Do you want to help build digital tools that strengthen our democracies and empower citizens?
Code for Africa (CfA) has an immediate vacancy for a Front End Software Engineer to join one of our civic technology labs preferably in Tanzania, but also possibly in Kenya, Nigeria or South Africa, or elsewhere in Africa.
As a UX/UI engineer, you will help ensure that our digital products are built to be as intuitive to use and impactful as possible, to give actionable information/tools to people across the continent and beyond.
The work is creatively challenging, fast-paced and always changing. You will have strong analytical skills, an unwavering commitment to quality, a collaborative work ethic and cutting edge coding skills. You will be passionate about open source principles, lean design principles, and should live and breathe the fundamentals of JavaScript (not just jQuery), CSS and HTML, React, and should also be proficient with Mapbox or D3JS. You will command an impressive portfolio of web technologies new and old.
The successful candidate will report to CfA’s lead technologist, as part of our multinational developer team, and will work closely with our data and content teams to build robust systems/infrastructure for our partners in watchdog civil society organisations, the investigative media and selected progressive government agencies.
CfA is a non-profit advocate for open source software (along with open data), and the successful candidate will therefore be required to help champion these principles by adopting best practices and helping document all our technologies to help others reuse it free of charge. Also in keeping with CfA’s values, you will be expected to regularly interact with the wider civic tech community, as well as CfA’s grantees and partners, to share insights and offer guidance.
What You’ll Do:
- Work closely with UI designers, project managers and back-end engineers to implement versatile front-end solutions to tricky web development problems.
- Embrace emerging standards while promoting best practices in order to push the limits of what a browser can do.
- Manage your own time, and work well both independently and as part of a team.
- Implement designs to transform user flows, wireframes, mockups and prototypes into robust projects.
- Launch, iterate and make a difference. Provide front-end coding expertise, and be ready to make our products better for our users.
- Collaborate with a geographically distributed team of designers, researchers, developers, and journalists; proactively explore all options.
Required: minimum requirements include:
- BEng/BSc/BA degree or equivalent practical experience.
- 2 years of relevant programming experience in JavaScript, Java, Python or C++.
- Applications development experience, working in Unix or related environments.
- eExperience in web technologies/standards (Object-Oriented JavaScript, HTML5, CSS3)
- Experience working with libraries/frameworks for building user interfaces (React) and data visualisation (Mapbox or D3JS).
- The ability to work with minimal supervision and in a multicultural environment distributed across Africa
- Critical thinking skills
Location:
CfA’s physical engineering labs are located in Cape Town (South Africa), Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), Lagos (Nigeria) and Nairobi (Kenya). We are however open to exceptional applicants from across Africa if candidates can prove a track-record for consistent success during remote work.
What We Offer:
- A competitive salary, subject to experience, with opportunities for performance-based growth, both in terms of career path and public stature.
- A dynamic workplace, with a transnational team, occasional international travel, and generous vacation benefits.
- Ongoing opportunities to learn new cutting-edge skills and techniques/technologies to future-proof yourself in a rapidly evolving industry.
- A chance to shine on a global stage, creating tools and technologies for international audiences and interacting with colleagues around the world.
How to Apply:
Fill in this form here by 31 October 2020.
References must be provided.
About Us:
Code for Africa (CfA) is the continent’s largest network of independent civic technology and data journalism laboratories, which build digital democracy solutions that give citizens unfettered access to actionable information that empowers them to make informed decisions, and that strengthens civic engagement for improved public governance and accountability.
This includes building infrastructures like openAFRICA and sourceAFRICA, as well as incubating initiatives as diverse as the africanDRONE network, the PesaCheck fact-checking initiative and the sensors.AFRICA network.
The African Network of Centres for Investigative Reporting (ANCIR) is a CfA managed association of the continent’s best investigative newsrooms, ranging from large traditional mainstream media to smaller specialist units. ANCIR member newsrooms investigate crooked politicians, organised crime and big business. The iLAB is ANCIR’s in-house digital forensic unit, with teams in east, south and west Africa. ANCIR uses its resources to strengthen newsrooms’ own internal capacity, by providing access to the world’s best whistleblower encryption and investigative semantic analysis technologies, as well as skills development, and seed grants for cross-border collaboration.
At CfA, we don’t just accept differences – we celebrate it, we support it, and we thrive on it for the benefit of our employees, our products and our community. CfA is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.
To all recruitment agencies: CfA does not accept agency resumes. Please do not forward resumes to our employment application line, CfA employees or any other CfA contact. CfA is not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes.