Terms of Reference for the recruitment

 Position: IT SOLUTION ARCHITECT

Smart Africa Digital Academy, Smart Africa

Readvertised

• Position: IT Solution Architect, Smart Africa Digital Academy
• Duration: One (1) year
• Location: Kigali, Rwanda
• Deadline: 20th May 2021

About the Smart Africa

Smart Africa is a bold and innovative commitment from African Heads of State and Government and a wide range of stakeholders including the private sector, international non-government organisations, and academia to accelerate sustainable socio-economic development on the continent, ushering Africa into a knowledge economy through affordable access to Broadband and usage of Information and Communications Technologies.

The Smart Africa agenda is led by visionary Heads of State who believe in ICT’s power for the advancement and betterment of the African continent. This agenda will lead Africa to the 04th industrial revolution, using the transformative power of ICTs through a successful implementation and deployment of major ICT infrastructure, applications, services, and creating local relevant content for Africa while developing a vibrant ICT industry and creating jobs.

Smart Africa aims to put ICT at the centre of the National Socio-economic development agenda of member countries, improve access to ICT, especially Broadband, improve accountability, efficiency and openness through ICT. It promotes the introduction of advanced technologies in telecommunication while putting the Private Sector first, and leveraging ICT to promote sustainable development.

About the Smart Africa Digital Academy

Over the past decade, Africa has made great strides in enrolling children in school, with some countries providing free primary education for the first nine years. Despite this achievement, the average Human Capital Index (HCI) falls below the average, with one of the highest being 52 on a scale of 100 education being a major determinant factor.

With a population estimated to approximately 1.3bn people who are majorly youthful, ensuring quality jobs to leverage on the continent’s demographic opportunity is set to be one of Africa’s game-changer. An estimated 15 to 20 million increasingly well-educated young people will join the African workforce every year for the next three decades.

The Smart Africa Digital Academy (SADA) is the delivery vehicle of the Smart Africa capacity building and skills development activities across the various digital skills spectrum. It is a pan-African dynamic learning ecosystem in which African citizens of all ages and social classes can gain or improve their digital skills, gain qualifications, meet the emerging talent needs of employers, industry or be self-reliant.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

The Smart Africa Secretariat would like to recruit an IT Solution Architect to support the Smart Africa Digital Academy implementation.

Responsibilities include:

• Design and implementation of a large-scale data integration platform, with user interactive interfaces.
• Design and integration of APIs for different content providers;
• Technical IT support on various phases of the Smart Africa Digital Academy portal implementation;
• Support full front and back-end design and development of the SADA platform;
• Understanding and implementing SADA project requirements ;
• Coordinating with consulting firms and agencies the development of SADA’s portal, reviewing final layouts and suggesting improvements when necessary;
• Project support activities, including input into project planning and documentation, assistance with implementation resources, monitoring, and reporting on project progress;

Other responsibilities will include:

• Any other assignments or projects, which will be assigned from time to time by the leadership of Smart Africa.

Key qualifications

Education and Professional experience:

• Minimum of Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering and all related fields.
• A minimum of proven Eight (8) years of online platform architecture design and experience in cloud-based server deployment.

Core Competencies:

• Knowledge of design techniques such as Prototyping, Instructional Design, etc.
• Experience in deployment and integration of application program interface (APIs).
• Proficiency with server-side languages such as Python, Ruby, Java, PHP or .Net.
• Familiarity with database technology such as MySQL, Oracle or MongoDB.

General Competencies

• Proficiency with fundamental front end languages such as HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
• Familiarity with JavaScript frameworks such as Angular JS, React or Amber.

General experience and skills:

• Good interpersonal skills with experience in networking with partners at all levels;
• Creativity and problem-solving abilities;
• Ability to work in a team;
• Ability to work with little supervision.
• Strong competence in the use of standard software productivity tools (such as Microsoft Office Suite or others).

Languages:

• Excellent Knowledge of and Fluency in French or English.
• A good working knowledge of another language will be an added advantage.

 Duration of the assignment

The appointment will be for one (1) year and may be renewed subject to availability of fund, relevance of the position and successful performance assessment.  

Reporting requirements

The IT Solutions Architect will report directly to the assigned supervisor under the Digital Infrastructure Department.

Location 

Kigali, Rwanda  

Application Instructions

Please send the following application documents to the following email address hr@smartafrica.org:

• A one-page cover letter in either French or English with a motivation statement in relation to this position;
• A CV in either French or English with 3 contacts of referees with mention of professional relationship;
• Copies of relevant academic and professional certificates.

Deadline

The deadline for submitting applications is 20th May 2021 5:00 pm Kigali time.