Senior Technology Analyst, Applab Money - Accelerator

 Position Title: Senior Technology Analyst, Applab Money - Accelerator
Status: Full Time, Project Based
Location: Uganda
Date: June 2012

Job Summary: The Senior Technology Analyst (STA) for Mobile Financial Services is responsible for driving the definition, requirements, and business design of an interface to enable an end-to-end solution for our Financial Institution partners to our Mobile Money Partner. The STA plays a lead role in partnering with all cross functional teams to deliver the approaches and work required for an offering to succeed in the market.
The role will be measured by delivering high quality, innovative solutions which are adopted by the market and competitively differentiated. The ultimate outcomes are a commercially viable solution and end user adoption especially amongst clients earning under $2.50/day. Managing timely deliverables with strong communication and cross functional partnering skills with the ability to gain shared vision on challenging decisions which impact various teams and the offering. Success will require working closely with stakeholders (Telco, FIs, 3rd party vendors) to define a solution on which relevant pro-poor products can be offered seamlessly. Candidates must have a 'can do' attitude.

Reporting and relationships: The position will report to Project Director of Mobile Financial services with a dotted line to the Grameen Foundation Applab Technology Manager (both based in Uganda).

Availability: The STA is expected to work a standard work week of 40 hours plus additional hours as necessary to get the job done. The position may require up to 10% travel.

Essential Job Functions:
• Assess the products being reviewed against Financial Partners willingness to develop on their internal systems and what the internal rules are on data sharing with external parties
• Oversee product definition and development of product requirements with regards to the middleware platform and services delivered over that platform working with a software architect.
• Research and select the technology solutions best suited to meet long-term project goals, documenting the process.
• Work with the transactional platform company or telecom operator, financial institutions and mobile financial services team to respond to client requests with both requirements as well as ‘product positioning’.
• Contract and manage 3rd party contractors to ensure timely delivery of agreed outputs
• Collaborate with other program or project managers to ensure that the development plans fit into the overall project plan.
• Work with functional heads at the partnering financial institutions to incorporate their long-term plans into the technology platform.
• Have a disposition toward ‘action’ to make sure things get done.
Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
• 5 years experience working with product development on CORE Banking Systems
• Knowledge and skills to conduct supporting IT platform security audits.
• Broad knowledge of security-related topics such as authentication, entitlements, identity management, data protection, data leakage prevention, validation checking, encryption, hashing, principle of least privilege, software attack methodologies, secure data transfer, secure data storage etc.
• Knowledge of risk management control frameworks
• Have an understanding of business processes methodologies (BPM)
• Be familiar with the Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) styles.
• Knowledge of Mobile Phone customer interfaces in particular mobile money is an added advantage.
• Ability to evaluate technical and functional specifications early within the software development process, identify possible threats or areas of weakness as it relates to impacts on supporting IT platforms.
• Excellent writing, research and communication skills; ability to gather, synthesize and present information in a professional, compelling and practical manner;
• Highly self-motivated, self-directed, and attentive to detail;
• Extensive experience working in a team-oriented, collaborative environment;
• Excellent organizational, project management and time management skills;
• Fluency in oral and written English.
Education and Experience:
• Bachelor’s Degree required, advanced degree preferred in business administration, international development, or a related field
• At least 1 year of vendor or customer relationship management
• At least 5 years working on technical specifications and product development of CORE Banking systems
• Work experience in international development, preferably in a developing country
Physical and Environmental Conditions:
This position does not require unusual demands for physical effort. This position may occasionally require physical effort to lift and transport boxes weighing no more than 50 pounds.

Work environment involves everyday risks or discomforts that require normal safety precautions typical of places such as offices, meeting or training rooms, residences, or commercial vehicles; e.g., use of safe work place practices with office equipment, and/or avoidance of trips and falls, and observance of fire regulations and traffic signals.

Additional Comment:
The above job description is not intended as, nor should it be construed as, exhaustive of all responsibilities, skills, efforts, or working conditions associated with this job.

Reasonable accommodations may be made in appropriate circumstances to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of this job.

Interested candidates should send their resume and brief cover letter explaining why you are interested in this position and what you will bring to the position. Resumes will be accepted through June 10, 2012 and should be sent via email to jobs@applab.org. Please put “SAA-MFS” in the subject line. No phone calls, please