Tech Lead, Senior Engineer (Machine Learning)

Job Description

Wefarm is the world’s largest platform connecting the small-scale farming community. Millions of farmers, retailers, and brands come together on Wefarm to grow their businesses.

Small-scale farming is one of the largest and most important industries in the world, with over one billion people globally involved in it. We’re working towards connecting this community so small-scale farmers can gain a better position in global agricultural supply chains. Some of the world’s leading VCs are backing us on this mission, including True Ventures in Silicon Valley.

Since our launch in 2015, we’ve grown to serve over two million farmers across Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. Our platform has facilitated the (free) exchange of over 18 million messages to share knowledge, generated over $5 million in marketplace sales, and sold nearly half a million products.

So far, we’ve partnered with 100+ brands to give our members fair prices on the quality products they are looking for.

Our next milestone is to have 100 million farmers benefiting from Wefarm. Join us and be part of our mission to build an ecosystem for global agriculture, with the farmer at the centre..

The Role

Operating at the cross-section between technical feasibility, business viability and user value, the Tech Lead is a pivotal role for Wefarm's product development workflow. You help design tests and models that give us the data we need to bring learnings into our scalable solutions and are held accountable for the success of the technology and the quality of the engineering behind the products being developed. You propose innovative solutions, help steer the squad to the most impactful solutions and work with them to drive their implementation, maintenance and support.

You will be held accountable for the success of the technology and the quality of the engineering behind the products being developed and focuses on the following outcomes

Outcome 1: Sound technical direction within the squad

• Ensures Engineers and Data Scientists are aligning behind our culture and principles
• Helps steer the squad to the most impactful technical solutions
• Makes sure the technical design is simple and scalable
• Works with the team to drive rapid delivery
• Clearly communicate needs and ideas

Outcome 2: Squad goals are achieved through:

• Ensuring everyone in the squad understands the priorities
• Setting clear goals on a daily basis
• Empowering the team to work efficiently, reducing friction and blockers
• Optimising the skills of the squad to bring the most impact
• Help design tests that give the data and tools we need to bring learnings into our scalable solution

Job requirements

You should apply if you

• Are driven to create the most innovative, impactful products and get them into the hands of our members
• Have extensive experience in a leadership role within a cross-functional team in an Agile environment
• Understand how to use data to inform key product and technical decisions and build smart solutions
• Have a bias towards delivery
• Are comfortable working in an environment of rapid growth, constant change, and uncertainty
• Bring a positive energy to your team and a passion for tech-for-good, and improving other people’s lives
• Are proficient in Python, Clojure, Kafka, relational databases and developing applications using machine learning techniques
• Design simple, effective and scalable solutions
• Communicate and articulate yourself effectively
• Can accurately assess the effort involved in a task and/or know how to break it down into smaller more measurable steps
• Coordinate with technical leadership outside of the squad to ensure a sound holistic approach to the efficiency and scalability of the entire Wefarm platform
• Assess and control risks in your project
• Are a problem solver
• Believe Lego should be shared

This isn't for you if

• You can't operate without top-down direction. You'll be expected to determine the highest impact areas to work on, collaborating with your product squad and manager to ensure there's alignment.
• You bring an oversized ego. Our decisions focus on what is right, not who is right.
• Or if you're not comfortable with ambiguity, don't have speed as a habit or are uncomfortable with changing org structures and squads every 6 months (at least)
• You aren't able to align behind Wefarm's culture and values

Logistics

Our interview process normally consists of the following steps

• A quick half hour call with our internal recruiter
• An hour video call focusing on culture, values and communication
• You'll then be given a technical challenge to do in your own time. This normally takes no longer than an hour to complete.
• An hour pairing extending the technical challenge
• Lastly a further hour video interview covering more technical and leadership skills and answering any further questions

Sometimes a follow-up call will be needed to cover any additional questions that either you or we may have.

Rewards package and remuneration

Wefarm is a global business that believes in flexible working and shared ownership.

Every Wefarmer is a shareholder in the business; we are all the makers and owners of Wefarm’s vision. We also offer pension packages and healthcare benefits, which vary slightly by location of employment, and global mental health support services through Spill.

As a global business we believe that remote first is the future of work, and support our teams in creating the best setup for their personal situation; every Wefarmer gets the standard tech they need and a stipend to set up their home office & we offer flexible office bases in our four main hub cities. Being remote first doesn’t mean we don’t spend time together though; we have regular global team events (virtual for now) and local meet ups (where possible), bi-weekly All Hands meeting to make sure everyone is up to date, and will get back to our annual WeCamp global get togethers as soon as we can do that safely.

Equal Opportunity Statement

At Wefarm, we’re building a place where everyone belongs and can add value, regardless of their background - and our team is no different. We’re working hard to create a diverse and inclusive culture where we take inspiration from different experiences, backgrounds and ways of thinking. If you share our values and enthusiasm for connecting the world’s small-scale farmers, you may be a great fit for Wefarm.