Engineer – VAS Products Development at Safaricom Kenya

JOB DESCRIPTION

• Reporting to the Manager – VAS Product Development, the VAS Solutions Product Development Engineer shall develop and integrate VAS Products & Services offered to Safaricom customers with the goal of delivering high quality solutions within approved schedules. VAS Products & Services comprise of all Value-Added Services which include, but not limited to, Messaging, USSD, Content delivery, Voice (RBT, IVR & Media exchange), Video, Device management and IOT solutions.

The main duties are:

• Development, configuration and integration of all VAS solutions/systems in line with the Digital IT strategy execution plan. 
• Actively participate in defining strategy, roadmaps and architecture design for the VAS products and stay updated with industry trends and technologies.
• Embrace the new ways of working in VAS domain with the goal of ensuring 50% of VAS projects are delivered through agile methodology.
• Timely delivery of projects assigned with the goal of ensuring high quality standards are met and solutions are operationally viable. Responsible for ensuring First Time Right delivery of all solutions developed.
• Enhance processes and DevOps to improve delivery and increase efficiency by focusing on continuous improvement.
• Accurately document products & services developed & delivered ensuring they follow DevOps Cycle.
• Embrace a DevOps culture by ensuring all developed products and Services are gracefully handed to operations for support.
• Develop and continuously update a knowledge base of best practice for VAS products and Service development.
• Collaborate with both Technical, Business  and other cross functional teams to gather requirements and ensure alignment with business objectives.
• Ensure seamless integration with third-party services and applications and also customize VAS solutions to meet business or market needs.
• Ensure reliability, performance, and security of VAS applications through thorough testing, monitoring, and continuous improvements.

RESPONSIBILITIES

VAS Products Development

• Develop VAS solutions by translating the business requirements into technical solutions in line with the designed architecture. 
• Actively participate in defining strategy, roadmaps and architecture design for the VAS products.
• Support the Business tribe in achieving its mission by delivering customer centric solutions.

VAS Solutions Delivery

• Timely delivery of projects assigned with the goal of ensuring high quality standards are met and solutions are operationally viable. Responsible for ensuring First Time Right delivery of all solutions developed.
• Collaborate with support in the deployment of products. 
• Ensure successful end to end configuration and integration is done in line with the change management process.
• Embrace the new ways of working in VAS domain with the goal of ensuring 50% of VAS projects are delivered through agile methodology.
• Perform regular updates and enhancements to keep the services up-to-date and secure.

Project Management

• Actively contribute to the management of the projects by ensuring timely delivery of projects assigned with the goal of ensuring high quality standards are met and solutions are operationally viable.
• Ability to manage multiple projects and meet deadlines.

QUALIFICATIONS

• BSc. Degree in Telecommunication Engineering/Electrical & Electronics engineering/Computer Science/IT.
• 2 years’ experience in a busy telecommunication/ IT environment or Software Engineering with good knowledge in development for VAS solutions including Messaging, Voice, Video & IOT.
• Software Engineering methodologies including Agile-oriented development. 
• Understanding of user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) principles
• Proficiency in networking protocols – TCP/IP, DNS and load balancing.
• Working knowledge in Unix systems and Databases – Oracle, MySQL.
• Working knowledge of security encryption solutions – SSL, firewalls, VPN, IPsec.
• Familiarity with telecom protocols (SMPP, Diameter,SIP,Sigtran etc.).
• Strong experience in programming/scripting language(s) – Python,java script,ruby, Perl , Shell,Java,  or equivalent. 3rd Party RESTful API integration, PHP, MySQL, SQL server, web service working knowledge preferred. 
• Relevant certifications such as Microsoft Certified: Azure Developer Associate, AWS Certified Developer, Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA),ITIL 4 Foundation, scrum, CCNA or Java SE Programmer can be advantageous.