Technology Innovation Lead

About Vendease Vendease is an e-procurement platform for B2B clients in Africa, with a mission to ensure restaurants are free to focus on catering for their customers. We take the problem of food supply- availability and quality of restaurant owners, so that they can focus on serving their customers. As an online marketplace, we give restaurants the opportunity to buy everything they need remotely and seamlessly from anywhere in the world.

About the Role Technology Innovation Lead will oversee the Vendease Research and Innovation lab, which will drive the development of breakthrough innovations for the company and her growing customers. They must also be able to pursue these opportunities through research and development, partnerships, or other means.

Define a compelling vision: Identify, understand, and articulate innovative and novel technology trends that can be applied to Vendease global operations - and represent these ideas during ideation, solution design, and project development. Connect vision with reality: Work closely with peers in the product and tech departments to develop and implement critical technologies in a scalable and robust way. Evangelise Vendease R&I: Identify and cultivate strategic relationships with external partners who can provide resources (design, adaptation, implementation, support) for R&I projects. Collaborate with other departments: work closely with other departments within the organisation, such as product development, marketing, and sales, to ensure that research and innovation efforts are aligned with the organisation's overall goals and objectives.

Communicate results and impact: communicate the results of research and innovation projects to stakeholders and decision-makers within the organisation. This includes providing regular updates on progress and impact, as well as presenting findings and recommendations to senior management.

Identify potential areas of growth: identify potential opportunities for growth for the organisation and customers’ technology adoption, research and design solution to capitalise on these opportunities.

Manage research and innovation budgets: manage the budget allocated for research and innovation, including identifying and prioritising funding opportunities and ensuring that resources are allocated in an efficient and effective manner.

Preferred Qualifications/Attributes Experience identifying, conceptualising, and applying a wide range of technology hardware and software concepts in product and service design projects A track record of building successful technology partnerships with technology companies that include the development/co-development of new software A track record of successful products and/or services launched Proficiency/knowledge of a variety of a variety of technology design and implementation processes (e.g. agile development, UX), and an understanding of when to apply them Deep understanding of at least one ICT discipline (e.g.Fintech, Foodtech, E-commerce, Data Science, Agritech) Ability to extract and analyse digital data, patterns and related trends into information consumable by senior leadership and program staff Excellent interpersonal skills, ability to communicate with colleagues on all levels in a distributed, multicultural professional environment.

Compensation & Benefits Competitive salary. Health Insurance. Paid time off Training and development opportunities.