About Generation

We are a startup… but in the social sector. As a charitable organization, we’re committed to making the world a better place. As a startup, we move fast and use the best tools for the job. As a group of smart people backed by some of the smartest foundations and corporations on earth, we’re committed to learning, and our budget is secure and growing fast. This is a place to grow yourself and your skills as fast as you could anywhere else, while making a real difference in the world.

Generation is a global youth employment organization. Our vision is a career-launching job for every young person, everywhere in the world. We have a dual mission to empower young people to build thriving, sustainable careers and provide employers the highly-skilled, motivated talent they need. A non-profit founded by McKinsey & Company in 2014, Generation currently operates programs in 15 countries, all the way around the world, and we are growing fast. We have served over 25,000 unemployed or underemployed young adults ages 18-29 and are the world’s fastest-growing demand-driven youth unemployment organization. We are supported by McKinsey & Company, USAID, Walmart and over 30 funders. Our employer partners include Microsoft, Scotiabank and MAPFRE. We have recently received the WISE award by the Qatar Foundation, recognizing our efforts as one of the top education organizations in the world.

About You

We’re looking for a passionate, hands-on leader and hacker for our global engineering team in Mexico City. Come create our next-generation services platforms, which will shape how Generation changes the world for years to come.

(**If you're the right person, we're willing to help you relocate to CDMX!**)

Our team of 8 engineers is talented, but young, and they want to learn from you. Coach, mentor and inspire them in adopting best practices, coding with quality, and growing their potential. We've created an inclusive, collaborative and low-drama culture for them, and we're looking for someone who wants to be part of that, and take it to the next level. Is it you?

We work according to the principles of agile, using the Scrum framework. (You don't have to be an expert in agile - yet, but you'd need to be eager to learn it and use it.) Also, because we're a global team, English is our common language. You would need to be comfortable operating in English on a daily basis, with teams from every region on earth.

You would lead our team in not only coding, but also in looking at problems in new ways and inventing simple solutions to complex problems. You would interact frequently with our global leadership team, and with the teams from McKinsey who are helping us to build Generation. You would lead the entire organization towards scalable, reusable solutions, both improving what we have now, and planning for the future.

We use several fast-moving modern stacks. For our public-facing applications, we're on Javascript: our UI is React & Redux and our back-end API layer is GraphQL, all deployed on AWS with modern CI/CD. Data-Orchestration is Apache Kafka. We also build our internal 'back-office' applications with SalesForce's 'low-code' platform, which can do pretty amazing things.

We combine custom development with some SAAS platforms, but all of our tools need to work on open APIs and feed back to our global data repository: we're driven by outcomes, so data-analytics is in our DNA.

You don't need to be a Javascript expert, but you would need to know a similar language well (Python, Ruby, Go?, etc...), and be willing to jump into JS with both feet.

What you will do

Grow and lead an incredible team of talented and motivated engineers with high expectations around individual ownership and impact
Lead technical planning and contribute to product planning, incorporating our strategic priorities and helping us to scale rapidly
Work hands-on alongside the team to write code, optimize environments, and put all of your skills to work. (We need a great leader, but not only a leader. We also need someone who still enjoys writing code and getting things done, and teaching people to do the same.)
Help to create an inclusive working environment that's welcoming for all people (of all races, colors, genders, faiths, sexual-orientations...)
Take care of your people and make sure they know what to do and are doing it well.
Collaborate with product managers, program teams, and senior leadership to solve problems, manage expectations, and keep strategies aligned
Help to manage key relationships with Generation’s other teams, in 'global' and our operating countries

To be successful you'll need:

1. A track-record of managing high-performing teams in a fast-moving company or a startup
- 2+ years of engineering leadership experience, successfully shipping complex projects
- Communicating and collaborating with cross-functional, distributed teams
- Experience evangelizing and implementing software engineering best practices (e.g. automated testing, code reviews, and how to write clean, readable, pragmatic code)
- Experience working closely with designers and product-owners so that we "build the right thing", as well as "building the thing right"

2. Deep technical expertise in coding and architecture
- 5+ years as a technical contributor in web, mobile, data and/or distributed backend systems
- A solid command of modern, open-source programming languages, including scripting languages like Python, Ruby or (ideally) Javascript
- Continuous integration / continuous deployment (CI/CD) tools, and the "DevOps" approach to development and release

3. Passion for team growth and development
- Experience actively coaching, mentoring, and developing team members
- Champion and shape our open, mission-driven culture
- Strong interpersonal skills, including the ability to set a vision and motivate your team towards key milestones
- Experience recruiting to build incredible engineering teams

4. An "ownership" mindset, and some experience owning your business objectives and maintaining key relationships with stakeholders
- Effectively communicating with key business stakeholders and partners
- Some experience managing day-to-day operations of a start-up or team/business-unit

5. Comfort working with Generation's global team in English, although much of your daily work can be done in Spanish

Perks

Location in El Juarez, central Mexico City
Cool office at WeWork, with ping-pong, free beer, etc.
Flexible work schedule and annual vacations
Work in an international environment with teams from 10+ countries
Choose your own device (We're mostly on Mac)
Focus on learning and growth
Competitive salary, benefits, etc.

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