Senior Software Engineer

About Us African Management Institute (AMI) is an EdTech start up building Africa’s leading workplace learning for ambitious companies and talent. As an African champion, building Africa's business champions, we've trained more than 100,000 people and 40k+ enterprises - from executives to entry-level workers in large and small companies across the continent. With our hub in Nairobi, and teams in 8 African markets, we combine AI-powered diagnostics, live learning and practical tools to deliver the highest-outcome learning programmes for African business. Clients love our practical approach to learning for business, supported by an evidence-based methodology and tech platform, built for the African market. AMI was listed in the prestigious Norsken/100 as one of the leading social impact companies in the world, and has been proudly recognized by the Financial Times as one of Africa’s Fastest Growing Companies for the past two years. We are expanding rapidly. AMI has offices in Uganda, Kenya, South Africa, Rwanda and Senegal and country representatives in Ethiopia and Nigeria. Our diverse and rapidly-expanding 150+ team reflects all corners of the continent and beyond. Our work environment is fun, flexible and inclusive, with opportunity for growth. AMI-GOs ask questions, get things done, and put the team before self to achieve our mission. If our vision for enabling ambitious businesses across Africa to thrive has sparked your imagination, and if your skills and experience match the description below, then we’d love to hear from you. Job Description AMI is looking for a Senior Software Engineer to build, extend, and evolve the technical infrastructure powering AMI’s digital learning platform and coach bot services across Africa. This is a senior role with team leadership responsibilities, working on an established production codebase serving hundreds of thousands of learners. KEY RESPONSIBILITIES Learning Platform & Content Delivery Build, extend, and evolve AMI’s core learning platform, currently an Elixir/Phoenix umbrella application (LiveView, Ecto, PostgreSQL), serving entrepreneurs, company employees, and young people across AMI’s program portfolio. Work across the platform’s web, moderator/admin, and API surfaces, extending existing services and adding new ones as program requirements evolve. Work closely with the Learning and Content teams to translate program requirements into robust, scalable technical solutions. Create internal tools that let product and program teams design and run experiments across digital services (testing content type, delivery schedule, and participant nudges) and surface clear insights. Data Infrastructure & Engineering Design and maintain data pipelines integrating diverse sources (application forms, surveys, platform events, and third-party tools) into a unified, reliable data layer. Instrument the platform to support rigorous measurement of program effectiveness, enabling data-driven improvement across services. Propose, design, and run experiments with clear hypotheses and measurable outcomes, translating results into actionable product recommendations. Coach Bot & AI Features Link pre-programme data (application forms, participant surveys) with platform data to give the coach bot a complete, contextual view of each participant, reducing repetitive data collection and enabling personalized coaching from day one. Contribute to coach bot features (prompt engineering, conversation design, and AI-powered personalization of nudges, content, and scheduling) in collaboration with the coach bot service team. Integrate LLM capabilities (RAG, fine-tuning, or AI-powered features) into the learning platform to improve coaching quality and participant outcomes. Requirements Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience. 10+ years of professional software engineering experience at a tech or product-driven company, with most of that time in a senior or lead capacity on production systems. Technical leadership: has led or mentored other engineers, owned delivery of significant features or systems end-to-end, and set technical direction within a team. Elixir and Phoenix: strong hands-on experience including Phoenix LiveView. This role works on an existing production Elixir/Phoenix codebase from day one; a solid full-stack background is expected. Solid working experience with PostgreSQL (schema design, query performance, migrations) and comfort with an ORM/query layer (Ecto is the layer used in this codebase). Proficient in TypeScript / React for frontend work, and comfortable in Python for data pipelines and coach-bot services. AI/LLM familiarity: Hands-on with RAG, prompt engineering, or shipping AI-powered product features. Formal machine-learning-engineering expertise is not required; practical experience integrating AI into a product is. Strong data engineering skills: integrating diverse sources and building reliable pipelines. Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure). Career track record: longer-term engagements at product- or tech-driven companies, showing ownership across full product life cycles. Clear communicator who works comfortably with non-technical colleagues across program, content, and leadership teams. Proactive and ownership-driven: identifies problems, takes initiative, and follows through without waiting to be directed. Deeper hands-on experience with Elixir/Phoenix, LiveView, and Ecto. Background designing and running rigorous experiments using SQL, Python, or R, and translating results into clear product recommendations. Experience with background job processing frameworks (e.g. Oban), Phoenix Channels or building multi-tenant SaaS platforms. Experience in ed-tech, learning technology, the social sector, or emerging markets Benefits Why join us: A high-impact, diverse and ambitious team with common values: Be the best: We work really hard, are proud of what we do, and love delighting our clients with quality. Own it: We step up to the task, never pass the buck and hold ourselves accountable for delivering results. Push the limits: We ask why, embrace failure and try new things. We never settle. Do what’s right: We act with integrity, confront dishonesty, treat people fairly and strive to contribute to the greater good Always care: We don’t have ego – it’s always ‘team before me’. We are kind, we celebrate each other’s success, and we care enough to give honest feedback. A dynamic office & team life Regular learning and coaching opportunities A hybrid working model