Technical Lead – InfraOps at Kyosk Digital Services

Job Description (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); A kiosk is an informal convenience store selling everyday household items. Known locally by their vernacular names e.g. Duka in Kenya, Spaza in South Africa, Kantemba in Zambia. kiosk-type retail outlets are the cornerstone of African retail, accounting for over 60% of all retail trade flows. Despite their importance, kiosk-type retail outlets face significant challenges, including high cost of stock and unreliable delivery. Our digital ordering and delivery platform – Kyosk, ensures that these retail outlets get access to stock at competitive prices and have them delivered directly to them. FMCGs find the traditional distribution chain to be inadequate as well, making it expensive for them to serve kiosk-type retail outlets, leading to high incidences of product stock-outs and lost sales opportunities. By providing FMCGs with good data visibility, we solve this major problem of theirs. Role Profile Kyosk is looking for a passionate Technical Lead to provide technical leadership to a team of software engineers who are developing solutions on the leading edge of innovation in Africa. The successful candidate will be responsible for solution design and implementation within their groups to create scalable and functional applications..As a Technical Lead, you’ll join our growing team of Product and Technology professionals who share a passion for leveraging technology to empower informal retailers across the African continent. You’ll work with teams from multiple countries across the organization to imagine and build innovative solutions for Kyosk’s customers and internal teams.To be successful in this role you will need to be a great communicator, innovator, influencer, and an analytical problem solver. You will need to think and act fast, deal with ambiguity and constraints, and help to develop ideas into products that work on a global scale. Key Responsibilities Strategic execution: Proactively contribute to design and implementation of technology strategies, development of the technology roadmap, provide technical guidance and mentoring as well as technical leadership in development practices.Technical Leadership: Becoming the go-to expert on tools, frameworks & technologies to which you are assigned. Guide the learning of new products quickly and effectively when given access to user and developer documentation, knowledge base articles, source code, and infrastructure. Champion the resolution of complex technical issues; contribute to continuous improvement and the adoption of best practices particularly in Agile practices.Technical Excellence: Understand and interpret customer requests to suggest the best solution available and take responsibility for implementing the solution. Coordinates the identification, reporting and resolution of any bottlenecks or issues related to the projects & members they are managing/working with. Own and shape our best practices & processes and improve/optimize them to ensure they are up to standards.Project Management: Lead in designing, documenting, and sharing/discussing the project architecture with the team. Own the technical implementation of the project they are handling and ensure that projects are on track, deadlines are met, and progress/bottlenecks are communicated to the management. Ensure a strong focus on Code Quality through conducting project code reviews on a frequent basis and integrating the needed optimizations and changes.People Management & Development: Engage with all team members every stage in the problem/solution lifecycle to ensure all goals are met. Ensure best development practices are being followed by the dev team and report any findings or red flags. Guide the preparation and review of the technical documentation projects. Mentor & Coach Junior team members and their project colleagues; recruit & interview members for your team. Manage the team’s task queue and deadlines in collaboration with your team’s Product Owner. RequirementsMinimum Qualifications A minimum of 9+ years of demonstrable working experience working with SRE, DevOpsString demonstrable working experience with java (Springboot, Maven, Gradle)Strong design and architecture skills;Strong experience with Kubernetes in cloud environments, preferably GCPStrong experience with Infrastructure as Code toolsStrong experience with shell scriptingStrong work-experience in Relational Databases including PostgreSQL;Strong knowledge of CI/CD pipeline orchestration, Docker containers;Strong knowledge in networkingExperience with Scrum/Agile Development methodologies;Experience managing multiple projects at the same time; Desired Competencies Familiarity react or angular UI frameworksExperience with other scripting languages (python)BS degree in Computer Engineering/Computer Science/Electrical Engineering; A Masters degree is a plusCertification in GCP cloud technologiesStakeholder management;Strategic Orientation;Strong Problem Solving Skills;Great communication skills;Project Management;People Management & Development; Desired Behavioral Competencies You have experience in handling the pressure of fast-paced environments typical of a tech startup environment where you wear multiple hats and have access to limited resourcesYou have a strong desire for continuous improvementYou can work under pressure, with tight timelines and ambitious deadlinesYou have a passion for digital productsYou can stay motivated through difficult challenges, and occasional long hoursYour passion is contagious, and you use it to inspire the rest of the teamYou have equal empathy for internal users, and our target market of informal retailersYou have a strong work ethic and exhibit genuine care for the team and their products, with a willingness to go to any necessary length to ensure their successYou have integrity: You do what you say you will do and make no excuses.You develop a deep understanding and respect for what each team member is responsible for, and trust them to do their jobYour confidence and experience make you trust your instinct and communicate persuasively. You know when to make decisions (even when others might disagree) vs when to build consensus, and you can articulate the strategy and business rationale behind your decisions.You are comfortable taking the blame if something goes wrong, and equally quick to give credit to the rest of the team when it goes wellYou are detail-oriented, process-driven, and organized, and can stay two steps ahead of the work your team is doingYou understand devops as culture not as a role, and seek to automate manual processes where it makes sense.