Principal Software Engineer at Koko Networks

Your Role

As KOKO grows within and outside Kenya, our team is looking for a Principal Software Engineer to own the short and long term technical vision of our core software platform, be responsible for major technical decisions associated with it and accountable for their successful execution. As such you will play a key role in enabling KOKO’s long term success, including our expansion beyond Nairobi and Kenya. This is a very visible leadership position in which you should be able to influence the decisions of your team without having to make all of them.

In this position on the software engineering team, you’ll have the opportunity to contribute and add value across KOKO's entire product suite, from building applications that empower our end users to deliver on their roles, to owning critical backend components of the platform itself and building the infrastructure that allows KOKO to scale and deliver more to our rapidly expanding user base.

KOKO’s suite of products spans multiple technical domains and disciplines in software and hardware, and so experience in end-to-end systems thinking across distributed components is key for this role.

What you will do

• You will work closely with Product and Engineering leaders to contribute to the most valuable areas of technical decision making, advancing key initiatives and reducing risk on critical projects.
• You will drive technology R&D and product innovation through rapid prototyping to evolve KOKO’s technology stack so that teams can deliver the most valuable products to KOKO users
• You will serve as a technical authority and represent the full internal and external capabilities of our platforms within and outside the Product and Engineering teams
• You will provide technical mentorship and guidance to help us build a world class team of engineers
• You will help others to improve the quality of their work through regular design and code reviews
• You will help build the engineering culture at KOKO, ensuring it is positioned to attract similar minded people with a passion for using technology to tackle hard challenges.
   

KOKO’s technology stack currently includes (but is not limited to) AWS, Python, Flask, Vue.js, Postgres, Kotlin, Java, Firebase, C++, Celery, Message Queues, Odoo ERP, Docker, Jenkins, CircleCI, Git
What You Will Bring to KOKO

• Strong track record leading, developing, and delivering significant software projects with 8+ years of experience in software engineering.
• Significant experience in the following areas with deep expertise in a few: enterprise application and service based architectures, software design patterns, messaging protocols, cyber security, distributed application development, modern front-end design, highly scalable data architectures
• Significant experience in making architectural decisions that allow multiple teams to deliver independently
• Well developed skills in designing for testability, reliability, security and maintainability.
• Evangelist for Agile practices, able to work with product leaders to support engineering team members in delivering in an agile manner to deliver on key goals.
• Strong communicator, both written and verbal, who is calm and decisive under pressure.
• Empathy for your colleagues, encouraging team members to think creatively while knowing where to intervene to tackle tough problems and navigate conflicts.
   

We are looking for a highly technical leader with significant experience in scaling and maintaining complex, mission critical systems, and making key architectural decisions along the way. You should be comfortable leading and coaching in a remote environment, building rapport across the team, doing what’s necessary to ensure KOKO’s products always deliver.
What We Offer

• Competitive salary plus a quarterly cash bonus
• Annual compensation reviews - we reward great work
• Discounted health insurance with no-cost financing for you and your dependents (in Kenya)
• 21 days of annual leave plus public holidays plus examination leave
• Ongoing investment in you and your skills, incl. full access to over 5,000 online courses
• The right equipment for the job - a choice of MacBook, Windows, or Linux laptop
   

We believe that our people are critical for our ambitious growth plans in Kenya and beyond. We want to build an organisation where people thrive, feel included, grow professionally, and enjoy having high impact through their work.
If you share our passion for technology and our vision for global impact, we strongly encourage you to apply!

KOKO is committed to gender and racial diversity in the workplace. We encourage candidates of all backgrounds to apply!