Senior Engineer/Developer Full-time

Overview

Work Location: Remote
Schedule: 40 hrs, Monday - Friday; Flexible Schedule, with functional overlap to HOT’s core connection hours (UTC 1300 - 1700) required. Overlap with U.S. Mountain Time (UTC-7/-6) preferred.
Travel: Up to 20% international, including to HOT field project locations
Application Close Date: December 31, 2021
Estimated Start date: January 15, 2022
Department: Technology Innovation
Reports to: Senior Technical Lead
Terms: Full time, one year initial contract


About HOT

Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) sits at the nexus of participatory mapping, community-led development, humanitarian response, open data and tech. With a talented and diverse team spread around the globe, HOT is an NGO which supports a dynamic global community of thousands of dedicated volunteers using maps and open data for humanitarian response and the Sustainable Development Goals. Working with humanitarian and development partners like the Red Cross, Médecins Sans Frontières, UN agencies, governments and others, the HOT community maps in solidarity with those affected by or at risk of disaster, contributing the maps and data aid workers need to do their lifesaving work.

In 2020 the work of the HOT community was recognized by TED’s Audacious Project, a collaborative philanthropic initiative that serves as a springboard for social impact on a grand scale, leading to an exciting new phase of growth. HOT is expanding its activities: opening four regional hubs and scaling up its support to local mapping communities with the audacious goal of mapping an area home to one billion people in 94 countries at high risk of disasters or experiencing poverty - mapping with communities before they are in crisis.



About You

We are seeking a senior open source technologist with demonstrated experience leading open source technology development, community development, and product evolution. The Senior Engineer/Developer will be able to support individual and team growth through leadership and mentorship to an enthusiastic and rapidly growing team. Furthermore, you will be a great community facilitator that can draw out the needs and desires of a HOT’s wider free and open source community including individual members, NGOs, private sector partners and multi sector donors.



About the Role

The Tech Senior Engineer is a keystone of the HOT tech team. The Senior Engineer is expected to collaborate with the HOT Technology Innovation team and the rest of the project team in developing quality and valuable FOSS software for humanitarian data. In partnership with the Senior Technical Lead, The Senior Engineer plays the critical role of translating design research and user stories into technical solutions that can be developed by the HOT Technology Innovation engineering teams. The Senior Engineer will be responsible for supporting the engineering teams to improve the quality and efficiency of solution development and deployment.


HOT.io is a consolidation of 10 years of direct experience in developing and deploying open source technologies to support HOT’s humanitarian mission to enable collaborative mapping and geospatial data collection and production. It brings together HOT’s diverse product offerings into a single and streamlined workflow to make the collection and consumption of geospatial data a simple, enjoyable experience for HOT’s community of volunteers, stakeholders and users.


The Senior Engineer will advance HOT’s mission by operationalizing the HOT_Tech core ethics:

Human: Our Human ethic is our commitment to people as our priority. At the centre of all our technology sits a human. The ultimate purpose of our technology is to improve human conditions. We use technology to enable and amplify human efforts.
Open: Our Open ethic permeates all we do. Our actions reflect radical openness and transparency. We encourage open inputs and outputs. Our team and technology openly welcomes and engages community, collaboration and contribution.
Truth: Our Truth ethic reflects an OpenStreetMap core principle; the ‘truth on the ground’. Our activities and decisions will be guided by this ethic, where not easily resolved will defer to this as a core principle in order to define what best reflects the truth on the ground.
HOT_Tech Principles > Can be found here >> https://github.com/hotosm/tech/blob/master/principles/README.md


The Senior Engineer will remotely support engineering teams and collaborate with key HOT_Tech supporting functions including the Director of Technology, Senior Technical Lead, Senior Designer, DevOps Manager and Community Manager.




Priority Actions and Responsibilities

Priority Actions

Engineering support and mentorship: The Senior Engineer/Developer will first be a support and mentor to the HOT Technology Innovation engineering teams. They will be able to nurture and grow talent through deep hands on experience working across a broad range of technologies and contexts. They will have experience supporting and mentoring talent across a range of skill levels, geographies and cultures.
Technology Leadership: The Senior Engineer/Developer will need the skills to be able to competently and confidently evaluate the difference between foundations and fads. By facilitating open and dynamic conversations and combining it with evidence-based decision making, the Senior Engineer/Developer will help guide the selection of emerging and outdated technologies to help HOT’s tools remain both optimal and sustainable.
Code quality & evolution: The Senior Engineer/Developer will at all times pioneer and promote code quality and integrity. This will be based on robust standards that will ensure HOT’s technologies meet reputable security and scalability and perform optimally on current and developing codebases.


