Senior Engineering Manager
Rising Academies, South Africa
Job Description
The context:
Across the developing world, more children than ever are in school but they are not learning. A recent study estimated that less than 1% of school children in Sub-Saharan Africa attend a school where the teaching meets basic standards of quality. At Rising Academies, we’re changing that, and we want your help. Our mission is to create the best schools and the most powerful teaching and learning tools for the people that need it most. We’re one of the fastest-growing quality-focused education companies in Africa, and a Certified B Corp.
About us:
We own and operate our own great value private schools, partner with governments to improve the quality of public school systems, and use our content and technology to help other education providers. Founded in Sierra Leone in 2014, we provided emergency education to children kept out of school by the Ebola Epidemic before opening our first school in April 2015. Today, we serve more than 250,000 students across more than 900 schools in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana and now Rwanda.
Through great curriculum, intensive teacher coaching and actionable data, we help teachers and school leaders bring quality to every classroom. And we get results: independent studies show Rising students make more than twice the progress of their peers in comparable schools.
We have recently closed our Series A funding round and won a multi-year, multi-million dollar grant to accelerate the development of our digital ed-tech solutions for low-income students across the globe. Our ‘Bambai’ suite of digital tools already includes a school information system, school observation tool, chatbot tutor, accelerated learning program and teacher coaching app. This is just the start. We want to expand our range of digital products to help improve the quality of education for millions of students around the world. If you want to make a difference to the lives of teachers, students and parents, then we are the right place for you.
About the role:
We are looking for a senior engineer who is interested in building the next generation of AI enabled edtech products, focused on the developing world where the education gap still looms large.
Rori, our maths tutor chatbot is already AI enabled, but we want to extend its functionality and also move from 3rd party systems to building our own in-house software tools. You will have a chance to set the technical direction and lead on many greenfield projects, where you can build software using best practices.
The Senior Engineering Manager will:
- Build and extend Rori’s content and state manager in step with the product’s overall development
- Maintain and improve the other core systems used by Rori
- Lead AI/ML initiatives across portfolio teams
- Review and improve the tools and systems that enable software development at Rori
- Extend and improve Rori’s hosting and delivery system operations and security
- Collaborate with Rori technical suppliers
- Manage the performance and deliverables of external suppliers
- Collaborate with Rori technical team members
- Manage the performance and deliverables of each Rori team member
Location and reporting:
This is a full-time remote position. Candidates can be based in any country. The Senior Engineering Manager will report directly to Rising’s Director of Product.
Application Deadline:
Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.
Requirements
Qualifications and Experience:
- At least 8 years experience in databases, application hosting, software engineering, system security.
- At least 2 years experience with Python-based development and deployment (preferably using FastAPI and Django).
- Knowledge of at least one additional programming language like Java, Rust, Ruby, Elixir or Go would be preferred.
- At least 3 years experience in modern software practices like kanban, agile methodologies or similar.
- Strong ability to understand organisational and product requirements and to be able to translate these into technical system plans.
- Excellent ability to communicate in English about technical and non-technical topics.
- Ability to lead and motivate a team of skilled software professionals.
About You:
- You have excellent verbal, written, and interpersonal communication skills.
- You can communicate with technical teams and business stakeholders in a multicultural environment, as well as clearly document software for these audiences.
- You demonstrate people skills, must be able to collaborate effectively with diverse personalities and skill sets, and enjoy constructive conflict.</