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. We aim to fill this position as soon as possible. 

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. We aim to fill this position as soon as possible.