Job Opportunities at Code for Africa (CfA)

The Tech Lab spearheads CfA’s design, development and maintenance of all digital services for the organisation, and its external human rights defending partner organisations.

Candidates must have demonstrable experience in managing the full product lifecycle, from ideation through to launch. The ideal candidate will have a solid technical understanding of the development process and/or experience in the civic tech space.  Candidates must be fluent in English and candidates who are fluent in an additional international language, such as French or Arabic, and/or at least one local language from their country of residence will have an advantage. The successful candidates will work as part of a multinational and multilingual team using digital collaboration tools to create content for a global audience and international media partners. 

Required: 

• 5+ years developing and managing products, candidate with experience in development organisations (NGOs/CSO/non-profit), technology/media organisations or high-growth startups will have an advantage
• Relentless resourcefulness, an ownership mindset, and a proven record of building from the ground up and translating products from the idea stage to launch
• A strong understanding of the software development processes
• Proven ability to create and maintain detailed technical specs and workplans that are feasible and realistic
• Able to proactively find innovative solutions to problems and challenges as they arise 
• Strong organisational skills and ability to manage multiple priorities and tasks, and deliver results within deadlines. 
• Proven ability to work and communicate with both technical and non-technical stakeholders, 

Preferred: candidates who are able to demonstrate the following will have an advantage:

• Bachelor degree in Computer Science, Engineering or a related technical discipline.
• Deep understanding of the technology and media ecosystem in Africa. Passion for media, data storytelling and technology. An interest in civic technology and digital journalism.
• Experience in working effectively as part of a geographically distributed multicultural teams 
• Experience going through a full product lifecycle, integrating feedback into requirements, driving prioritisation and managing pre/post-launch execution

Responsibilities: 

• Develop and maintain product features, roadmap and timelines, including managing the product life cycle.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including tech, design, and engagement, to launch new products and solutions.
• Own and champion our products and tech stack, building awareness internally and externally
• Identify, track and analyse key product metrics to inform future product decisions and continuously improve our current product portfolio.
• Identify new product opportunities or new opportunities for older products
• Champion and implement best practices when it comes to development and product management within the organisation 
• Maximise efficiency in a constantly evolving environment where the process is fluid and innovative solutions are the norm.
• Ensure technical/nontechnical documentation on all active projects/products is kept up to date 

Closing: 28th February 2023

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The successful candidate will support iLAB’s Senior Investigations Manager. They will work as part of CfA’s internal iLAB team of forensic researchers, data scientists and OSINT (open source intelligence) investigators, who produce evidence-based dossiers and other actionable evidence for a global audience and for international watchdog media partners.

The iLAB works in support of the African Network of Centres for Investigative Reporting (ANCIR), which is a CfA initiative that brings together the continent’s best muckraking newsrooms to investigate crooked politicians, organised crime and big business. The iLAB spearheads investigations that individual ANCIR newsrooms are unable to tackle on their own. This includes forensic analysis of suspected digital influence operations and disinformation campaigns, as well as toxic content aimed at misleading citizens or triggering social discord or polarisation using hate speech or radicalisation or other techniques . The iLAB also supports partners to investigate transnational organised crime, illicit financial flows and state capture on the continent.  

The successful candidate will work as part of a multinational and multilingual team across the continent, using digital collaboration tools to create content for a global audience and international media partners.

Responsibilities:

Investigations 

• You will help generate investigative leads and/or research topics and/or hypotheses, based on digital signals/evidence from public sources, and will help your team scope/plan their research and analysis, with clear data requirements and timelines to produce actionable outputs.
• You will produce and package investigative dossiers for public use. This entails pinning down the dossier/report format with input from CfA ExCo
• You will use CfA production tools and methodology to set investigative assignments and deadlines, based on clear hypotheses, and will oversee the day-to-day activities of your team while also coordinating its collaboration with other CfA teams and/or partners, all while ensuring quality control, and monitoring output/impact.
• You will liaise with external CfA partners, including newsrooms and civil society experts, to help them find “the stories in the data”, and will ensure that both senior leadership, as well as content teams at these partners, are geared to support impactful publication of the iLAB’s investigative research.
• You will proactively problem-solve and iterate on projects, helping your team and project partners find creative solutions for challenges or obstacles, and developing detailed plans for amplifying your team’s work.

Team/Project management

• You will work as the iLAB’s senior manager, nurturing and overseeing a growing team of forensic researchers and data scientists/analysts who will work on clearly defined projects in support of partner newsrooms/watchdog NGOs.
• You will steer technical scoping and specification of projects, including developing work plans and budgets for data resources and technological tools, all anchored by the original project conceptualisation or framing that is further fleshed-out during review/ideation sessions, with clear mechanisms for support or guidance and a clear communication structure.
• You will oversee project deliverables to ensure adherence to agreed quality benchmarks and budgets, by facilitating regular progress/prototype reviews at appropriate milestones for stakeholders, and by proactively problem-solving where expectations are not met.
• Where needed, you will manage the day-to-day implementation of projects/partners, based on their work plans and CfA strategic objectives or expectations, with programmatic guidance from the Programme manager.
• You will proactively problem-solve and iterate on projects, helping the team and project partners find creative solutions for challenges or obstacles, and developing detailed plans for amplifying your team’s work.

Admin support

• Work with the finance and secretariate teams to ensure timesheets for you and your reportees are signed and submitted on time. 
• Follow up on invoices when necessary and submit to the finance department

Assisting with report and proposal writing

• Assisting the CfAfrica Secretariat in drafting donor reports or documentation relating to your projects, as necessary.
• Assisting CfA Secretariat in drafting donor proposals or documentation relating to projects and plans as necessary.

Required:

• Demonstrable investigative skills honed from experience in investigative journalism, prosecutorial law, business intelligence, due diligence, asset tracking, compliance, or other investigative professions. CfA will not consider any applicants who served with government intelligence agencies.
• A minimum of 2 years managing either investigative or editorial teams, with evidence of successful collaboration/impact, in challenging and/or fast-moving environments, with stakeholders from a variety of journalistic/research traditions, cultures, levels of experience, and language proficiencies.
• An understanding of influence operations, including both disinformation and misinformation, as well as digital amplification and viral media techniques would be a benefit.

Preferred:

• An understanding of influence operations, including both disinformation and misinformation, as well as digital amplification and viral media techniques would be a benefit.
• An understanding of offshore financial schemes, international money laundering operations, and/or criminal structures would be a bonus.
• Experience of managing or using digital technologies for conducting OSINT investigative research into influence operations and evolving disinformation trends, or alternatively using data-driven network analysis/named entity recognition tools for analysing PEPs or institutional networks.
• Previous experience working on the digital collaboration tools that CfA uses, ranging from Slack and Google Drive, to Trello would be an advantage.
• Familiarity with mining and handling large datasets would be a plus.
• An understanding of offshore financial schemes, international money laundering operations, and/or criminal structures would be a bonus.

Closing: 01 March 2023