[liberationtech] Echo hiring engineers for a 6-month contract in Nairobi

[Terry Winograd]

Experienced Engineer for Cloud SaaS Platform (Python)

Consulting Opportunity based in Nairobi, Kenya

About Echo Mobile

Echo Mobile licenses access to the Echo Platform ­­ a best in class
real­time monitoring, and

mobile communications cloud service designed especially for organizations
working in hard to

reach places.

Echo supports all communications channels needed to reach the mass market:
including

toll­free SMS, interactive voice response (IVR), USSD, and Android
applications. A diverse set

of organizations use the Echo platform, including development organizations
like UNICEF and

the World Bank, to government agencies such as the Kenyan Ministry of
Education, as well as a

variety of for­profits, social enterprises, and NGOs.

Based in Nairobi, Kenya, Echo Mobile is in the middle of a booming
technology startup scene.

Thanks to shared working spaces & innovation centers such as iHub & the
Nairobi Startup

Garage, and accelerator programs such as Village Capital, Nairobi is taking
advantage of its

position as one of the fastest growing economies in the world to become
home to many new

companies that are looking for creative ways to solve the world’s problems
while also competing

in the private sector. Echo Mobile benefits from this community both in
terms of capturing clients

in this growing economy, but also learning from fellow designers,
entrepreneurs, and engineers

in a collaborative and growing community.

Role

As Echo Mobile rapidly grows, we are constantly expanding the core Echo
platform. We are

also perfectly placed as a dynamic mobile startup to be first movers in
deployment of the newest

tools and technologies as they reach maturity and readiness for the global
market. Echo has

recently added a sensor platform to incorporate low­cost machine­based data
streams, as many

organizations are already looking for new ways to augment their existing
monitoring and M&E

efforts. We constantly accept new users, new partners and new deployments
in markets within

and beyond our home­base of East Africa. This role is a key new team member
of our core

engineering team as we expand the capabilities and usability of the
platform as well as new

product launches.

Reports To

Lead Product Engineer

Terms of Employment

This is a minimum 6 month contract position based in Lavington, Nairobi but
could convert to a

full­time position (either in Nairobi or remotely based), upon successful
completion of the initial

contract.

Location

Position is based out of our green offices in Lavington, Nairobi, Kenya.

Key Areas of Responsibility

● Join engineering team tasked with continuous development of the Echo
Mobile platform

& products

● Contribute to design, development, and maintenance of features on the
Echo Mobile

platform, including code review, new feature development, bug fixes, tests,
and

integration of new gateways and services.

● Work directly with organizational users to understand usability, address
issues, and

design platform improvements

● Work directly with vendors (e.g. Premium Rate Service Providers) when
necessary to

resolve issues and expedite service setup

● Review pull requests, attend daily scrums & track all development
activities using Echo's

internal project tools (git, Asana, etc).

● Report regularly to Lead Product Engineer and CTO on milestones, progress
towards

tasks, barriers needing attention, etc

● Guide and influence the direction of the product. Creative ideas are
always welcome.

Qualifications

● Highly skilled developer with a proven track record of driving projects
to completion

● Self­managed, proactive, and good at working with a small team in a
multicultural

environment

● Passionate about technology, technical products and the creative process

● Either living in Nairobi or willing to relocate

● Extremely proficient at managing time to meet milestones

● Thrives in an environment where juggling multiple tasks involving
different technical

systems, clients, and sectors is a regular occurrence.

● Experience developing scalable, efficient, and user­friendly web­based
applications

● Skilled at both backend development and basic interactive front­end
design (AJAX,

React.js, HTML/CSS)

● Please highlight if you have experience in:

● USSD or SMS­based systems

● Writing TCP servers & clients

● Working with hardware & connected devices

● Working with organizations serving rural areas

● Please include a link to any Python or webapp/django­based project that
you were the

primary developer or architect of, if available.

How to Apply

Please send a cover letter and CV to jobs at echomobile.org with [ENGINEER] in
the subject

line.
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