Software Engineering Specialization Coach Lead (Full stack Web Development)

ABOUT ALU

ALU provides higher education for a higher purpose. Our students declare missions, not majors.

They develop the real-world skills to take on the world’s most pressing challenges. And they take ownership of their learning from day one through our peer and student-led approach – because ALU believes in the power and agency of young people to start shaping the future right now.

Together with a world-class faculty and staff, our students are igniting a ripple of positive impact across Africa and the world.

Our mission is not going unnoticed. CNN described ALU — which has campuses in Mauritius and Rwanda —  as “The Harvard of Africa;” Fast Company ranked ALU one of the 50 most innovative organizations in the world and the most innovative endeavor in Africa; and The New York Times recognized ALU as one of the eight places in the world “where history is being made.” Join us.

HOW WE WORK

As a high-growth start-up, the ALU Team works in starkly different ways to traditional academic bureaucracies. We approach education from first principles, empower individuals to design, test, and implement creative new ideas, and work closely together to craft transformative learning experiences. We are deeply passionate about our students and excited by the challenge of building something entirely new.

ABOUT THE TEAM

The BSc Software Engineering programme is a three-year degree programme with the aim of developing Software Engineering graduates at scale who are well prepared to leverage technology as the firsthand solution to solve relevant problems in the continent and beyond and also who are ready to meet the needs of employers globally. This innovative and scalable programme prepares graduates not only with relevant technical skills but also problem solving, and leadership skills missing in our tech graduates and promotes learning with a purpose.

ABOUT THE ROLE

The role of the SE Specialisation Coach Lead - Full Stack Web Development entails the responsibility to successfully deliver the learning components of the programme in the Full Stack Web Development Specialization track adhering to the principles of our ALU’s Learning Model and manage the team of Specialization coaches.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Manage the in-person experience for the programme including the academic orientation/induction for the specialization modules for each intake, including responsibility for its development, evolution and its delivery adhering to the internal and external quality assurance standards.
• Manage a team of learning coaches responsible for providing academic support and academic coaching to students throughout their specialization learning journey, 
• Design, evolve and deliver the specialization modules, induction and re-induction of new and existing coaches, respectively.
• Review, validate and refine the current learning curriculum of the Full Stack Web Development Specialization tracks and revise the operational plans per trimester for an effective learning delivery based on continuous feedbacks.
• Audit and refine the experiential learning components for each trimester additional to the support in self-directed student learning.
• Organize academic activities including Live coding sessions, Peer Learning Days, Mock Interview sessions, Hackathons and any other events that encourages student engagement in both online and in-person learning environments.
• Administration and coordination of the internship modules along with supporting teams (Coaches, SPD team and other stakeholders).
• Evaluate the possibilities of improving student learning experiences by leveraging partnerships with industries, draft concept notes and finalize relevant plans to include the identified learning activities as part of the learning content.
• Contribute to updated definitive documentation for the Software Engineering modules in the programme handbooks, policies and accreditation documents.
• Participate in regular student-staff consultative group meetings and other feedback instruments to capture student feedback and to implement recommendations to enhance the quality of programme delivery.
• Assist the SE Programme Manager in the review and approval of course modifications made by external learning content partners, either independently or following ALU inputs.
• Engage with all developmental and performance management processes for academic teams.
• Contribute to the annual programme review to ensure content is up-to-date, valid, relevant and reflects current and future trends in Software Engineering, whilst giving consideration to pedagogical approaches suited for hybrid learning.
• Implement modifications to learning materials, assessments and other relevant components meet internal and external quality assurance requirements.
• Implement modifications to the academic components following the findings of the annual programme review, periodic review, student-staff consultative groups, student evaluations and other quality assurance & enhancement instruments.
• Engage in institutional service through active participation in the Senate and its sub-committees as per their composition.
• Any other reasonable duties that may be allocated from time to time by the line manager.

REQUIREMENTS

You don’t have to be an expert to be a rockstar in your career. Our non-negotiable requirement is drive. You have to be passionate about bringing out the best version of you as you launch your career. 

Essential

• Master’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering or a relevant field where Software Engineering and/or Programming is a significant component with at least 5 years of industry experience in Web Development Domain.
• Experience in core web development components -  HTML, CSS, JavaScript, JSON, BootStrap, Flexbox etc.
• Experience working with React.js, React-native, Node.js, ES6, modern SQL/NoSQL databases.
• Deep knowledge and experience in DevOps technologies.
• Expertise in managing and deploying services on the public cloud - e.g. AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure.
• Practical experience building and consuming RESTful APIs
• Expertise in information retrieval using Python requests and APIs.
• Strong understanding of and practical exposure to regular expressions 
• Experience in network configurations, load balancing on servers and firewalls
• Knowledge in CI/CD technologies such as CircleCI and Jenkins
• Experience using version control systems [preferably git] for software development.
• Experience in linux based shell scripting.
• Strong debugging skills in the respective domain expertise.
• Experience designing experiential learning activities that promotes peer learning.
• Experience guiding student undergraduate Projects.
• Excellent coaching and adequate computing skills with the ability to support students in both remote and in-person learning environments.
• Excellent communications (oral and written), interpersonal and presentation skills.
• Excellent problem-solving skills with attention to detail.
• Excellent time management skills with the ability to multitask, prioritise own work, and work independently.
• The ability to quickly analyze data and determine the appropriate academic support intervention required by the student or to redirect to other teams.
• A startup mindset to help us scale the programme to the order of thousands of students in the next 12 months.
• A strong, customer-service ethos.
• An ability to work flexibly with remote team members if needed.

Desirable

• Experience in Embedded programming/Mobile Development / Machine Learning is a plus.
• Strong regional or international network - Startup Incubators and accelerators, etc.
• Experience of programme management and leadership at a higher education institution.
• Experience in people management - managing a fast-growing team.
• Experience of online teaching and learning delivery at challenger universities.
• Experience of teaching at higher education level.

Applications will be reviewed on or before the 7th of March.