Responsibilities

Consist of approximately 70% software development and 30% team management.
Support an Agile team designing, developing, deploying, testing and maintaining HOT tools
Collaborate with key HOT stakeholders to scope HOT Technology projects - define and prioritize user needs and functional requirements.
Work with product and ‘business’ owners to clearly define and prioritize product backlogs
Lead the project team to design and develop functional specifications to ensure smooth integration between technical and functional business requirements
Contribute to the success of planning, execution and success of complex software solutions
Clear understanding of the requirements and sprint goals
Identify blockers for the engineering teams and intervene and resolve early.
Review project estimates and ensure tasks are specific, measurable and achievable
Uphold and advocate good development practices at all times.
Manage technical debt by targeting 80/20 rule
Ensures coding standards are in place and met by engineering teams
Performs team debugging, monitor health of the team and does task management
Develop test plans for and ensure unit testing is performed by the developers prior to QA
Review the test cases and help investigate issues


Qualifications

Qualifications & Experience

Possess 10+ years of recent and relevant software development experience, with some leadership responsibilities or experience
Experience guiding or contributing to agile development teams and others
Experience working in international humanitarian or development agencies/NGOs
Experience managing diverse, distributed teams over multiple geographies
Experience implementing free/open source software with investments up $500k
Proficiency developing in C++ with Boost, Pqxx, Libxml++.
Experience with Postgres and Postgis desired.
Familiarity with code configuration management, and continuous integration
Experience writing unit and integration tests in Python, Javascript and C++ environments
Demonstrated proficiency with high performance database design and queries.
Proficiency in system design, operations, quality engineering, engineering management
Hands on experience with DevOps and deployments
Experience working across a range of server related architecture and infrastructure (AWS, Azure, physical and others)
Familiarity with AI/ML and advanced data techniques.
Proficiency or familiarity working with additional languages and frameworks including, java, nodeJS, REACT, REST APIs
Geospatial sector experience/familiarity may increase your job satisfaction
Some mobile development experience would enable growth within the role
Bachelor/advanced degree in computer science, software engineering may increase your ability to perform in the role


Rol Specific Skills

Facilitate team discussions, guide decision-making and mediate conflicts.
Project management for organizing work in the new multi-tasking environment as well as work of other people.
Able to make good and critical technical decisions
Acts as sounding board of developers
Be passionate about data from organisation and expression of data stories
Be able to convene and motivate open source communities, including a mix of paid staff, volunteers and private sector partners providing in-kind developer hours.
Proven track record of delivering data driven solutions with a user-first mindset
Be driven by compassion, humanitarian ethics, and a sense of humor.
Demonstrated success in managing agile software engineering teams deploying solutions to support complex organizational processes
Passion for open source mobile-first solutions and appropriate technology that is user centric and built in and for constrained contexts.
Utilize strong verbal and written communication to articulate complex concepts across varied audiences to build consensus and lead change.
Be fluent in working in a fully or partially remote work environment
Speak and write English fluently; French or Spanish in addition to English are preferred


Top 2 - 3 priorities for the first 60 to 90 days

Rapidly gain a deep understanding of hot_tech’s current code base so they can begin making contributions as soon as possible.
Will be required to identify key gaps in HOT’s technology and propose recommendations to improve or resolve priority issues.
Will be required to prioritise mentoring and coaching for the hot_tech core team and the hot_tech collective.


Are you missing a few of the technical skills listed? We would still like to see your application. While the skills above fit our vision of this role, we are open to those candidates with a strong knowledge foundation that are fast learners and highly motivated to close any skill gaps.



Compensation

HOT values transparency and equity. All HOT compensation globally is set according to a framework detailed on our website. HOT offers a work-from-anywhere culture, flexible working arrangements, a variety of health care options, retirement savings plans, and 24 days of annual leave for full-time employees, in addition to 12 paid holidays.





Equal Opportunity

We seek to recruit persons that reflect the diversity of the communities we work with and further, to support their retention and advancement within the organization. HOT does not discriminate on the basis of ability, age, gender identity and expression, national origin, race and ethnicity, religious beliefs, or sexual orientation. Our staff includes people who are parents and nonparents, the self-taught and university educated, and from a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds, lived experiences, and perspectives on the world. HOT is an equal opportunity employer. We seek to live our values and promote inclusivity in all locations. All of our staff work collectively and individually to promote a constructive and sensitive approach to others from a variety of backgrounds, where the work of all is valued and respected.



HOT is committed to diversity within our team, and recognizes our role in closing the digital divide, including identifying obstacles that certain groups face in developing skills needed for roles in the humanitarian & technology sectors. Women, nationals of developing countries, and members of other underrepresented groups are strongly encouraged to apply.



To Apply

Please complete the application by December 31, 2021. Your CV/resume should not exceed 2 pages.