Software Architect/CTO

About Company:

Our client is a Delhi NCR, India headquartered 7+-year-old social/development sector-focused advisory and consulting firm. With a robust team of 100+ ICT4D professionals,they develop IT applications for NGOs, Government functionaries, CSRs, International Funding Organizations, etc. to manage theirprojects and programs in India and abroad. We are a team of young dynamic, development-conscious tech -enablers and problem solvers consisting of a diverse mix of development professionals, technology enthusiasts, software

engineers, and analysts. Our solutions enable organizations to monitor and evaluate their programs for maximum impact and operate seamlessly across everyday operations.

Job Overview:

Dhwani Rural information systems Pvt. Ltd. is looking to hire a Chief Technical Officer, to provide sound technical leadership in all aspects of the business. The CTO would be responsible for all technology systems, processes, software design and development within the company. Our ideal candidate needs to have more than 15 years of

experience building technology solutions to improve business process, increase productivity and efficiency and reduce cost for its customers, vendors, and internal employees. The candidate should have experience in social sector consulting/IT consulting/Government advisory and working with CSRs, Philanthropies or Large NGOs. The CTO must have in depth knowledge of and experience in driving technological innovation and leading product development

projects.

Responsibilities

The CTO will work with a team in the following activities -

• Lead the strategy for technology platforms, partnerships and external relationships

• Formulate a vision for how technology will be utilized within the company

• Streamline the IT Project requirements through a technological approach

• Outline company goals and timelines for research and development

• Develop technical aspects of the company’s strategy for alignment with its business goals

• Help departments use technology profitably and act as a mentor to middle management of the company

• Make executive decisions on behalf of the company’s technological requirements.

• Keep abreast of new trends and best practices in the technology landscape

• Work closely with Dhwani’s senior leadership to define and deliver new products and enhancements

Essential Tech Requirements:

• Broad knowledge of software engineering: languages, frameworks, techniques, and industry trends.

• Experience in designing and managing an effective IT governance framework across the spectrum of IT

service delivery.

• Good understanding of agile methodologies

• In-depth knowledge of web systems architecture, design and development

• Knowledge of software development life cycle. Preferable from CS/IT

• Basic understanding of how a software works (Frontend, Backend, API, Database Schema etc)

• Exposure to different off the shelf solutions (ZOHO, QuickBooks, Greythr, Google Suite, Microsoft Suite,

Zapier, Survey Monkey, IVR, SMS)

• Requirement gathering for software

• Get involved in the entire SDLC (Design, Develop, UAT, Rollout)

Essential Non-Tech Requirements:

• Accountable and ownership taking attitude

• Strong sense of purpose to work in this space (Tech4Good, ICT4D, Social Impact)

• Exceptional team management skills.

• Excellent verbal and written communication.

• Ability to multi-task and juggle various deadlines and domians

• Extensive industry knowledge with an eye towards the future.

• Prior experience of handling multiple projects in different domains at the same time

• Prior experience of managing large tech teams (50-200 engineers) including developers, designers, QAs, Das

and other teams

Qualification

Bachelor’s degree in software, computer science, engineering or any related STEM field. Have worked as a senior

engineering head or CTO in NGOs, Social Impact Consulting Firms CSR, Think Tanks, Research Organizations.

CTO + CoFounder wanted for our Tech startup where we're trying to build Connected Mobility in parallel to a "short videos app" meant for dashcam videos getting recorded straight from the user's smartphone. So you can say we're a TikTok of dashcam videos at the front.

Expecting the individual is capable & willing to work on these below languages-

Our backend codes are in CakePHP,
Admin Panel in Laravel,
Android is in Java.
No iOS app yet but we plan to roll it out soon.

Hence, we're expecting the CTO to be having fair idea/expertise about these languages. Also, we don't have an iOS app at this point, but it would be benefecial if there's a fair knowledge about iOS apps as well. Also, since the server being used is AWS we are hoping the person knows how to efficiently utilize various features of the same while linking the things.

Proposed Salary may be available only after angel investor, VCs come on board.

