Software Engineer

Do you love creating fantastic user experiences? Are you passionate about creating innovative technology to improve the quality of peoples work and lives? Do you believe that Africa can lead the world when it comes to technology innovation? Does working in a dynamic research environment appeal to you? If so, then come and join us in the Microsoft Africa Research Institute (MARI), Nairobi, Kenya. The MARI is a first of its kind research institute, closely combining foundational research, with product innovation, engineering and design to create the technologies of the future. Our mission is to understand, build and deploy innovative cloud and AI technologies which not only address core opportunities in Africa and contribute to solving local challenges at scale, but which also help to create a more productive future of work, health and society globally.

We are looking for a full stack engineer of the highest caliber to join this new research institute. The ideal candidate will be smart and creative, and willing to embrace new concepts and ideas, and to work as part of a multi-disciplinary team to create groundbreaking new technologies. They will enjoy working on multiple platforms (Mobile, Desktop, Web). There will be the opportunity to contribute to open source projects and share ideas with the open source community. To deliver on our mission to empower people and organizations to achieve more, we need to create beautiful and intuitive user experiences and are seeking a skilled mobile/front-end developer.  The position is full-time and based in our Nairobi office.  

Responsibilities

• Create cutting edge new technologies as part of a multi-disciplinary team 
• Working with researchers and designers to formulate specifications for features 
• Rapidly and iteratively build and test research prototypes 
• Build and test solutions from research prototype to product 

• Participate in the building of solutions from research prototype to product 
• Drive improvements in usability and interactivity  
• Architect and implement features for maximum shared code, testability, and performance. 
• Learn, grow and share your technical skills with rich opportunities to attend conferences

Qualifications

• 5+ years of working experience  
• Interest and excitement working in/with JavaScript/TypeScript and React/React Native for cross-platform components. 
• You have experience building web and/or mobile applications, from UI to services. 
• UX development for one of the following platforms, with associated standard framework familiarity: Android, Web, Windows. 
• Experience in developing and deploying services on cloud platforms such as Azure, AWS or GCP 
• Understanding of some of the following languages: C++, C#, Java, JavaScript/TypeScript, Kotlin, Objective C, Swift. 

• You are proactive and a driving force to get things done. 
• You have great written and oral presentation skills. 

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances.

Benefits/perks listed below may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Microsoft and the country where you work.