Enterprise Applications Specialist, Africa

Enterprise Applications Specialist, Africa

Who We Are
International Justice Mission (IJM) is the global leader in protecting vulnerable people from violence around the world. Our team of over 1,200 professionals are at work worldwide in over 30 offices. Together we are on a mission to rescue millions, protect half a billion, and make justice unstoppable.

We are a global community that cares for one another. We believe that the way we work is as important as the results we achieve. We provide professional excellence with joy and celebration to all those we serve.

The Need
For over 25 years, IJM has pioneered the work to protect vulnerable people from violence. 9 out of 9 times in the last decade, IJM’s Justice System Strengthening Projects have reduced slavery and violence between 50 and 85% for very large populations of people in poverty. As we grow to expand our impact to protect 500 million people from violence, we are seeking an Enterprise Applications Specialist, Africa to regionally support Justice Data Solution (JDS) and Protection Collaborative (PC). This role will serve as a regional subject matter expert and strategic partner, evaluating business needs, guiding data product enhancements and coordinating requirements gathering, backlog management, user acceptance testing, and change management to ensure technological solutions align with organizational and regional priorities. This role will act as the liaison for the Region’s frontline users to communicate and validate business priorities and system design for JDS and PC while advising regional stakeholders and power users on platform capabilities, data quality, process optimization, and opportunities for continuous improvement.
This role will be based in one of IJM’s existing field offices and may require up to 30% travel to support global rollouts and in person training. This role requires flexibility to work hours appropriate to various IJM regions, which may require meetings between the hours of 7am and 9pm in the employee’s local time.

This hybrid position can be based in one of IJM’s existing Field Office locations (Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, Malawi, and Cote d’Ivoire) and reports to the Product Manager, Enterprise Applications.  Applicants must have current work authorization in the country where they will be employed.

Responsibilities:
Networking & Partnership:

- Work with business partners on all new requests to determine urgency and solve all urgent problems quickly;

- Engage business partners and power users to evaluate business needs, qualify enhancement requests, and guide cross-functional collaboration with Product Management to align solutions on regional and organizational priorities;

- Support system testing – developing test scenarios, managing testing sessions, and adjusting training accordingly;

- Serve as the regional subject matter expert for JDS and PC, proactively identifying opportunities for platform optimization, process improvement, and innovation based on user feedback, system capabilities, operational analytics, and evolving or anticipated business requirements; and

- Provide excellent customer service to business partners and staff by partnering to resolve user issues in a timely and effective manner.

Policies and Procedures:

- Documentation of JDS / PC system processes and assistance to business as needed;

- Develop and maintain system change and optimization request processes, operational procedures, and change management practices in alignment with global standards; and

- Partner with IJM’s Global Technology Solutions team to maintain system security and protocols.

Communication:

- Advise regional leadership, JDS / PC Governance stakeholders, and teams utilizing JDS and PC on product performance, deployment status, enhancement opportunities, emerging business needs, and recommended priorities;

- Create clear requirements documentation for user acceptance, cross functional roles and guidance for external consultants; and

- Evaluate and qualify regional enhancement requests based on business value, urgency, operational impact, and strategic impact. Guide regional backlog refinement and provide recommendations for prioritization by the JDS Business Governance structure and Product Management.

Training and Development:

- Deliver support, guidance, and training to superusers on the JDS system so that they can own the operational aspects of the system and support their end users on operational transactions;

- Provide support, guidance, and training to IJM staff interfacing with JDS and PC, advising on business process optimization, system enhancements, and opportunities to improve regional adoption and operational effectiveness;

- Design knowledge base articles for new users and superusers on new functionality;

- Empower superusers to own the system and become expert testers of new features;

- Lead and oversee regional onboarding, training, and change management activities for new and existing users, ensuring effective adoption of product enhancements and continuous improvement of user proficiency, empowering power users, and sustaining operational excellence across internal and partner user groups; and

- Provide on-site (in country) support for critical JDS and PC training, major initiatives, and ongoing operations and maintenance.

