Akvo is looking for a dynamic business developer with a strong network. The business development manager drives Akvo’s business development and partnership operations. As the business development manager, you are responsible for implementing our long and short term sales strategy. You will oversee Akvo’s global business development team, and play a key role in implementing the global sales strategy. 

This position is based in Amsterdam, and you will be reporting to the CEO.

About you

In this role, you will oversee the operations of Akvo’s  global business development team. You play a key role in implementing Akvo’s global strategy within this team. You will be a part of the management coordination team (MC) and inform other management team members on all strategic matters relating to partnerships and business development. The business developer manager supervises the global business development/sales team and makes sure we bring in new engagements and funding to meet our objectives and drive impact in line with our vision. You are motivated to make the world a better place by contributing to Akvo’s mission.

Main tasks and responsibilities

Strategy and advice

• Develop, lead and execute Akvo’s global partnership strategy including segmentation and clear strategic offerings.
• Develop and maintain strategic international partnerships.
• Manage Akvo’s key accounts supported by the account managers.
• Represent Akvo at (inter)national strategic partner meetings and events.

Operations

• Expand and diversify the sales pipeline. 
• Research trends, competition and funding sources to strategically drive Akvo’s business development pipeline.
• Manage the accounts of larger partnerships.

Team management

• Supervise the global business development team and marcomms team and all  business development operations globally.
• Collaborate closely with the marcomms team on our offerings & messaging with regards to business development.
• Collaborate closely with expert leads on our service offerings.

Key requirements

• At least 10 years years of working experience in business development and partnership building.
• Proven track record in business development and closing deals. 
• Preferably experience or a good understanding of data and technology solutions for international development.
• Strategic mindset and strong track record in senior management.
• Transformative leadership skills.  
• Experience with tailored solutions as well as product and platform development and management.
• A strong set of intercultural communication skills.
• Interest in the international development sector.
• Excellent command of French and English in both writing and speaking.

What we offer

• Full time (40 hours/week) employment contract for one year, with the intention of building a long-lasting working relationship.
• A unique chance to be part of our international Akvo community, with motivated and talented people whose diverse backgrounds converge to accomplish ambitious objectives.
• Contribute to our mission: unlocking the power of data to boost sustainable development.
• Remuneration in line with the (NGO) market.

How to apply

Akvo works with a diverse and international team, and we are committed to promoting diversity and inclusion across our organisation. If you think you are the right person for this position, we highly encourage everyone to apply.

Think you’ve got what it takes? Simply click on the button below to send your motivation letter and resume in PDF to Karen Blanken by 15 August 2022. We aim to fill this position as soon as possible. 

Location: Remote | CET timezone. Full time position.

Akvo is looking for the “road captain” of the Tech Solutions team. You provide technical direction, assess trade-offs (build vs buy) on FOSS components, and mentor team members on good engineering practices. As an architect, you have hands-on experience in designing, building and maintaining distributed systems (e.g modular systems, offline data collection, data synchronisation, event systems). 

Main tasks and responsibilities:

• Lead and coordinate technical decisions on projects and products
• Evaluate technical design for custom solutions; act as sounding board and counterpoint
• Lead, develop, maintain, scale and evolve all the common/shared services
• Together with the team leads, coordinate architecture concerns between projects and products
• Identify cross cutting concerns that can be moved into the Akvo data platform
• Provide technical direction to the rest of our teams
• Research existing FOSS components and assess the trade-offs (build vs buy)
• Collaborate with QA and Ops teams to make better projects and products, more reliable and maintainable

Key requirements:

• You have designed and/or developed complex systems in combination with organisational constraints
• You like mentoring junior and mid level engineers and you’re strong proponent of good software development practices
• You have amazing debugging / troubleshooting capabilities
• You know how to deliver a working product and meet a deadline
• You know more than just programming knowledge and enjoy sharing that (e.g. business domain, agile teams/organisations, project management, budgeting)
• You have Python and JVM experience (diagnose/debug performance and memory problems)
• You have GNU/Linux experience (diagnose/debug performance problems) and you have been exposed to Docker and orchestration tools (Kubernetes)
• You have experience in fast growing organisations and/or the lean startup methodology

