Software Developer Job at Development Pathways

Purpose

The successful candidate will play an important role in the growth of Development Pathways by working with other Senior Management Information Specialists and developers to: strengthen our reputation as leading specialists in the fields of management information in social protection, social and economic development and broader social policy; research on the latest trends on software development, building new and enhancing existing social policy management information systems, and providing technical advice to projects.

This position will be based in Kenya and will contribute to the development of the Pathways MIS Framework, building on lessons learnt from social policy management information systems implementations in the last 10 years. This framework will standardise development tools, develop components and ensure that future developers adopt a similar platform. A majority of the work will be delivered from the Development Pathways' Kenya Office in Nairobi but will involve international travel.

Responsibilities

The Software Developer will be responsible for the following duties:

1. Working with the other software developers, design a common and standard development framework to be used by Development Pathways, building on successful frameworks and learning lessons from existing MIS projects;
2. Mentor other software developers in the Company, by building on their technical skills in the area of software development;
3. Research on the latest technological frameworks for software development adn develop appropriate and cost effective plans for migrating legacy MISs, built by Development Pathways;
4. Provide consultancy inputs on assignments contracted by Development Pathways: some assignments will require overseas travel while others will be desk-based;
5. Play a support role in the technical implementation of contracts for social policy management information system assignments. This will include timely and high quality delivery inputs, and contributing to project outputs (e.g. production of management information software solutions, technical documentation, etc.);
6. Lead in the development of social policy management information system projects built on Visual Studio (C#) programming language and SQL Server databases;
7. Enhance social policy management information system projects that have been developed and implemented by Development Pathways, based on standard service level agreements. This will entail reviewing the source code and building an understanding of the business process of the programmes;
8. Regularly maintain an effective database backup system (for SQL Server Database and MIS Source Code) for Development Pathways' social policy management information system projects using appropriate tools;
9. Troubleshoot all technical issues related to the social policy management information system project implementations, including through provision of technical support to users at different levels and locations; and
10. Undertake Quality Assurance testing of the software systems that are developed by Development Pathways.

Person Specifications

The Software Developer must have the following qualifications, skills and competencies:

Essential

• A degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Information Science or related degree;
• A minimum of 5-7 years of demonstrated professional work experience, programming in a busy software development environment;
• A sound knowledge of relational database management systems - especially SQL Server 2014 - project implementation life cycle and using mature software development technologies;
• Good C# and Net 2.0-4.0 skills, including ASP Net skills;
• Understanding fundamental design principles behind a scalable application;
• Basic understanding of Common Language Runtime (CLR), its limitations, weaknesses and workarounds;
• Strong documentation skills, especially system documentation;
• Knowledge and experience in implementing automated testing platforms and unit tests;
• Proficient understanding of code versioning tools (such as Git, SVN and Mercurial);
• In-depth understanding of development frameworks such as MV6, Bootstraps, etc.;
• Strong Visual Studio.Net2012 and/or 2015 development skills;
• Experience programming with PHP/MYSQL environment would be an added advantage;
• Experience with transact SQL Server programmability, including stored procedures, functions and triggers;
• Fluent in English.

Desirable

• Experience with national level social protection programmes ;
• Proficiency in French, Portuguese, and/or Spanish.

Reporting Arrangements

The Software Developer will work closely with all members of the company, particularly social policy management information system team who are based in Nairobi, but also with those based in the London office.

Salary Range

The successful candidate will receive an attractive renumeration package, which would include a relocation package, company laptop, private health insurance, private pension scheme and upon passing probation, entry into the bonus scheme.