Documentation, Reporting & Data Management:

- Oversee regional data quality, application support coordination and enhancement intake, identifying reoccurring issues and opportunities for platform optimization through user feedback operational metrics, and business priorities, as well as coordinating data integrity issues, and requests to maintain system reliability;

- Analyze regional data quality, reporting requirements, and usage trends to support dashboards and business metrics for senior leadership, while recommending improvements to data integrity and decision making capabilities;

- Guide regional User Acceptance Testing (UAT) planning and execution in collaboration with business and technical teams, coordination testing activities, validating business requirements, and overseeing regional deployment readiness and change management communications to end users as outlined by the JDS/PC Communication Plan;

- Qualify defects/enhancements, monitors ticket queue & escalates to Product Owner(s); and

- Maintain low volume ticket queue and ensure clear tracking of new enhancement requests in the backlog.

General Tasks:

- Participate in IJM’s community of spiritual formation.

Qualifications:

- Bachelor’s degree or any equivalent combination of education, experience and certification;

- 5+ years of professional work experience;

- 3+ years of experience with operations/program data (i.e., casework, M&E, program, criminal analytics, stakeholder engagement);

- 1+ years of work experience in Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) or equivalent experience as a super user or team support;

- Experience in Salesforce or other Object-Oriented Database;

- Experience in an Agile work environment preferred;

- Experience configuring in an enterprise system preferred;

- Experience writing UAT criteria or scripts for technical system requirements preferred;

- Demonstrated experience evaluating business requirements and recommending enterprise application improvements aligned with operational or organizational priorities;

- Experience coordinating cross-functional stakeholders through requirements development, Agile delivery process, user acceptance testing, and system enhancements;

- Experience advising business stakeholders on data quality, process improvements, system functionality, and application adoption; and

- Experience supporting change management, training, and continuous improvement initiatives across diverse user groups.

- Proven ability to evaluate business needs and data product capabilities to recommend effective technology solutions aligned with organizational and regional priorities.

- Experience guiding cross-functional stakeholders, teams and external partners through Agile delivery activities, backlog refinement, requirements documentation, and user acceptance testing to support timely, high-quality system enhancements.

- Strong stakeholder engagement and communication skills, including the ability to translate complex concepts into actional recommendations for regional teams and leadership, business users, and technical teams with the capacity to advise on data product functionality, business process optimization, data quality and reporting strategies.

- Experience overseeing platform enhancements and digital infrastructure, including testing, analytics, and continuous improvement based on user behavior and engagement metrics.

- Ability to recommend and identify continuous improvements based on user feedback, operational analytics, and evolving business requirements, as well as emerging platform capabilities.

- Strong verbal and written communication skills (English required; FO local language is an added advantage).

- High proficiency in Excel or with other data analysis tools preferred.

- Strong proficiency in MS office tools.

Critical Qualities:

- Eager commitment to IJM's Core Values: Christian, Professional and Bridge-Building;

- Conceptualize, analyze and explain complex and abstract problems

- Manage multiple or competing priorities and work in a fast-paced environment

- Demonstrate entrepreneurial orientation

- Manage cross-cultural relationships

- Self-starter with strong initiative;

- Disciplined with priorities;

- Strong interpersonal skills and self-awareness;

- Exceptional verbal and written communication;

- Flexible, collaborative and eager to support others;

- Effective team player who fosters collaborative environment; and

- Adept at creative problem solving.

Application Process:

Upload Resume, Cover Letter & Statement of Faith* in one PDF document .

*What is a statement of faith?
A statement of faith should describe your Christian faith and how you see it as relevant to your involvement with IJM. The statement can either be incorporated into the cover letter or submitted as a separate document and should include, at a minimum, a description of your spiritual disciplines (prayer, study, etc.) and your current fellowship or place of worship.

IJM holds strict safeguarding principles and a zero tolerance to violations of the Safeguarding Policy, Protection against Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment Policy, and Code of Ethics. Candidate selection is based on technical competence, recruitment, selection and hiring criteria subject to assessing the candidate’s value congruence and thorough background, police clearance, and reference check processes.

At IJM, we’re committed to building a diverse workforce through fair and equitable employment practices. IJM encourages people of any race, color, age, sex, marital status or political ideology to apply for employment. While we welcome everyone into this work, we truly believe that the work we are doing is God’s work, not our own, and practice spiritual disciplines together daily. That’s why we legally require under SEC. 2000e-1 [Section702] of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that all employees practice a mature orthodox Christian faith, as defined by the Apostles’ Creed.

IJM requires a background check, police clearance and thorough review of references with an employment offer and/or employment contract.