Jobs at Code for Africa (CfA)

About the Role

• Do you want to help human rights defenders in Africa fight back against online attacks? 
• We are recruiting a full-time Security Evangelist anywhere in Africa to join our civic technology lab to help build digital tools that strengthen our democracies and empower citizens.
• Candidates must have demonstrable experience in creating momentum and driving product adoption through direct user engagement and awareness-building, good understanding of modern cyber-attack techniques and technical knowledge of existing (open source) tools to prevent or mitigate such attacks. Candidates should be fluent in English and candidates who are fluent in at least one local language from their country of residence will have an advantage.
• CfA is a non-profit advocate for open source software and open data, and the successful candidate will help champion these principles by adopting best practices and helping document all our technologies to help others reuse them. In keeping with CfA’s values, you will regularly interact with the wider civic tech community, as well as CfA’s grantees and partners, to share insights and offer guidance on how to improve their online security and defences.
• The successful candidates will work as part of a multinational and multilingual team using digital collaboration tools to create content for a global audience and international media partners.
• The successful candidate will join CfA’s technology team. The team is distributed across east/west Africa, and benchmarks itself on similar civic technology initiatives elsewhere in the world that build digital democracy solutions.
• The Security Evangelist will play a key role in shaping internal technology decisions and mitigating third-party risks. The successful candidate will ensure that CfA deploys new infrastructure, projects and technologies in a safe and secure manner. The candidate will lead the selection and deployment of world-class open-source cyber security tools, and contribute to recruitment and talent management of information security technologists.
• The Security Evangelist will also have important external-facing responsibilities. The candidate will be a cybersecurity advocate, drive a diverse cybersecurity community and garner awareness, oversee events, contribute to engagement  and offer insight to stakeholders.
• The Tech Lab spearheads CfA’s design, development and maintenance of all digital services for the organisation, and its external human rights defending partner organisations. The team is responsible for digital infrastructure for teams and organisations, through managing and deploying tools/services such as password managers (like BitWarden), digital security (like ProjectShield) and VPNs (such as Outline). The Tech Lab develops and maintains our public-facing web platforms (like AfricanSpending, Afrileaks, Grano, and PesaYetu), tools/widgets (such as  BiscuitIndex, HURUmap and TaxClock) and bots (such as DebunkBot). The team also manages CfA’s machine learning  and natural language processing analysis tools (such as CivicSignal). CfA’s github is available here.

Responsibilities
Your core responsibilities will include:

• Establish a security standard that all technologies and solutions at CfA, managed by your fellow technologists, must be held against to ensure the online safety of both internal and external users.
• Build a dynamic pan-African digital security community for the media and other civic watchdogs, based on peer-learning and peer-support.
• Manage a virtual ‘hotline’ and support service for African newsrooms and/or journalists who need urgent help on digital security and investigative technology issues.
• Develop and deliver a range of technical and non-technical presentations / webinars / classes to help impact digital security skills and investigative technology awareness.
• Manage an onboarding and support service for newsrooms and/or journalists who adopt any CfA-endorsed technologies or digital solutions.
• Identify events, organisations, and other approaches to build awareness of CfA security projects, tools, and technologies and to drive partner activation.
• Develop metrics to measure success in raising awareness and activating partnerships, for progress tracking by the core CfA team and partners.
• Provide ongoing support to regional CfA teams in their own outreach efforts.

Requirements
Minimum requirements include:

• A minimum of 3 years work experience, with 1+ years in a similar role.
• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science or equivalent Engineering discipline.
• A technical understanding of security controls, including but not limited to; data protection, user access management, and general application security.
• A passion for helping vulnerable or at-risk users in the media or other civic watchdogs, specifically women in journalism and politics 
• An ability to translate complex technical ideas to simple, easy to understand language for non-technical users
• Experience developing user-facing content and comfortable presenting to different types of audiences, large and small.
• Amazing verbal and written communication skills, with English as your primary work language
• French and/or Arabic are highly desirable additional languages, alongside major indigenous African languages such as KiSwahili or Hausa

Preferred:
Candidates who are able to demonstrate the following will have an advantage:

• Knowledge of modern software development and deployment tools (e.g. Python, Docker, etc.), and public cloud provider technologies (e.g. AWS, GCP, Azure, etc.).
• A technical understanding of CDNs, DDoS, web caching, DNS and related technologies will be a major advantage.
• Strategic thinking and great problem-solving skills.
• Evidence of experience at successfully building and maintaining a wide array of relationships with both internal colleagues and external partners
• Demonstrated experience of working effectively as part of a geographically distributed multicultural team will be an advantage

Language and Location Requirements:

• Location: CfA has labs located in Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda. However the role can be performed remotely, and applicants across Africa will therefore be considered.
• Languages: English
• Preferred but not required: Arabic, French, KiSwahili or any other major language spoken in Africa.