Our tech stack

• Programming languages: Python, Clojure, Java, JavaScript (Node.js)
• Databases: PostgreSQL / PostGIS, MySQL, Google App Engine Datastore
• CI/CD: Docker/Kubernetes/GKE, SemaphoreCI
• Misc: Bash, Nginx, OpenResty

What we offer

• This assignment is a commitment of 40 hours/week for a period of one year and can be extended afterwards
• Opportunity to contribute to the design of a growing open-source platform and work with interesting technologies in a creative and entrepreneurial environment together with highly motivated colleagues
• A unique chance to work with tools that contribute to achieving higher efficiency and better results for the development aid sector
• Help build and maintain services used in 60+ countries, making the development aid more transparent and helping to the governance of countries
• Team and organisation committed to learning, knowledge sharing, personal growth and working at a sustainable pace
• You will be part of our international Akvo community, with colleagues all over the world.
• Remuneration in line with the market

How to apply

Akvo works with a diverse and international team, and we are committed to promoting diversity and inclusion across our organisation. If you think you are the right person for this position, we highly encourage everyone to apply.

Think you’ve got what it takes? Simply click on the button below to send your motivation letter and resume in PDF to Karen Blanken by 1 July 2022. We aim to fill this position as soon as possible. 

Akvo is looking for a dynamic and visionary CTO to drive our technical solutions and platform development. This is a unique opportunity to take our technical solutions to the next level so that Akvo can better support partner organisations in achieving sustainable and inclusive impact. 

You will be responsible for all aspects of our technical solutions, including technical consultancy  and product development. As our CTO, you will be a member of Akvo’s management team (MT) and inform the MT members on all strategic matters relating to technical solutions. You will frequently align with our hub managers and project managers. 

This position is based in Amsterdam, and you will be reporting to the CEO.

About you

In this role, you will lead and supervise Akvo’s technical solutions team of around 15 people, and make sure they are able to develop and operate our standard products and custom technical solutions. You are a visionary leader that drives Akvo’s strategy regarding technical data solutions for our partners. You also play a key role in developing, implementing, and executing Akvo’s global strategy. The team members of the tech solutions team are located all over the world, therefore your remote leadership skills are crucial.

Main tasks and responsibilities

Strategy and advice

• Develop and implement our technical solutions strategy in alignment with Akvo’s strategy on data for development and sector collaboration.
• Play an active role in the management team. 
• Support business development.
• Identify new technological opportunities and create plans to implement them for Akvo and its partner organisations.
• Balance work and resources between platform & product development and tech consultancy projects. 

Operations

• Oversee all system design and changes in system architecture.
• Lead efforts to keep Akvo’s technical infrastructure reliable, scalable, sustainable and secure.
• Oversee the work with internal IT systems and ensure that Akvo’s IT operations adhere to local laws.

Team management

• Manage Akvo’s tech solutions team and oversee the execution of their goals and objectives
• Create a productive, sustainable and positive work environment.
• Motivate, coach and supervise team members (mostly remote).

Key requirements:

• At least 10 years years of working experience in software projects, including custom technical solutions as well as product management/software engineering.
• Experience in driving a vision and strategy for technical data driven solutions.
• Preferably experience or a good understanding of data solutions for international development.
• Strategic mindset and strong track record in senior management.
• Transformative leadership skills.  
• Experience with tailored solutions as well as product and platform development and management.
• Proven track record in guiding highly collaborative, participatory, distributed teams with a strong sense of ownership of their tasks.
• Experience in balancing in-house development versus outsourcing of components.
• An MSc and BSc in software engineering or equivalent.
• A strong set of intercultural communication skills.
• Experience with and interest in agile and lean startup approaches.
• Experience with overseeing internal IT systems for highly distributed teams.
• Interest in the international development sector.
• Excellent command of English in both writing and speaking.

What we offer

• Full time (40 hours/week) employment contract for one year, with the intention of building a long-lasting working relationship.
• A unique chance to be part of our international Akvo community, with motivated and talented people whose diverse backgrounds converge to accomplish ambitious objectives.
• Contribute to our mission: unlocking the power of data to boost sustainable development.
• Remuneration in line with the (NGO) market.

How to apply

Akvo works with a diverse and international team, and we are committed to promoting diversity and inclusion across our organisation. If you think you are the right person for this position, we highly encourage everyone to apply.

Think you’ve got what it takes? Simply click on the button below to send your motivation letter and resume in PDF to Karen Blanken by 1 July 2022. We aim to fill this position as soon as possible. 

