Microsoft Office 365 Developer - Lively Minds Ghana

This role is part of the Global team and will support teams across the organisation – remote, Ghana and Uganda. This is a unique opportunity to be involved in building scalable systems, and make a huge impact for a small charity.

The Microsoft Office 365 Developer will ensure we have the right technology and tools to support the scale up of the Lively Minds programme. This role will be responsible for developing and supporting applications, forms, sites, and workflows based on the Office 365 online environment. Some key projects in year 1 will include setting up and managing an internal Sharepoint and Wiki; working on a team to build the “Lively Minds Playbook,” an online based knowledge platform for Lively Minds team and government stakeholders adopting the programme; and working on a team to identify IT solutions to project management and automated workflows.

You will also have the opportunity to build your leadership skills through managing a two to three-person IT team that is responsible for managing IT policies, setting up hardware and software packages for internal staff and providing internal training on IT tools.

The role will require working with remote teams and many of the people you will support will have low technical IT skills.

About you

To succeed in this role, you must be:

• Technically proficient in MS365 IT systems and able to adapt to and learn new IT systems quickly.
• Proactive, creative and energetic.

• An active listener who seeks to understand others and adapts their communication style to give people the information they need to succeed in a clear, precise, convincing way.
• Analytical with a keen eye for detail.
• Confident in training, coaching and motivating others.
• Able to contribute to a positive work environment where everyone is motivated and feels able to participate, learn, improve and contribute.
• Able to deliver quality work in a fast-pace high pressure environment.
• Able to manage resources and budgets with utmost accountability.
• Able to set up a good decision-making process to gather the necessary evidence, views, risks and options, in the right timeframes, so the best possible decision can be reached and actioned.
• Proactive in seeking ways to contribute to and advance organisational strategies, encouraging creativity in others.
• Able to create and manage increasingly complex project plans, and then plan for and guide teams through the change anticipating problems and making others feel safe, engaged and supported.
• An excellent ambassador for the organisation.

Main duties and responsibilities

Development of Microsoft 365 applications and IT solutions

• Acquire knowledge of data, products or services provided by the Lively Minds programme.
• Work with project teams and stakeholders to analyse business requirements and map workflows.
• Intepret data and identify ways to use MS365 applications and solutions to improve organisational efficiency, collaboration and government uptake of the programme.
• Set up Sharepoint, including designing information architecture, site navigation, sub-site structure, security groups and permissions setup, external sharing, metadata configuration, governance and internal wiki.
• Implement custom workflows and solutions, leveraging Office 365 and integrating MS Teams.
• Where relevant, identify and support set-up of other IT solutions (i.e. HRIS system, Asana project management system-, etc.)
• Document solutions in a format which allows them to be specific, measurable, achievable, and prioritised.
• Demonstrate solutions using documentation, flowcharts and diagrams.
• Develop quality assurance practices and assessments.
• Estimate costs and time requirements of projects.
• Develop and implement internal testing, User Acceptance Testing (UAT) and documentation processes.
• Develop and deliver training for team members.
• Support the programme and operational teams to develop lessons plans and materials for government stakeholders.

Management, reporting & technical support

• Input into the organisation’s IT strategy and support in developing policies and systems to ensure strategic goals are met.
• Ensure projects stay within budget and target spending requirements.
• Support M&E in the management of a data dashboard hosted by ClickMedix with contractors.
• Provide technical assistance to Office 365 users in system maintenance, troubleshooting and monitoring performance.
• Support in the procurement and management of IT contractors.
• Represent Lively Minds in stakeholders' meetings and presentations as requested.

Manage the IT Team

• Support a two to three-person IT team to set strategic goals aligned to organisational goals.
• Oversee IT team workplan and delivery.
• Performance manage and build capacity of IT team.
• Be an ambassador of Lively Minds and our mission in all you do.
• Role model and ensure that your direct reports adopt LM cultures and competencies.

You may be assigned any other responsibility in agreement with your line manager, in contribution to Lively Minds work and in recognition of your experience and skills. It is therefore expected for staff to be flexible and willing to contribute to the work of the wider team.

Experience and skills

Essential experience and skills

• Bachelors’s degree or certification in relevant subject (Information Technology, Science or Computer Science).
• Minimum 3 years’ experience developing Microsoft Office 365 including Teams, SharePoint Online/ Power Apps, OneDrive and Outlook.
• High level of knowledge of the Microsoft Azure cloud platform.
• Analytical skills – can intepret data and identify solutions to improve organisational efficiency, collaboration and contribute to objectives.
• Strong communication skills – able to write reports, stakeholder and software requirements, produce workflows.
• Problem solving skills – able to identify ways technology can provide solutions to business challenges.
• Excellent organisational and priorisiation skills - comfortable working with limited supervision and managing a complex and varied workload.
• Experience developing and delivering training to users with low IT capacity.
• Familiar with a range of data visualisation packages, including Power BI and reporting solutions.

Desirable experience and skills

• Experienced in coding in C#, Powershell, HTML/CSS/JavaScript and Visual Basic.
• Experienced in using of APIs to establish interfaces between different softwares, SQL Server (or an equivalent).
• Ability to create and deliver engaging presentations.
• Professional Project Management qualifications.
• Experience managing a team.

Compensation: GBP £31,750 gross per annum (or local currency equivalent). We have a new pay structure in place – all new members of the team begin on the entry level for the salary band. Then after a year, if staff perform in the role, they receive a salary increase. Thereafter, subsequent pay progression is based on performance.

Benefits: Benefits include basic, medical insurance for the employee only. Lively Minds is passionate about learning and development. We offer all staff access to internal learning opportunities.

Please note

• Applications submitted after the deadline will not be considered.
• Due to resource constraints, we apologise, but we will only respond to shortlisted candidates.
• Lively Minds operates a strict Child & Vulnerable Adult Protection Policy, and we therefore check suitability of successful candidates though background checks consisting of references and a police check.
• Lively Minds is fully committed to equity, diversity and inclusion. We want this to be reflected in the diversity of the people who work for us and we welcome applications from people from all backgrounds and identities. Women are strongly encouraged to apply – we promote family values and offer paid maternity and paternity leave. Where possible, special considerations are also made to support staff with childcare commitments.