Senior Data Systems Engineer - Coffee Africa

Title: Senior Data Systems Engineer - Coffee Africa

Location: Kigali, Rwanda

Reporting/Supervisor: MEL Director – Coffee Division

About TechnoServe:

At TechnoServe, we believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to build a better life. For over 50 years, we have given smallholder farmers and entrepreneurs the skills, connections, and confidence to lift themselves out of poverty. We leverage the power of markets and the private sector to create sustainable economic growth to benefit people and the planet. Our unique mix of business solutions, deep knowledge of local contexts, and data-driven insights is helping to fight poverty across Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

TechnoServe staff are local–95% are from the countries in which they work. We put a high premium on collaboration and entrepreneurship. We hold ourselves and each other to the highest standards of integrity and transparency. And we focus on delivering lasting impact for our mission.

Job Summary:

The Senior Systems Specialist, Coffee Africa provides technical oversight of monitoring systems for our coffee practice in Africa. The role oversees the development and management of digital systems that collect, analyze and present data on farmer attendance and program performance monitoring (PIMA). PIMA is the monitoring platform for Coffee Africa programs at TechnoServe, tracking program performance and staff activities, operating through CommCare, and PostgreSQL. Tailored PIMA reports are used by all levels of management to make informed management decisions. The system currently provides monitoring of training attendance and training observation assessments. The vision for PIMA is that it will provide real-time monitoring of all program activities leading to increased program quality and cost efficiency.

Primary Functions & Responsibilities:

• Managing the PIMA Monitoring System to track field management programs:

• Manage change requests from project teams related to mobile data collection surveys, survey mapping to the PIMA System database, and reporting.
• Manage the PIMA System support helpdesk, tracking and responding to user requests in a timely and effective manner.
• Ensure Standard Operating Procedure documents, training materials, and user guides on the system are up-to-date and accurate.
• Monitor system performance and operation, verifying the integrity and availability of server resources, systems and key processes, reviewing system and application logs, and verifying completion of scheduled jobs.
• Design systems for data quality assurance checks
• Apply secure coding and version control practices (e.g., Git-based workflows, peer code review) to reduce the risk of introducing vulnerabilities into production systems
• Participate in or coordinate security testing (static/dynamic analysis, dependency vulnerability scanning) as part of the development lifecycle
• Conduct regular audits of data access permissions and security practices across dashboards, databases, and reporting systems to identify and mitigate vulnerabilities

• Design, test and roll-out new features in the PIMA system (in collaboration with program management teams):

• Collaborating with prospective users and program teams to understand and anticipate their needs and translate them into product requirements
• Managing the product backlog and prioritizing them based on changing requirements
• Implement all stages of product creation including design and development
• Monitoring and evaluating product progress at each stage of the process
• Liaising with the product team and providing regular updates to end-users
• Participating in scrum meetings and product sprints
• Developing training materials and training system users for the new product developed.
• Ensure Standard Operating Procedures are in place as a guide to users for the new product developed.
• Manage or contribute to CI/CD pipelines that incorporate automated testing and security gates prior to deployment

• Dashboards and Reports (Secondary Responsibility, ~15-30% of time)

• Provide occasional, as-needed support on dashboard design and maintenance
• Assist with resolving dashboard/report issues when they exceed the primary team's bandwidth
• Occasionally support training sessions on existing data systems

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field and least 5 years of experience in data engineering, including SQL, PostgreSQL, data pipelines, data transformation, and data quality. Or a Master's Degree and 3 years of experience.
• Familiarity with data security principles including encryption, access control, and anonymization techniques for sensitive or personally identifiable data
• Experience developing and integrating REST APIs, preferably using Python.
• Experience developing web applications using React and JavaScript.
• Basic knowledge of virtual machines (VMs), cloud infrastructure, and application deployment on GCP and/or AWS.
• Experience with version control systems (e.g., Git) and collaborative code review practices
• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines and integrating automated security testing into deployment workflows
• Working knowledge of secure coding practices and common vulnerability class
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, communication, and coordination skills

Physical Requirements:

The person in this position must be able to:

• Travel in work environments may present physical challenges in regard to traversing rough terrain, tolerating extreme climate/weather conditions, and at times safety, security and/or health concerns.
• When not in the field, may remain in a stationary position for an extended number of hours throughout the day using a computer, frequently communicating by telephone or Google meet, and in meeting with others
• Occasionally move items weighing up to 20 lbs. and able to transport and position their luggage when traveling;
• Occasionally ascend/descend stairs; and
• Frequently move about inside the office to access files, cabinets, office machinery, and meeting rooms.

Closing statements:

We encourage all qualified individuals who share TechnoServe's vision of improving the lives of others through proven business solutions to apply.

With our commitment to diversity, we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and affirmative action employer and do not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, color, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, HIV/AIDS status, protected veteran status, disability and all other protected classes.

We are also proud of our commitment to protecting staff, partners, and beneficiaries from abuse and exploitation and thoroughly vet all final candidates through rigorous background and reference checks.

If you have a disability that affects your ability to use our online system to apply for a position at TechnoServe please contact the Human Resources at recruitment@tns.org or call +1 202 785 4515.