Location: Nairobi, Kenya

Akvo is looking for a finance controller to provide all-round support with the legal entity’s financial, staff, and project administration. Besides your local role, you will make sure that Akvo has the financial systems and procedures in place to support effective project implementation on a global level. You’ll be part of the global finance team. You’ll work closely together with the HR  and project and programme managers based in Akvo hubs worldwide. You will be in contact with many members of our international community. We are looking for a spider on the web, who keeps the administration in good order and works with project managers on their project administration.

About you

Your role involves a variety of financial administrative tasks such as booking bank transactions, reconciling bank statements, maintaining the fixed assets register, and booking payroll transactions. Akvo has over 120 projects running at the same time, from grants and consultancy to software-only contracts. You will be responsible for running the project administration and will work closely with project and programme managers from all over the world to explore how you can support them with project-related finance and accounting procedures. You also will be responsible for HR contracting for the Kenya office. You are a responsible, diligent and open-minded team player. You have great attention to detail and a desire to get things done, supported by your excellent intercultural communication skills.

Main tasks and responsibilities:

Kenya local entity (max 35% of the time)

• Liaise and closely work with our external accountants and auditing firm (Ashvin Rampara & Co)
• Prepare and send the relevant finance documents to the outsourced accountant 
• Basic accounting entries:  Book of bank transactions, monthly payroll, tax
• Preparation and submission of relevant audit documentation to the auditor
• Assist local staff with all finance related queries and liaise with the global finance team where required 
• Compliance with local legal requirements including the filing of annual accounts 
• Compliance with internal controls including bank and cash management, segregation of duties and liaising with the global finance team to manage financial risks identified 

Global Finance (60%)

• About 60% of your time spent will be as part of the global finance team (located in the Netherlands)
• In this role you will play a vital role in controlling and monitoring key financial processes within the organisation including:  Review of Clockwise (time writing system), review project templates and creating new projects in the relevant systems.  
• Together with the team in the Netherlands execute monthly controls on the completeness, accuracy and validity of the project control file
• Critical review of finance processes and improvement where possible 
• Assist in the execution of financial project audits 
• Keep project and programme managers informed about the financial status of their projects and programmes 
• Support (annual) financial planning, forecasting and reporting activities Provide organisation-wide support in the use of financial systems such as Exact Online, Rydoo and Clockwise 

People  (5%)

• Prepare local Kenya staff contracts, staff administration and payroll overviews 
• Coordinate visa and work permit applications and renewals of staff members based in the local legal entity 
• Support local recruitment and onboarding and exit procedures 
•  Liaise with global HR and Talent team about staff processes

Key requirements:

You are a pro-active, diligent and open-minded self-starter with attention to detail. You have a hands-on attitude, great problem-solving skills and are service-oriented. You are eager to support the Akvo hub becoming a smooth-running office and you enjoy working in a multi-disciplinary team with members based in different parts of the world. 

You have: 

• A relevant degree in finance or business administration or equivalent by experience 
• 3 – 5 years of work experience, preferably in  Financial Project administration
• Experience with online accounting systems ( Exact Online preferred) 
• Basic Legal and HR knowledge or an interesting in learning about these topics
• Great eye for detail and great problem solving skills
• A high level of integrity and accuracy 
• Affinity with international development aid and information technology 
• Excellent skills in Excel, Powerpoint, and MS Office 
• The ability to work in an international environment 
• Great intercultural communication and team collaboration skills 
• The ability to handle confidential information and documents appropriately 
• The ability to multi-task and operate via online tools, as part of a global team  
• Excellent command of English in both writing and speaking 

What we offer

• 1.0 FTE employment (40% local entity work – 60% global finance work)
• A unique chance to be part of our international Akvo community, with motivated and talented people whose diverse backgrounds converge to accomplish ambitious objectives
• Contribute to our mission: unlocking the power of data to boost sustainable development 

For this position, you must be in Kenya. 

How to apply

Akvo works with a diverse and international team, and we are committed to promoting diversity and inclusion across our organisation. If you think you are the right person for this position, we highly encourage everyone to apply.

Think you’ve got what it takes? Simply click on the button below to send your motivation letter and resume in PDF to Karen Blanken by 20 July 2022. We aim to fill this position by 1 September 2022.