IT Manager, Jr – 1 Post

Background
Natural Extracts Industries Ltd (NEI) is pioneering the sustainable, natural flavour manufacturing industry in Tanzania and Uganda for global export, starting with vanilla and other flavour extracts. The company works in all areas from cultivation to post-harvest processing, value-add manufacturing and international sales and marketing. The smallholder outgrower network currently integrates over 10,000 vanilla farmers from Kilimanjaro, Arusha, Tanga, Morogoro, Iringa, Mbeya, Kagera, & Uganda. Through this sourcing model, NEI aims to deliver a long-term socioeconomic impact by doubling annual income per smallholder household.

Job Responsibilities

Strategic Planning and Management
Developing and implementing the IT strategy: This includes aligning IT initiatives & KPIs with the organization’s overall company objectives, Developing IT best practices (e.g., ITIL version 4), setting priorities for IT projects, and allocating resources accordingly.
Managing IT budgets: This includes making data-based forecasting of IT expenses, securing approval for IT budget, and overseeing the efficient use of IT funds.
Developing and implementing IT policies and procedures: This includes establishing and ensuring the implementation of both best practices and legal requirements for IT security, data management, personal data protection, and access control.
Staying up-to-date on, and embedding, emerging technologies: This includes researching new technologies that can benefit or pose risks to the organization, evaluating their potential impact, and timely advising management on them.
Staying up-to-date on, and managing IT operations for, regulatory requirements: This includes staying abreast of global, regional (eg, EU GDPR) and national (eg, TZ PDPA, UG DPPA) laws and regulations, assessing the risk and impact to the company, and implementing policies and procedures to comply with these.
Technical Operations
Managing the network and other IT infrastructure: This includes implementing, and managing IT best practices (e.g., ITIL version 4) for the installation, maintenance, and security of IT systems, end-user hardware, and other IT network infrastructure, ensuring smooth, secure, and reliable operation of the network, servers, and other IT equipment.
Providing technical support to users: This includes helping users with troubleshooting technical problems, answering their questions, and providing training as needed.
Maintaining and updating IT software and hardware: This includes installing and configuring new software, patching vulnerabilities, and upgrading hardware when necessary.
Ensuring systems protection: This includes but is not limited to implementing hardware/user-device/network security, backup & disaster recovery (maintain at least three-tier data backups), adopting emergency response procedures, ensuring personal data protection, systems audit, and/or penetration testing
Project Management
Planning and managing IT projects: This includes defining project requirements, ensuring that procured hardware & software meet needs and work together seamlessly using their full range of capabilities, creating project plans, assigning resources, and monitoring project progress.
Communicating project updates to stakeholders: This includes keeping stakeholders informed and involved about project progress, risks, and challenges.
Managing project risks: This includes identifying potential risks, developing mitigation strategies, and taking steps to minimize the impact of risks.
Delivering projects on time and within budget: This includes meeting project deadlines and staying within the project budget.

Team Leadership

Recruiting, hiring, and training IT staff: This includes identifying qualified candidates, interviewing them, and selecting the best candidates for the job who are both technically astute and align with NEI’s core values
Providing ongoing coaching and development to IT staff: This includes helping IT staff develop their skills and knowledge and preparing them for future career opportunities.
Building a strong team culture: This includes promoting teamwork, collaboration, and open communication.
Managing relationships with partners, vendors, and service providers
Communicate effectively with stakeholders: This includes senior management, users, and vendors; and liaising with the government on IT/cyber and data protection matters.
Collaborate with other departments: The IT manager is responsible for working with other departments to ensure that the IT infrastructure meets the needs of the entire organization.
Negotiate with vendors: The IT manager is responsible for negotiating contracts with vendors for equipment, software, and services.
Other duties & responsibilities
Conduct any other activities as may be required to ensure successful IT-enabled operations and business performance for NEI.
Furthering the company mission: to become a leading African manufacturer of premium natural flavour products for the home baking and commercial kitchen markets, while providing sustainable, increased income for smallholder farmers;
Follow, without exception, all work instructions and safety rules, including the use of all
Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) and Good Health Practices (GHPs), including Occupational Safety and Health Authority (OSHA), as well as the Company’s Certification requirements ie. Organic Certification and any other Certification, Food Safety Systems Certification (FSSC 22000v5) as per the Company’s

Quality Management System;

Adhering to and instituting the company values of Integrity, Creativity, Passion,
Sustainability, and inclusivity.

Any other duties as may be required from time to time by your supervisor, the management team or the Directors, to achieve the objectives of the Company.
Desired skills
The following qualifications and competencies are required:

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in Computer Science, Networking Engineering, Information Technologies, Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related disciplines.
Familiarity with agile philosophy and demonstrated experience with scrum & kanban are an added advantage
At least 5 years of experience working in IT Operations, at least 2 years in a managerial or supervisory role.
Demonstrated initiative and ability to self-manage
Up-to-date knowledge of industry-standard computer hardware and software systems
Strong leadership skills, able to inspire and influence others, set their teams’ strategy and lead their work independently
Ability to communicate clearly and effectively, both oral and written, in English and Swahili in a multicultural environment and across people of different outlooks & experiences. Ability to generate reports, analyze, visualise, & present data
Integrity, Passion for learning, critical thinking, and synthesis
Strong problem-solving skills. Experience in Project Management is an advantage
Familiarity with LDAP, IT Devices Management, ERP Systems, and Cloud computing environments (Microsoft Azure, AWS, Google Cloud)
Expression of Interest & Application