Head/ Chief Architect - Engineering

About Our Client

Our client is headquartered in California and Y Combinator backed Shopify-like platform for creators & knowledge professionals (coaches, instructors, experts, artists etc.) to launch, manage and grow their business online. Founded by IIT/ IIM/ BITS/ Yale/ BCG Alumni and 3X Entrepreneurs, they are well funded and backed by top Indian VC firms along with start-up veterans like Kunal Shah (CRED). The company is founded by alumni from top IITs, IIMs, BITS, Yale including ex-entrepreneurs and from firms such as BCG, Hike, Dunzo and P&G.

Since the launch of  its first version in December 2020 they have grown 25X. Creators have earned more than $1 Million since launch through the platform.
We have just closed our series A (yet to announce) and are looking to build out our leadership team across functions.

About the role:

About the job

• Own and drive product development and engineering management in a fast paced, rapidly changing environment.
• Deliver architectural initiatives that drive revenue and improve efficiency inline with business strategy.
• Develop and maintain a aspirational architectural road map
• Maintain in-depth knowledge of IT industry best practices, technologies, architectures and emerging technologies.
• Build and lead the technical team with focus on infusing culture resulting in energetic & positive outcomes.

Requirements

• Relevant prior experience in a software product-based company in a leadership position. Minimum of 5+ years experience building applications in high level programming languages - Java, Python or Go
• Strong experience in either or all of databases: MySQL, MongoDB, NOSQL, SQL Server, Oracle. -Strong working knowledge on AWS & Google Cloud & Cloud security.
• Strong working knowledge of Web, caching technologies, API integration technologies & protocols.
• Experience with managing AGILE development methodology and inspire the team to follow best Scrum practices.
• Fair understanding of DevOps would be ideal
• Must be a strong and enthusiastic team player with excellent verbal and written communications skills.
• You are a good communicator who can explain technical concepts to product managers, designers, support and other engineers and you have curiosity about how things work
• Skills in Microservices Architecture, Product Roadmap& tech team management

• Setting a vision for how technology will be used in the company
• Ensuring that technological resources meet the company's short and long-term needs
• Outlining the goals for research and development
• Creating timelines for the development and deployment of all technological services
• Making executive decisions on behalf of the company's technological requirements
• Setting up of CI/CD pipelines to automate deployments at various stages, dev to staging to production at scale
• Setting up of APMs and integration with Slack to monitor the distributed system’s health in real-time
• Acting as a mentor to team members
• Maintaining a consumer-focused outlook
• Managing technology budgets and time frames
• Staying on top of technology trends and developments

Desired Candidate Profile

• 8-12 years of overall experience
• 5+ years of experience in managing a self-organizing, high growth team
• 3+ years of experience as a developer
• Hands-on experience with MERN Stack
• Hands-on with Vue.js, AWS, and AWS Lambda implementation, Serverless Architecture, Microservices Architecture, MongoDB, MySQL, PHP (Laravel)
• Knowledge of scaling high traffic apps using Heroku/EBS etc.
• DevOps knowledge
• Working knowledge of Data Warehousing and CDP platforms

About First Principles

We are a Tech Holding Company and our portfolio companies generate millions in revenue. What is unique about FirstPrinciples is that most of our companies remain controlled and majority owned by First Principles and its team members rather than by external investors. We are proud that our product engineering team builds world class products from India. https://firstprinciples.io/">https://firstprinciples.io/

About this Role

As we scale and build our organisation, we would like to add an individual to our core Technical Leadership who can scale our key products and projects and help us build and foster relationships with Enterprise clients.

We are looking for an experienced Technology Leader to join our fast growing organisation to help us with driving Technical Strategy, Approach and oversee the Implementation for internal and external products. You should be someone who loves Engineering, have amazing debugging skills and slay problems with technology. 

In this role, you will undertake Technical / Solution Architecture and should also be able to help team with Engineering and coding wherever required. That includes, working along with the team, writing code, doing R&D or POCs, ensuring we follow modern industry standards and building beautiful high performing Software and Applications and thus delivering a better solution and product. You will also help FP build strong relationships with clients and technical leadership on the client side.

You would be required to have a minimum of 10+ years of experience with a mix of Engineering, DevOps, Infrastructure, Cyber - Network Security, Enterprise Application Maintenance, Database Management along with Project, Client and People Management skills which are necessary to lead the team and be their voice. You should be a leader and not just a manager who loves delegating things to the off-shore team, but rather someone who would not hesitate to take over Git-Pull and start writing code and show ‘here is how it’s done’ and amaze everyone with your expertise! :-) 

Because this is a Senior role, you would also be involved working with the Product/Project Manager and will be responsible for the delivery and output.

