Manager, Data Systems & IT

About Spark Microgrants

Spark Microgrants believes in a world where everyone lives with dignity and determines their own positive future. Decades of prescriptive aid have sidelined the poor from the very programs meant to uplift them. We believe in local solutions and catalyzing rural villages facing poverty into action.

At the heart of Spark’s model, the Facilitated Collective Action Process (FCAP), are ‘town-hall’ style weekly meetings, in which women, men, young, old, plan together for their community’s future. Each village elects a leadership committee, establishes a village savings account, and launches a project of their choice. Members receive training on financial management, transparency, leadership, village planning, and advocacy. 

Spark trains partner organizations and works with governments to scale the FCAP as the model of choice to advance social and economic development, improve lives, and secure lasting change. Spark is now active in 500+ villages in 6 countries, improving the lives of over 500,000 people. 

Overview of the position:

The Manager, Data Systems & IT will own our data and discover the information hidden within. Helping us make smarter business decisions that contribute to our continued growth and the delivery of even better products. He/she will be responsible for the design of data collection platforms, databases, and dashboards for data visualization. All this should be done inline with data governance policies across all the countries where Spark has operations and in ways that safeguards our data against cyber attacks. 

Responsibilities: 

Ownership of Sparks Impact Data:

•  Ensure all technical systems (data collection, storage and visualization) are managed appropriately that presents the organization with a singular “version of the truth”
• Develop and maintain database structures that allow an efficient and innovative analysis of their contents as well as ensuring data protection from security breaches and data losses 
• Develop and maintain data flows between platforms and systems 
• Work closely with the program design team to incorporate new platforms, systems, and initiatives into our data ecosystem 
• Manage, develop and retain the product team members and ensure that they have clear responsibility domains, deliverables, growth opportunities, and support to achieve their goals 
• Ensure the security and integrity of our data systems through regular backups, updates, and security protocols in line with data protection regulations in the different countries where Spark works.

Enabling the organization to take Data-driven decisions

1. Responsibility for the setup and maintenance of core organizational dashboards
2. Contribute to a culture of data-driven decision-making by ensuring that the data collected meets program needs and are analyzed and disseminated in a format that inspires conversation 
3. Leading on the data quality assurance of our monitoring data by ensuring robust data collection tool development and managing the continuous data quality improvement plans in liaison with the MEL team.

Leading product-related trainings

Working with the Product Officer- Engagement;

1. Evaluate user needs and system functionality, ensuring that our data systems meet these needs 
2. Ensure that Spark system users have constant refreshers on our systems and set up a mechanisms for feedback collection and upgrading our systems to meet user needs 
3. Create manuals that aid self-training on the Spark system by users

Organization wide IT Strategy

1.  Lead the development and implementation of the organization's IT strategy and roadmap, ensuring alignment with organizational priorities.
2. Lead the assessment and adoption of appropriate technology solutions, including systems integration, digitalization, and process automation.
3.  Provide strategic oversight of IT systems and ensure that technology investments deliver value, efficiency, and improved organizational performance.
4. Guide the IT Officer in the implementation, configuration, maintenance, and monitoring of IT systems and solutions.

 

IT infrastructure Security and Governance

1. Oversee the organization's IT infrastructure, technical support services, cybersecurity, data protection, and business continuity arrangements.
2. Establish and monitor IT policies, controls, service standards, SLAs, access management, backup, and disaster recovery processes.
3. Provide guidance and oversight to the IT Officer in day-to-day infrastructure management, user support, system administration, security monitoring, and technical troubleshooting.
4. Manage key IT vendors and service providers and oversee software licensing, renewals, contracts, and compliance.
5. Lead the resolution of significant IT, security, infrastructure, and service-delivery issues, escalating or engaging external expertise where necessary.

Management of staff

1. Supervise a team of product and IT officers in Uganda, Rwanda, Malawi and Ghana and ensure clear role separation among the officers

Requirements 

Education

• Master’s degree in Computer science, Software engineering, Data science, Machine learning or a related discipline.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer science, Software engineering, Data science, Machine learning or a related discipline.
• Certification in networking, database and programing languages is an added advantage

Experience 

• Minimum of 7 years’ experience in database management systems (DBMS), such as SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL, or PostgreSQL. Ability to design, implement, and maintain databases.
• Expert knowledge of data integration techniques and tools, including ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) processes to integrate data from various sources.
• Experience supporting multi-country IT teams 
• Experience or sensitivity in working across different countries or cultures, considering the international scope of the organization's operations.

Skills

• Strong data analysis skills using Python to extract meaningful insights from data.
• Proficiency in scripting languages (e.g., Python, PowerShell) for automation and data manipulation tasks.
• Understanding of data security and privacy regulations (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA) and the ability to implement data security best practices.
• Knowledge of server management and maintenance, including experience with Windows, Linux, or cloud-based server environments.
• Expert knowledge and experience in data visualization tools (e.g., Tableau, Power BI, Zoho analytics,) to create meaningful reports and dashboards.
• Experience in GIS or a willingness to learn
• A self-professed data geek who seeks to understand the story that our data is telling us
• Expert knowledge in general IT functions including hardware and software maintenance, cyber security and networking.
• A self-starter and problem-solver – sees an opportunity for improvement of systems and processes and acts on it including exploring the role of big data, machine learning and AI in our business strategy.
• You should be comfortable and experienced working within distributed teams
• Willingness to travel to remote locations to develop an in-depth understanding of our work and our users.

Why work with us?

• Spark is a community. You will find thought partners, colleagues who challenge and push you to think further.
• You will have the freedom and autonomy to make your role your own. We want to hear your crazy ideas, your vision for the future and your critical questions and see you be a key leader in our organization
• You’ll never be bored - but we also respect and value work life balance and your need for down time, vacation and reflection.

Other Information:

• Location will be Kampala, Uganda or Kigali, Rwanda with ~10% travel within the region. 
• We will agree on a six month probation period with learning and performance objectives. You are committed to this role for at least 3 years.
• Closing date for applications: On a rolling basis, we reserve the right to close this recruitment process at any time.
• Preferred start date: As soon as possible 
• How to apply: https://sparkmicrogrants.bamboohr.com/careers/180
  https://sparkmicrogrants.bamboohr.com/careers/80 

Safeguarding

Our safeguarding follows a do no harm principle. All Spark staff are expected to respect and uphold the safeguarding procedures and principles to minimize harm to stakeholders, program participants, and the environment, in compliance with the World Bank Environmental and Social Framework.

Equal Opportunity

Spark Microgrants provides equal employment and advancement opportunities to all individuals. Employment decisions at Spark are based on merit, qualifications, and abilities. Spark does not discriminate in employment opportunities or practices on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, gender identity, age, disability, marital status, or any other characteristic protected by the law. Spark will make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with known disabilities unless doing so would result in undue hardship to daily operations.