google Cloud Platform) using microservices architecture paradigm
• Ability to travel internationally 2-4 times a year
• Working knowledge in REST API development for mobile/web use
• Hold your own in technical discussion, be a subject matter expert, and have strategic influence
• Expert proficiency in Agile development process
• Excellent ability to prioritize and communicate in a fast-paced environment
• BS/BA degree in Computer Science or related fields
• Bonus: Experience in fintech, payments space, and machine learning

We strongly believe that inclusion fosters innovation and we’re proud to have a diverse team with a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences. We focus on hiring talented people regardless of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.