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, writing for international audiences and interacting with colleagues around the world.

go to method of application »

Job Description

• Do you want to help drive high-impact projects in the civic technology and digital democracy space?
• Code for Africa (CfA) has an immediate vacancy for a full-time Project Manager to join our New Initiatives team.
• The role will preferably be based at any of CfA’s primary hubs in Kenya, Nigeria or South Africa. CfA has full-time staff in 18 African countries, and is therefore also open to exceptional applicants from elsewhere on the continent.
• CfA is a nine-year-old pan-African network of digital democracy and journalism technology labs, registered as a public benefit non-profit organisation. Our New Initiatives team is made up of two portfolios – Business Development (BizDev) and the Impact Accelerator.
• The BizDev team is responsible for CfA’s fund-raising and other revenue generative partnerships, while the Accelerator helps incubate/scale CfA grantees and initiatives. Both teams are managed by the CEO.
• In order to thrive in this role, candidates should enjoy fast-paced creative problem-solving and systems building, in a multicultural transnational environment, and should have experience in programme/project management or leadership roles in the digital media and/or technology space.  
• The successful candidates will work as part of a multinational and multilingual team using digital collaboration tools to train and mentor newsroom partners and media houses across the world.

About this Role

• Your role is to work with CfA’s rainmakers to help ensure that CfA’s partnerships and projects live up to their full potential.
• As one of a small team of project & programme managers for New Initiatives, you will oversee in-country teams across the continent who actively manage incubated projects, such as africanDRONE, the iLAB, PesaCheck and sensors.AFRICA. You will help build their teams and shape their systems, and improve their products. You will work with the project teams to ensure that partnerships and project deliverables are met and that stakeholders are kept informed and engaged. 
• We operate in a fast-paced environment, so you will need to be agile in your management approach, quick to understand and learn new things, and creative in finding solutions to any problems that arise. You will also need an obsessive attention to detail and be comfortable handling multiple tasks and deadlines.

Responsibilities
Your daily responsibilities will include:

• Actively monitor and evaluate implementation and qualitative progress on the projects in your portfolio, including ensuring that expenses and work plans remain on-track, project documentation is created and maintained, and project reports are drafted and delivered on time
• Ensure projects remain on track, meeting their targets and delivering on their milestones timeously
• Ensure that projects and milestones are delivered on time, that they are of the highest standard and quality standards and meet/exceed donor expectations.
• Actively find solutions to problems as they arise, reporting and escalating challenges and risks to management when needed
• Proactively manage CfA’s relationship with external stakeholders, keeping them informed about project progress, managing expectations and synchronising partnership activities.
• Coordinating internal resources and teams across the continent for the flawless execution of projects.

Requirements
Minimum requirements include:

• Bachelor’s Degree or significant experience in project management, or a related field. 
• 2+ years of experience as a project manager, project officer, project coordinator or a related position.
• Demonstrable experience in all aspects of project management, including developing and maintaining project documentation (such as work plans and M&E trackers); report writing for a variety of audiences; stakeholder engagement and management etc 
• Proven track-record for creative problem-solving in fast-paced impact-driven environments, where solutions involve balancing human/technology considerations 
• Demonstrable ability to self-manage and prioritise, creating your own and wider team timelines and milestones, with clear systems/processes
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with an ability to get across complex details in an understandable and accurate way
• Digital first workplace skill-sets, including proficiency in collaborative work solutions such as Google Drive (Google Docs, Slides, Sheets, etc) and Slack (or equivalents such as Teams), as well as project management tools like Trello (or equivalents)
• Empathetic communication and listening skills, plus a sensitivity to and ability to work with cross-cultural dynamics  
• Experience in managing training across multiple platforms, including but not limited to, in-person, one-on-one and online trainings, as well as in individual mentorship.

Preferred:
Candidates who are able to demonstrate the following will have an advantage:

• 4+ years of experience as a project manager or a related position.
• Experience building and managing relationships with media institutions, governments, international organisations, educational institutions, relevant technology players, and other private and not-for-profit relevant stakeholders in the civic technology and media ecosystem.
• Experience managing multiple projects, partners and team members across multiple time zones and cultures
• Experience working with a variety of teams, such as software engineering teams, journalists, trainers and data analysts
• Deep understanding of and experience in the technology, media ecosystem and/or digital innovation space in Africa. 

Language and Location Requirements:

• Location: Kenya). While applicants from these territories are preferred, the role can be performed remotely, and applicants across Africa will therefore be considered.
• Languages: English
• Preferred but not required: Arabic and French, plus major African languages such Fulani, Kiswahili, isiZulu, Yoruba, etc.

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, writing for international audiences and interacting with colleagues around the world.