BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:
African Risk Capacity (ARC) is a Specialised Agency of the African Union (http://www.africanriskcapacity.org). The ARC Agency leads the ARC Group, a development finance institution that provides financial tools and infrastructure to help countries manage natural disaster risk and adapt to climate change. It counts 32 AU countries as members and is supervised by a ministerial level governing board elected by its Conference of the Parties. The ARC design and establishment phase was managed by WFP, under a MoU with the African Union, and WFP continues to provide administrative services support to the ARC Agency through an administrative services agreement.
In 2014, ARC launched its initial risk insurance product for member states through its financial affiliate the ARC Insurance Company Limited (ARC Ltd) (http://www.africanriskcapacity.com ). ARC Ltd is a specialist hybrid mutual insurance company and Africa’s first ever disaster insurance pool, aggregating risk by issuing insurance policies to participating governments and transferring it to the international market. ARC Ltd uses the satellite weather surveillance software Africa RiskView, developed by WFP, to estimate the impact of drought on vulnerable populations – and the response costs required to assist them – before a season begins, and as it progresses, so that index-based insurance payouts, based on Africa RiskView, are triggered at or before harvest time if the rains are poor. ARC Ltd issued drought insurance policies totalling USD 129 million for a total premium cost of USD 17 million to a first group of African governments – Kenya, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal – in May 2014, marking the launch of the inaugural ARC pool with the support of a USD 200 million initial capital commitment provided by the governments of Germany (through KfW on behalf of BMZ) and the United Kingdom (DFID). ARC aims to reach up to 30 countries with drought, flood and cyclone coverage totalling up to USD 1.5 billion in sum insured by 2020.
ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:
Africa RiskView (ARV) is the core technical engine of the ARC programme used to underpin ARC Ltd insurance contracts and is the basis for expansion of the ARC insurance programme to more country clients and more perils, in particular flood and cyclone risk. As the ARC initiative has now entered its operational phase, with ARV becoming the go-to natural disaster financial risk management tool for many African countries and partners underwriting significant volumes of risk, ensuring the tool and its related applications can continue to grow and meet user demands smoothly is a critical operating issue for both ARC Agency and ARC Ltd.
To meet the upcoming ARV coding demands for existing and new products, to further develop and maintain ARV software on all its operating platforms, and to broaden ARC’s technical base in Africa, ARC is seeking an experienced software developer to join the ARV Development Team. One of the objectives outlined in ARC’s Strategic Framework is to incorporate and involve ARC Member States and African institutions in every aspect of ARC Agency’s work. The Software Developer will be based in ARC headquarters in Johannesburg and by working closely with other ARC staff will help ensure that African resources are engaged for greater knowledge of ARV, including how it works from a software perspective, on the continent.
Supporting and working in close coordination with the Lead Software Engineer, the other members of the ARV Development Team and the ARC Technical and R&D Teams in Johannesburg, the Software Developer will report to the ARC Director of Research & Development, with the following responsibilities:
- Contribute to the development of ARV-Lite, publically available ARV functionality to be made available through the ARC website for free download (ARV-Lite will have reduced functionality and will only share information and data that is already publically available and can be shared further), with an emphasis on accuracy, replicability and speed optimization, as required by ARC.
- Ensuring ARV-Lite is robust, secure and works efficiently in a range of downloading, operating and data failure environments and can accommodate future modifications, updates and improvements with ease while aligning with existing ARV platform architecture, endeavoring to resolve any critical issues regarding the code in a reasonable time.
- Supporting ARC course and training material development, which will also leverage and involve African universities and partners in course deployment, to include ARV software and ARV-Lite modules, and assist in deployment as needed.
- Supporting the development of functionalities and enhanced processes in ARV Desktop, Online and Calculation Engine, and any other ARV platform that may be considered as needed, in order to produce, translate, aggregate and display ARV information requested by users, with an emphasis on accuracy, replicability and speed optimization, as required by ARC.
- Supporting the design and deploying new risk modules for ARV products, including for flood and cyclone, and the development of additional analysis tools required to support the implementation of these new risk modules.
- With feedback from ARC staff and Member State users, contributing to the further design and development of ARV Desktop, Online and Calculation Engine, including new interfaces and functionalities, leading to an enhanced user experience by improving the look and feel of ARV products.
- Testing and cross-checking new releases to ensure accuracy and consistency of calculations.
- Responding to queries and questions on ARV from ARC staff and ARV platform users and providing technical support as required.
- Serving as an escrow officer for all source code and non-replicable data that is owned by ARC, including checking and storing all source code and data of major version releases.
- Providing support, input and guidance to collaborations with technical partners on ARV and participating in team meetings, conferences and missions to Member States and partners as required.
- Performing other tasks as directed by the Director of Research & Development, the Lead Software Engineer, senior ARC staff and working closely with the ARC Secretariat Technical Team and ARV users, as required.
In addition, particularly initially, the Software Developer will be required to travel and spend significant time with the rest of the ARV Development Team in Zwolle, The Netherlands, to ensure alignment with the existing team.
DELIVERABLES AT THE END OF THE CONTRACT:
In addition to timely and high-quality technical input and assistance to the ARC Development Team and R&D Department, to ensure quality assurance, quality control and business continuity for its software products as ARC expands the insurance products offered by ARC Ltd to include flood, tropical cyclone and outbreak and epidemic risk, the output of this work will be fully documented and archived code satisfying the requirements outlined in “Responsibilities” above, to ensure that all code can be fully supported and modified by ARC independently moving forward. The Software Developer will also produce ARV software and ARV-Lite module training material as required for ARC’s training courses.
QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:
Education:
Advanced university degree in Computer Science, Mathematics, Engineering, Natural Sciences, or other relevant quantitative discipline.
Experience:
Minimum of 4 years of experience working on software development and the design and development of systems and applications needed to fulfill business requirements. Experience in Africa, working with African governments, a strong asset.
Knowledge & Skills:
Programming skills in Delphi, Visual Studio, ASP.NET, MySQL, HTML, CSS, JavaScript and C#. Demonstrable experience in building Apps for phones and tablets is a strong asset. Strong problem solving capabilities. Experience in identifying problems and reviewing related information to develop, evaluate and implement software and App options. Demonstrated ability to take a strategic view across a large complex programme with the ability to follow, develop and lead a given scope of work. Software user training experience a strong asset.
Languages:
International Professional: Fluency (level C) in English and also in French a strong asset.
DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: 28 FEBRUARY
REF.: VA 17301
More Information
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