Positions in: Tanzania, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa or anywhere in Africa (Remote)
Type: Full-time
Ready to lead design innovations that empower citizens and enhance civic engagement in Africa?
Code for Africa (CfA) is seeking a passionate Design Lead to join our civic Technology Lab (TechLab) and drive design innovations that make a real difference across Africa. The TechLab spearheads the design, development and maintenance of all digital services and infrastructure at CfA.
As the Design Lead within the TechLab, you will lead a talented design team in crafting digital experiences that are not only visually compelling but also instrumental in enhancing governance and civic participation across Africa. Collaborating with a team of engineers, analysts, and product managers, you will work on projects ranging from open data portals to investigative journalism tools, all aimed at empowering citizens with actionable information. Your expertise in human-centred design, combined with your strategic thinking, problem-solving skills, and ability to navigate the cultural and social nuances of the continent, will enable you to create products that resonate deeply with diverse communities.
If you are a visionary designer with a talent for storytelling and eager to collaborate with like-minded professionals, we welcome you to join our mission to build a more informed and engaged Africa. The successful candidate will work as part of a multinational and multilingual team dedicated to leveraging technology for positive societal impact.
Required: minimum requirements include:
- Bachelor’s degree in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Information Design, Graphic Design or a related field.
- Five years of experience in UI/UX design with a focus on service design.
- At least one year of experience in a leadership role.
- Knowledge of service design principles, user research methodologies, and experience in applying them in designing web applications and digital platforms.
- Expertise in design tools such as Figma, Sketch, and no-code/low-code development platforms such as Webflow, and Retool.
- Proven experience leading cross-functional collaboration with technical teams, writers, developers, and product managers to strategise and implement innovative, user-centric solutions.
- Extensive experience collaborating with Engineering and Product teams to deliver engaging digital products.
- A compelling portfolio showcasing innovative design solutions and leadership impact.
Preferred: candidates who can demonstrate the following will have an advantage:
- Experience leading and building a high-performing design team.
- Experience conducting service design workshops and facilitating cross-functional service design processes.
- Robust data visualisation skills (including creating charts, graphs and maps).
Language and Location Requirements:
- Location: Tanzania, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa or anywhere else in Africa
- Languages: English
- Preferred but not required: Amharic, Arabic, Hausa, French or Kiswahili.
About the Role:
The successful candidate will join CfA’s TechLab. TechLab is the innovative engine of CfA, driving the design, development, and maintenance of impactful, human-centred digital services and infrastructure. In partnership with human rights-defending organisations, TechLab creates transformative technology solutions that empower communities, enhance civic engagement, and promote transparency and accountability in governance across Africa. By embracing human-centred principles, TechLab ensures that our digital platforms are not only user-friendly but also deeply resonant with the diverse needs and contexts of the communities we serve.
In the role of Design Lead, you will guide and mentor a dedicated design team, fostering a collaborative environment that encourages innovation and excellence. You will work alongside multidisciplinary teams, synthesising project goals, user research, and stakeholder inputs to create intuitive, effective digital interfaces. You will champion the adoption of cutting-edge Generative AI and no-code/low-code tools to accelerate design workflows and empower team members to rapidly prototype and iterate on solutions. Your strategic approach to human-centred design will ensure our platforms not only meet user needs but also are both interoperable and scalable.
Responsibilities: Your daily responsibilities will include:
- Drive and optimise the overall UI/UX design strategy for CfA’s digital products, ensuring seamless, high-quality interfaces and interactions across mobile and desktop platforms.
- Lead the strategic adoption and integration of no-code/low-code tools within CfA, streamlining design and development processes to enhance efficiency and scalability.
- Shape the Design team’s playbook, documenting advanced team structures, workflows, and best practices to enhance collaboration and design efficiency across departments.
- Lead the gathering and evaluation of user requirements, working closely with CfA’s product managers and stakeholders to inform design decisions, minimise iterations, and improve efficiency through thorough research and prototyping.
- Oversee the conceptualisation of design ideas through storyboards, process flows, and sitemaps, ensuring alignment with project goals and maintaining clarity in the design process.
- Direct the creation of graphic user interface elements, such as menus, footers, sidebars, tabs, and widgets, ensuring they enhance user experience and meet high-quality standards.
- Ensure timely delivery of projects, maintaining a focus on continuous improvement of the design and overall user experience across CfA’s products.
- Lead proactive design enhancements, collaborating with data and design teams to elevate the quality of tools and visual narratives
What We Offer:
- A competitive salary, subject to experience, with opportunities for performance-based growth, both in terms of career path and public stature.
- Medical insurance cover, underwritten by a remote-first provider to ensure cover wherever you are.
- 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, writing for international audiences and interacting with colleagues around the world.
How to apply:
Please use this link to apply by January 15, 2025.
About Us:
Code for Africa (CfA) is the continent’s largest network of indigenous African civic technology and investigative data journalism laboratories, with over 120 staff in 26 countries, who build digital democracy solutions that are intended to give citizens unfettered access to actionable information that empowers them to make informed decisions and that strengthen civic engagement for improved public governance and accountability.
This includes building infrastructure such as the continent’s largest open data portal, open.AFRICA, and largest open source civic software portal, commons.AFRICA, as well as the largest repository of investigative document-based evidence, source.AFRICA, as well as incubating initiatives as diverse as the africanDRONE network that gives citizens their own ‘eyes in the sky’, the PesaCheck fact-checking initiative in 12 African countries, and the sensors.AFRICA remote-sensing citizen science initiative to combat air/water pollution.
CfA also incubates the African Network of Centres for Investigative Reporting (ANCIR), as an 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.
Please note: Due to high volumes of applications, we are unable to respond to each one individually. If you are selected for an interview, we will contact you.
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.