Do you want to be a part of a dynamic team of people who are passionate about making agricultural markets work for thousands of smallholder farmers in East Africa? If yes, then Open Book Trading is the place for you. We are a young growing organisation comprised of five energetic and dynamic team members. We are looking for someone to take the technical lead, manage our systems and help us to reach our goals.
About Open Book Trading
Open Book Trading (OBT) Service is a business venture stemming from a project co-funded by techfortrade and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). Open Book Trading seeks to influence access to reliable markets and fair prices for smallholder farmers’ produce. Our goal is to reinvent the role of the middleman which has been labelled as fraudulent and oppressive to the farmers. We seek to change the way intermediaries/middlemen carry out their business, to make it transparent and of mutual benefit for all players. We have developed a technology that you will be managing. The OBT platform, developed using Salesforce, facilitates trades and demonstrates that transparency is a smart tool in agricultural trading. OBT currently supports 40 traders with plans to grow this to 160 traders within 12 months by providing a mobile friendly application with a delightful user interface that network managers are motivated to use for all their deal management.
Key responsibilities of the role
· Create and maintain process based training documentation and help related materials.
· Train users (agricultural traders and internal team members.)
· Respond to user queries and issues.
· Provide advice and resolve issues.
· Log all issues and track to resolution providing regular updates to users.
· Manage issue resolution by vendors and third parties where appropriate.
· Configure the OBT Salesforce application in line with user requests including creating custom workflows, validation, reports and dashboards.
· Provide regular updates to the techfortrade management team on:
- system performance
- user feedback
- proposed areas for future development.
· Keep application users informed about system functionality and enhancements.
· Keep abreast of new Salesforce features and functionality and provide recommendations for process improvements.
· Provide input into the IT Strategy for techfortrade and assist in the development of a Strategic Plan.
· Prioritise development requirements and combine these into the scope of new projects to be delivered by external vendors.
· Assist with the selection of vendors and the management of projects
· Manage user acceptance and training of new functionality and systems.
About you
This role will suit a proactive, flexible, team player who thrives in a start-up culture. You will share our passion for using technical innovation to improve the agricultural trading environment and have great respect for traders, OBT team members and other stakeholders.
You will be a highly organised, analytical problem solver who plays close attention to details. You should be an excellent communicator who naturally forms the bridge between business requirements and technical solutions and has the following skills and experience:
Required
- Bachelor’s Degree/ or diploma in IT.
- Experience in supporting end users including; answering queries, resolving issues, tracking issues until they are resolved by others, logging and understanding requests for system changes,
- Identify priority areas for system improvement
- Experience in managing systems including
- Monitoring performance
- Managing backups
- Resolving technical issues
- Understanding of databases and query tools.
- Experience in configuring applications in line with user requirements.
Desirable
- Salesforce certification
- Experience in developing and supporting Salesforce applications
- C.R.M. administration experience
- Experience in understanding business processes and how systems can support business objectives
- Experience in documenting software system requirements, agreeing these requirements with project sponsors and ensuring that the system produced meets these requirements
- Experience in quality assurance
- Experience in managing third party vendors
- Experience and interest in the area of improving agricultural trading.
Role Benefits
This role reports directly to the director Open Book Trading with a salary commensurate with the candidate’s qualifications and experience.The techfortrade management team are keen to share their experience and this role presents a great opportunity to expand your knowledge of the exciting world of agricultural trading and develop your ability to utilise technical innovation to create sustainable business models. You will be supported in developing your skills in project management, business analysis, vendor management and Salesforce. ɕ=
HOW TO APPLY:
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Interested parties should submit applications before the 9th August 2016 to enquiries@techfortrade.org
Please send your C.V. plus a covering letter describing why you are interested in this role and the specific skills and experience you feel you can apply to help Open Book Trading grow and meet its strategic objectives.
