Elixir Chatbot Developer (Remote)

The context:

Across the developing world, more children than ever are in school – but they are not learning. A recent study estimated that less than 1% of school children in Sub-Saharan Africa attend a school where the teaching meets basic standards of quality. At Rising Academies, we’re changing that, and we want your help.

About us:

We are a growing network of inspiring schools in West Africa. Our mission is to unleash the full potential of every student, equipping them with the knowledge, skills, and character to succeed in further study, work, and day-to-day life. We support more than 250,000 students across Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Ghana through a combination of low cost private schools we manage directly, and partnership schools we manage in collaboration with governments. Independent evaluations have found that Rising students make learning gains two to three times larger than their peers in comparable schools.

We have recently closed our Series A funding round and won a multi-year, multi-million dollar grant to accelerate the development of our digital ed-tech solutions for low-income students across the globe. Our ‘Bambai’ suite of digital tools already includes a school information system, school observation tool, chatbot tutor, accelerated learning program and teacher coaching app. This is just the start. We want to expand our range of digital products to help improve the quality of education for millions of students around the world. If you want to make a difference to the lives of teachers, students and parents, then we are the right place for you.

About the role:

We are looking for an innovative Elixir Chatbot Developer with a strong technical background, flexibility in Elixir code base, and knowledge in chatbot development to join our Digital team at Rising. An important aspect of this role will be to integrate math and non-math content into Elixir-based “Stacks” on our multi-award winning AI-powered Math Chatbot tutor “Rori” which is delivered via WhatsApp on the Turn.io platform.

The successful candidate will work in a hands-on development role, writing code in Elixir and deploying cycles, while collaborating closely with internal and external engineering teams to suggest features and resolve issues faced in the turn.io chatbot platform. The Ideal candidate will play a key role in supporting math and non-math learning across Rising and ensure overall user satisfaction for Rori users.

The Elixir Chatbot Developer will:

• Collaborate with relevant teams to integrate and deploy Rori math and non-math content into Elixir-based Stacks on Turn.io WhatsApp chatbot.
• Maintain staging and production code bases on GitHub and Turn.io, with high quality user acceptance testing and code review processes.
• Work with Rori product, development and design teams to manage, develop, test, deploy, and maintain the Rori chatbot for an enhanced user experience.
• Collaborate closely with Turn.io engineering team to troubleshoot, debug, suggest features, and resolve Rori issues faced in the Turn.io WhatsApp chatbot platform.
• Refactor Rori chatbot code base and maintain a strong foundation on which new features/dialogues can be built on for users.
• Continuously monitor, analyze and report on user feedback and improvement areas, and implement corrective actions.
• Conduct regular A/B testing on new WhatsApp API feature releases such as buttons, lists, multiple choice, payment integrations, etc.
• Create and maintain a comprehensive resource hub and change log with updated information and resources from Rori chatbot interactions for consistent improvement.
• Maintain new user week-on-week engagement and reengagement rate through high quality chatbot interactions and <1% error rates.
• Provide insights and ideas to Data Science, Senior Math Lead and Rori Content Coordinator by leveraging data from chatbot interactions to improve math learning for Rori users.
• Participate in code and design reviews to maintain our high development standards

Requirements

Qualifications and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science or IT (or equivalent experience).
• 4+ years developer experience with 2+ years of experience working with Elixir-codebase.
• Experience working specifically on Turn.io’s Build solution is a plus.
• Knowledge in technologies Erlang, Phoenix, among others is a plus.
• Experience building and maintaining AI-powered chatbots is an added advantage.
• Experience working in an Agile development processes and environment.
• Capable of documenting code/design changes.
• Comfort working on platforms like Github, Turn.io, BigQuery etc.
• Knowledge of conversational designs, flow, and automated chat.
• Demonstrated ability to assist and communicate well with product teams.
• Deployment experience on various platforms and knowledge of version control.
• Proficient in using Google-Suite products and various collaborative tools.
• EdTech experience is a plus but not required.

About You:

• You have excellent verbal and written communication skills, and interpersonal skills.
• You can communicate with technical teams and stakeholders in a multicultural environment, as well as clearly document reports for these audiences.
• You demonstrate people skills; must be able to collaborate effectively with diverse personalities and skill sets, and enjoy constructive conflict.
• You have a strong track record of professionalism, trustworthiness and working independently sometimes.
• You possess strong analytical and reasoning skills with ability to adapt to changes in a fast-paced agile environment.
• You have a keen interest in learning new technologies and exploring new trends.
• You are proactive, self-driven and can take initiative and problem-solve.
• You are comfortable working with senior leadership, reporting on data and outcomes.
• You are willing to take risks, fail, learn, give and receive feedback, and try new approaches.
• You are passionate about improving the quality of education across Africa.

Benefits

Compensation and Benefits:

We offer a competitive salary and benefits package. We regularly benchmark our compensation against comparable businesses, social ventures and non-profits.

Rising’s goal is to be transparent about salaries at all levels of the organization and have a standard, global pay scale for all positions that is non-negotiable.

The benefits we offer are built to have a strong added value on our staff’s well-being and we are excited to discuss this further with you in the process.

Location and reporting:

This is a full-time remote role open to strong candidates globally. The Elixir Chatbot Developer will report to Rising’s CTO.

Application Deadline

Applications will be assessed on a rolling basis hence we encourage interested candidates to apply as early as possible.

Rising is an Equal Opportunity Employer.We celebrate diversity and are committed to providing a work environment that is inclusive and free of discrimination and harassment. All employment decisions are based on individual qualifications without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender identity and expression, national origin, family or parental status, veteran or disability status.

Rising is committed to creating a culture within the organization, and its schools, that recognizes the importance of safeguarding children and prioritizing their rights and needs. We strive to uphold international safeguarding standards, and keep the safety and well-being of our students at the heart of what we do. All Rising employees are expected to abide by the Child Protection Policy, and to have the same level of commitment to protect children from harm. Safeguarding questions are part of every interview process and all Rising employees undergo reference checks before joining the organization.