Jobs Center

Position: Indonesia – Technology Manager
Location: Indonesia (based in Jakarta)
Job Type: Full time
Starting Date: Immediately
Contact: jobs@ruma.co.id
About Ruma Social Enterprise in Indonesia
Ruma is a social enterprise incubated by Grameen Foundation that provides business-in-a-box solutions for the poor. Ruma recently won 1st Place at Harvard’s Social Enterprise Conference. More details on the company can be found here: http://bit.ly/bqlmnm. The leadership in Ruma includes alumni from Harvard Business School, Kellog School of Management, the UNDP, Kiva, BCG, Mckinsey, and Grameen Foundation.
Of the 240 million people in Indonesia, 3/4 live below $2.5 a day, and 2/3 have mobile phones. Ninety percent of these users buy prepaid minutes instead of paying a monthly bill. Ruma sells a business-in-a-box that enables small entrepreneurs to sell prepaid minutes. We buy minutes at a discount from 10 telecom operators and store them in our server. When a customer buys minutes from our entrepreneur, we send the minutes electronically via SMS thereby reducing the need for a physical voucher. We worked with Grameen Foundation to develop this model, which is essentially the next evolution of the Grameen Phone. As of March 2010, we’ve deployed a network of 2,000 entrepreneurs, $3,000 worth of minutes to 80,000 customers each day. Seventy percent of our entrepreneurs were below the poverty line when they joined; now 100% are profitable. We plan to launch a jobs market, micro-insurance and retail application using our prepaid minutes platform.
Our efforts support the Grameen Foundation’s mission to empower the world’s poorest people to lift themselves out of poverty. Please visit www.grameenfoundation.org
Indonesia – Technology Manager
Job Description
The Research and Development Manager is directly responsible for all technology related issues within Ruma. Building the IT Infrastructure, ensuring IT system uptime, working with outsourced developers to manage the development of software based ICT products for the SEI and its partner organizations. In addition to being a very hands-on person who is enthusiastic about getting into the detail of matters, the Technology Manager will guide overall strategy and shape Ruma’s evolution. This is a high profile position and is a part of the senior management team of Ruma and will be responsible for providing insight on how technology can help Ruma better serve its customers.
The Technology Manager will provide strategic and operational leadership by working closely with a range of partners (social enterprises, technology partners, mobile operators, government ministries, NGOs, consultants, etc), managing local resources, developing and managing development contracts, architecting and systems integration, product management and leading an internal team.
Specific Responsibilities Include:
Management of Hardware Platform
* Hardware selection and procurement for front end (handsets) and back-end (servers, etc,…)
* Ensure proper backups of entire system
* Consideration of and design for systems power requirements and charging for front-end devices
* Troubleshooting and ensuring system availability
Business Intelligence
* Develop periodic reports from databases to provide management with business intelligence
* Build systems to track performance of entrepreneurs and field officers
* Train management and staff on how to read reports
Project Management Excellence
* Prepare ambitious but achievable detailed project plans
* Actively manage the Research and Development process – problem-solve and remove barriers as they arise, hold team to goals, milestones, schedule and budget
* Provide technical subject matter expertise and work closely with partners to ensure effective technical implementation
Guide research
* Drive local efforts to build needs assessment findings into iterative process of developing and testing new applications
* Actively develop a pipeline of products for development – working with the Social Enterprise Development Manager so as to ensure that these are not techno-centric products but customer needs driven.
Contributing to the Development of Ruma’s Technology Development Strategy
* Gain deep understanding of complementary initiatives, global trends in application usage and learning from related experiences and incorporate into implementation strategy
* Develop recommendations for short-, mid- and long-term strategy and update regularly based on learning
* Manage the pipeline of applications
Guide research
* Drive local efforts to build needs assessment findings into iterative process of developing and testing new applications
* Actively develop a pipeline of products for development – working with the Social Enterprise Development Manager so as to ensure that these are not techno-centric products but customer needs driven.
Management of the Software Development Process
* Conceptualization, development and stewardship of the systems architecture
* Design, development and stewardship of front-end products (to be based upon mobile handset)
* Design, development and stewardship of back-end systems (based on standard LAMP platform) to support front end mobile products in the field
* Designing, development and stewardship of API’s between system elements (systems integration)
* Creation and revision of use cases, functional specifications and technical specifications
* Vetting and contracting with local software developers for the construction of the products
* Prepare RFPs and contracts for vendors/suppliers and evaluate responses
Management:
* Manage a team of at least 5 staff in the technology center
* Hire/manage local team in all aspects of work, including consultants and volunteers
* Manage the Indonesian IT infrastructure for the Ruma
* Asset management
* Develop and maintain adequate processes and procedures for appropriate knowledge management for the Ruma team in Indonesia
Relationships
* The Technology Manager will report to the Managing Director of Ruma
Ideal Candidate
Excellence in managing the software development lifecycle
* Experience in developing software requirements, managing consultants, managing local resources, developing and managing development contracts, architecting and systems integration, product management, managing the quality assurance and testing lifecycle and leading an internal team.
* Managing to cost, schedule and quality standards
Outstanding project management skills
* Experienced and savvy project manager with a proven track record of achievement under a range of challenging situations (ideally in multiple countries)
* Demonstrated experience in managing complex projects (strategic, operational and tactical) – with proven ability to work effectively with diverse partners
Strong business leadership abilities
* An ability to think strategically and act tactically. Ideal candidate would have worked in a leadership role in a fast-paced entrepreneurial environment
* Strong, innovative and creative problem solver and strategic thinker;
* Excellent analytical, interpersonal, leadership, and communication skills
* Comfort with unstructured problems and ability to manage complexities under pressure
* Ability to promote knowledge transfer through strong mentoring and team building skills
Enthusiasm and passion for our work in Indonesia
* Enthusiasm for learning from different cultures – eager to build cultural realities into products and project plans
* Equally comfortable presenting to a room of business executives and discussing needs with villagers sitting on the dirt floor of a rural home
* Passionate about the work of Grameen Foundation & role of technology in poverty alleviation
Qualifications
* Advanced degree in field, such as Engineering, Science, Information Technology
* At least 10 years of project and team management in the software development industry
* Entrepreneurial start-up experience would be beneficial
* Experience in systems architecture is required
* Project Management, relationship management, team management experience required
* Experience developing business models required
* Product Management experience would be preferred
* Work experience in Indonesia preferred
* Fluency in oral and written English is mandatory and proficiency in Bahasa Indonesia is preferred
Compensation
* Competitive salary
* Opportunity to serve as a high-profile leader in the Indonesian business, government and NGO community, combining innovation, entrepreneurial problem solving, project management and stakeholder management to deliver deep and lasting social impact in Indonesia and beyond