Research and Design Lead at Safaricom Kenya

Brief Description

Reporting to the Research and Design Tech Lead, the position holder will be responsible for scouting, developing & testing prototypes & piloting, refining and adopting new technologies to solve current problems, improving operation efficiencies and to create new platforms that support new business opportunities. Working with partners, Project teams, Squads as well as virtual IT delivery teams to implement various projects and business deliverables. Break down complex requirements into simple trackable tasks. Be committed to high quality output and delivery on time.

Responsibilities

Business Delivery:

• Responsible for all Domain business projects by resourcing and leading virtual teams across IT
• Responsible for delivering 95% of the projects on time
• Responsible for ensuring project stability within max 48 hours
• Ensure agile is implemented in at least 50% of the projects
• Maintain an accurate registry of all business projects  with various statuses and ensure business teams are appraised at all times
• Align with business product leads & PMO on project KPI’s, milestones and timelines

Leadership:

• Attend business strategy meetings to ensure IT is aligned with business needs
• Regular team and one-on-one engagements
• Build the team skillset according to the fit for future program
• Team performance management
• Provide budget inputs for business solutions.
• Attend BU strategy sessions
• Weekly Delivery reporting to BU HoDs and Senior Managers on the status of their deliverables

Business Analysis:

• Responsible for gathering, detailing and documenting all business requirements
• Ensure sensible consensus is reached for all requirements/specifications and help business, IT, CXX, Revenue Assurance and test leads to have the same mutual understanding
• Ensure test plans cover all aspects of Business Requirements and existing business rules

Solutions Design:

• Responsible for Solutions Design to meet business requirements and non-functional requirements
• Drive reuse on all technical and business functionality designed and no duplication of business components
• Collaboratively oversee the development/configuration of solutions as per agreed designs
• Provide solution architecture input into all new system tenders

Qualifications

• Degree in Science/computer science/Engineering/Business related.
• Strong business acumen and mindset
• 5+ years of technical experience in a busy IT development environment, 2 years of which must include experience in designing systems and solutions.
• 3+ years’ Experience in Technical Leadership of large IT projects
• Team player who is skilled at building up and managing stakeholder relationships successfully
• Ability to persuade stakeholders and to champion effective techniques through delivery
• Ability to drive initiatives without any formal authority in an ambiguous environment
• A curious and innovative mind that built things.