Backend Engineer

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change. Around 14,000 people work for the organization, most of them in remote areas, directly serving the hungry poor.

ShareTheMeal is WFP’s fundraising and awareness-raising app. Free to download, the award-winning app is a pioneering way for people to join our efforts in creating a world with zero hunger. ShareTheMeal was launched in 2015 as the first pilot of WFP’s Innovation Accelerator and is part of WFP’s Innovation and Knowledge Management Division, which among other things supports start-ups and innovators in developing their ideas for zero hunger. 

ShareTheMeal was launched in 2015 and currently has more than 3,7 million users worldwide, who have shared more than 86 million meals (over US$ 43 million). WFP is pursuing an ambitious growth strategy for individual giving, and ShareTheMeal is a key driver for this strategy going forward. The team, located in Berlin, is focused on further developing the app to include new and innovative features, and on increasing the engagement of existing users and growing the user base through marketing and communication initiatives.

ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:

The Consultant, reporting to the Lead Backend Engineer for the ShareTheMeal initiative, is expected to:

1. Develop features and improvements to the ShareTheMeal node.js based platform.
2. Develop and maintain the Admin application using Python, Flask and AWS:
   1. Automate workflows to reduce turnaround times
   2. Develop solutions for managing customisable features
   3. Implement monitoring and logging tools using CloudWatch, Sentry, etc.
   4. Ensure security of Admin functionalities
3. Collaborate with the Backend team and drive the implementation of security best practices across all systems.
4. Collaborate with Product Management and other stakeholders within Engineering to maintain a high bar for quality in an iterative and Agile environment.
5. Help to define and improve our internal standards for style, maintainability, and best practices for a high-scale environment. Maintain and advocate for these standards through code reviews.
6. Ship large sized features and improvements with guidance and support from other team members.
7. Other activities
   1. Act as facilitator to staff on developing the organization
   2. Assist the management of the ShareTheMeal initiative with other activities as required

DELIVERABLES AT THE END OF THE CONTRACT:

• Completed contributions to application architecture and software development as agreed with the Lead Backend Engineer
• Stable operations of the backend in the area of responsibility
• Documentation and handover to the Lead Backend Engineer for ShareTheMeal

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

VA Exp. on May 26th 2022