Back-end Software Developer Job at the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is a non-governmental, humanitarian organization with 60 years of experience in helping to create a safer and more dignified life for refugees and internally displaced people. NRC advocates for the rights of displaced populations and offers assistance within the shelter, emergency food security, and water, sanitation and hygiene sectors.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Position: Back-end Software Developer

Job Identification: 10007
Job Location: Remote
Job type: Contract
Job Category: Information Technology and Systems
Reports to: Technology Director
Duration and type of contract: 12 months Full-Time.

Background

• NRC’s global strategic plan for 2022 - 2025 includes Digital Transformation as a strategic enabler for the organisation and a key element in expanding the reach of our assistance towards the 2030 ambition.
• To do so, NRC is increasingly adopting digital solutions to drive internal efficiencies as well as provide digital services to the people it serves. Key to all this will be NRC’s ability to secure systems, applications and the data these will process, to ensure privacy, confidentiality and avoid causing digital harm.
• A central component of NRC’s future digital ecosystem will be “CORE”, a system to track all interactions with, and services offered to, the people NRC serves. CORE will provide case-management functionality to follow and update interactions with program clients over time, therefore also process sensitive personally identifiable information.
• Eventually CORE will connect with several other NRC digital solutions including but not limited to: data collection, indicator reporting, complaints and feedback mechanisms, two way communication systems, digital cash and more. CORE, which is based on open-source software, is being developed internally at NRC from the D team.
• NRC is now looking for a Backend Engineer to support the further development of CORE. Together with the CORE team (D Team, Product Lead) they will design, build and maintain the application, keeping in mind that the product works with very sensitive data.

Role and responsibilities

• The Backend Engineer is responsible for designing and building the overall product CORE

Generic responsibilities (max 10):

• Contribute to the design, delivery, and rollout of digital systems and actively participate in shaping solutions and setting up plans.
• Contribute to technical standards and process across NRC, especially in relation to information security and data protection standards.
• Shared responsibility for technical administration and provide user training and support during the transition from development to deployment of systems.
• Produce periodic documentation to share progress and learning.

Specific responsibilities:
These responsibilities shall be adapted to the particularities of the job location and context, phase of operation, strategic focus and type of intervention. This section shall be revised whenever a new employee is hired or the context changes significantly.

• Contribute to the technical architecture design of projects
• Design and implement scalable and maintainable backend systems and APIs using Node.js
• Develop highly performant APIs
• Develop systems for low-bandwidth and offline environments
• Develop robust and secure systems
• Write clean, testable, and efficient code
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to define, design, and ship new features

Critical interfaces:
By interfaces, NRC means processes and projects that are interlinked with other departments/units or persons. Relevant interfaces for this position are:

• CIO
• Head Office ICT
• Field Office Product Development
• Other development teams
• External vendors
• Data Protection and Information Security Advisers.

Competencies
Professional competencies:

Generic professional competencies:

• Advanced Degree in Computer Science, or a related field
• 5 years of previous work experience in backend development
• Experience with containers and debugging containerized applications
• Ability to build products/applications from end to end
• Desire to write clean code, an experience with testing methodologies and best practices on how to maintain and handle code in production
• Fluency in English, both written and verbal.
• Experience/knowledge in building secure systems is a plus

Specific professional competencies:

• Strong experience with Node.js and Express
• Understanding of containerization technologies, such as Docker
• Experience releasing code to multiple environments via CI/CD tools
• Ability to test code using modern frameworks
• Experience integrating with SSO systems like Okta
• Experience with relational databases, such as Postgres
• Experience with cloud services such as Azure is a plus
• Experience with Golang, Python, or React is a plus

Behavioural competencies (max 6):
These are personal qualities that influence how successful people are in their job. NRC’s Competency Framework states 12 behavioral competencies and the following are essential for this position:

• Analysing: Understands and sees problems from different angles; able to break down complex problems and connect the dots; considers contextual caveats and risks.
• Planning and delivering results: Takes initiative and sees things through to completion; anticipates problems and solves them, can operate with little to no direction.
• Coping with change: Adopts a flexible and responsive mindset; comfortable with uncertainty; can adapt plans quickly.
• Working with people: A team player by nature; able to build bridges across silos; defaults to sharing and supports colleagues in achieving their goals; focuses on solutions rather than obstacles.
• Able to work effectively as part of a remote team
• Energetic and proactive attitude about improving the work with little supervision.

Performance Management:
The employee will be accountable for the responsibilities and the competencies, in accordance with the NRC Performance Management Manual. The following documents will be used for performance reviews:

• The job description
• The work and development plan
• The mid-term/end-of-trial period performance review template
• The end-term performance review template
• The NRC competency framework

We are also looking for people who share our values:

• To be dedicated in what we do;
• To be innovative with our solutions;
• To act as one unified and inclusive team;
• To be accountable to the donors that make our work possible; the beneficiaries that we exist to serve; and to each other… the members of our NRC family.

Note

• Employment with NRC may lead to employment in or deployment to Regions, Countries, Areas or Offices that may be host to considerable health, safety and security risks. NRC takes this very seriously and we have procedures in place to reduce known risks, but will never be able to take away all risks.
• NRC is an equal opportunities employer and aims to have staffing diversity in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, nationality and physical ability.