Tech Stack [High-Level]: We are JavaScript focused i.e. we work in ReactJS, NodeJS, AngularJS, TypeForm, TypeScript, Redis. On the server side, we work with AWS/GCP/DO. Database: MySQL, PostgreS and MongoDb. API: REST and GraphQL API. We also have a strong DevOps stack - including Kubernetes(K8), Dockers and CI/CD automation. 

Interview Process: 

• 60 min Discovery Call
• 15 mins introduction and what you bring to the table (We love people who say, “We build the damn table”) 
• 15 min understanding your experience and background
• 15 min on why you want to join our team and your expectations, future plans
• 15 min Q&A
  
  
• 60-90 min Technical Interview  (May be more than 1)
• Technical Call
  
  
• 45-60 min Final Call
• 15 min discussion on results 
• 15 min CTC expectations / negotiations 
• 15 min closure
• 15 min buffer

• Experience in defining new architectures, design all layers of the solution, create architectural blueprints that can be used for final code development.
• Interface with client business/technical teams to understand complex requirements.
• Anticipate on technological evolutions(example use MySQL Lite not MS SQL, use C# not ASP, don't use JSF use Angular).
• Resolve technical issues.
• Bridge between Developers, Project Managers/Leads, and Client, ensuring smooth communication channel.
• Ensure quality of project implementation deployed.
• Provide technical guidance to projects/programs for complex components of a multiple technology suites.
• Ensuring documentation of the complete project architecture.
• Lead actions to determine root cause of problems and drive resolution.
• Participate in cross-functional work groups to assess business needs, develop a systems architecture strategy, and implementation plans.
• Leads work groups that are responsible for software development.
• Ensure that all components of the technical architecture are properly integrated and implemented by the development team.
• Coach the technical team in the development of the technical architecture and help them solve challenging technical problems
• Provide technical support and technical quality control throughout all stages of the project.
• Spearheads the development, implementation and communications of architecture roadmap strategies to ensure that systems are scalable, reliable, secure, supportable, and achieve.
• Identify existing architecture weaknesses and find opportunities for process reengineering and perform cost benefit analysis

• Time Management- Organizes own workload to achieve maximum productivity and completes work in a timely and professional manner. Handles multiple short and long term modules by proper planning while anticipating potential problems and planning for contingencies.
• Identify high-potential team members for next level positions and creating learning and development plans for them.
• Enable strong process in place and reducing dependencies on individual.

Technical Skills and Qualification

• Excellent knowledge of Web technologies, Java, Javascript, Contact center environment.
• Experience of current technologies including Open Source, J2EE (JSP, Servlet, JSP, etc.), web application development, web services (REST/SOAP/XML), Rich Internet Applications, messaging infrastructures and databases.
• Adaptability and willingness to learn new tools and applications.
• Should be comfortable for 40%-60% coding.
• Able to convert requirements into executable code
• 9 to 12 yrs experience
• Qualification: BE/B-Tech /MCA or any equivalent degree

Desirables

• Excellent written and verbal communication skill
• Ability to lead discussions with all levels of the organization and provide balanced information of an idea or communication of an issue regardless of written or verbal
• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively across project teams.
• Having Analytical and problem-solving
• Ability to translate complex requirements into functional and Technical architecture
• Experience managing the technology aspect of multiple complex projects
• Ability to think ahead and anticipate problems, issues and solutions and Assist team members in complex task
• Willing to take ownership and being accountable.
• Openness, communicates honestly, openly, and consistently.
• Positive Attitude encourages a positive rather than negative viewpoint.
• Integrity maintains the highest standard of personal conduct in performing all duties.
• Should be a good listener.
• Dependable, can be relied upon to get the job done.
• Able to avoid mistakes that could/should be anticipated.
• Should be able sense and grab the opportunities to innovate and improvise.
• Very high competence in presentation skills.
• Negotiator: Excellent negotiation skills which comes handy in hard selling new ideas/ new technical implementations etc.
• Risk Management: Should be able to take calculated risks in trying out new technical implementation avenues
• Able to communicate the org level vision to the team effectively