Background information about the job or company (e.g., role context, company overview)

The Higher Education Loans Board, HELB, is the leading financier of higher education in Kenya. It is a State Corporation under the then Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology. HELB was established by an Act of Parliament (Cap 213A) in 1995.The mandate of the Board is to disburse loans, bursaries and scholarship to students pursuing higher educa...

Responsibilities or duties

The job holder is responsible for leading in the acquisition, gathering of system requirements, analysis, design, development and maintenance of business applications to facilitate first class customer experience.

An officer at this level will be deployed in ICT Business Applications, Information Systems Security, Database Administration and Quality Assurance, or Infrastructure and Support.

Duties and responsibilities at this level will entail:

Business Applications and Innovation

• Building and maintaining a high-performance team focused on delivering first class ICT business application solutions while creating an environment of trust, mutual respect and genuine concern for individual growth and development.
• Creating and maintaining working relationships with Line Managers, Divisional Supervisors, ICT Team, application users, business champions, contracted service providers and consultants.
• Planning and evaluating divisional activities while ensuring alignment to the Enterprise Risk Management Framework.
• Leading the development team by planning, allocating and following up delivery of business solutions.
• Ensuring developers have a proper development environment and the ability to complete assigned tasks.
• Developing budgets to upgrade existing business systems to meet user requirements.
• Reviewing requirements definition and design documents for completeness and ensuring test cases, adequate training and documentation are completed for developed solutions.
• Ensuring applications meet business requirements and system goals, fulfill end-user requirements and identifying and resolving system issues.
• Managing the day-to-day activities of developers.
• Reporting on development progress to the Deputy Director, ICT Business Applications.
• Assessing user capacity and recommending training and areas requiring improvement.
• Identifying latest technologies and business process re-engineering opportunities that enhance service delivery.

Qualifications or requirements (e.g., education, skills)

Person Specification

For appointment to this grade an officer must have:

• A cumulative period of twelve (12) years relevant work experience, three (3) of which must have been at the grade of Principal Information Communication Technology Officer or in a comparable position.
• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Business IT, Software Engineering, ICT Project Management, Computer Engineering or any other equivalent qualification from a recognized institution.
• Master’s Degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Business Information Technology, Software Engineering, Project Management, Business Administration, Data Science, Computer Engineering or any other equivalent qualification from a recognized institution.
• Leadership course lasting not less than four (4) weeks from a recognized institution.
• Management course lasting not less than four (4) weeks.
• Professional qualification in any two of the following: CISA, CISM, CRISM, CEH, CISSP, MCSE, MCITP, CCNA, Project Management Certification, SSCP, CompTIA Security+, OSCP or VOIP.
• Membership to a relevant professional body and in good standing where applicable.
• A valid practicing certificate where applicable.
• Shown merit and ability as reflected in work performance and results

Key Skills and Competencies

• Communication skills.
• Experience in configurations of top-tier ERP solutions.
• Proficiency in programming.
• Database querying.
• Data analytics.
• Demonstrated appetite for innovation and disruptive technologies.
• Team player.
• Interpersonal skills.
• Emotional intelligence.
• Data integration, data warehousing, business intelligence, OLAP and data mining, as well as familiarity with ICT standards such as ITIL and COBIT.
• Risk management and reporting.
• Information and network security.
• Experience with Unix, Linux and Windows operating systems.
• Experience with contact center technologies.
• Management course lasting not less than four (4) weeks

• Building and maintaining a high-performance team focused on delivering first class ICT business application solutions while creating an environment of trust, mutual respect and genuine concern for individual growth and development.
• Creating and maintaining working relationships with Line Managers, Divisional Supervisors, ICT Team, application users, business champions, contracted service providers and consultants.
• Planning and evaluating divisional activities while ensuring alignment to the Enterprise Risk Management Framework.
• Leading the development team by planning, allocating and following up delivery of business solutions.
• Ensuring developers have a proper development environment and the ability to complete assigned tasks.
• Developing budgets to upgrade existing business systems to meet user requirements.
• Reviewing requirements definition and design documents for completeness and ensuring test cases, adequate training and documentation are completed for developed solutions.
• Ensuring applications meet business requirements and system goals, fulfill end-user requirements and identifying and resolving system issues.
• Managing the day-to-day activities of developers.
• Reporting on development progress to the Deputy Director, ICT Business Applications.
• Assessing user capacity and recommending training and areas requiring improvement.
• Identifying latest technologies and business process re-engineering opportunities that enhance service delivery.

• Communication skills.
• Experience in configurations of top-tier ERP solutions.
• Proficiency in programming.
• Database querying.
• Data analytics.
• Demonstrated appetite for innovation and disruptive technologies.
• Team player.
• Interpersonal skills.
• Emotional intelligence.
• Data integration, data warehousing, business intelligence, OLAP and data mining, as well as familiarity with ICT standards such as ITIL and COBIT.
• Risk management and reporting.
• Information and network security.
• Experience with Unix, Linux and Windows operating systems.
• Experience with contact center technologies.
• Management course lasting not less than four (4) weeks

• A cumulative period of twelve (12) years relevant work experience, three (3) of which must have been at the grade of Principal Information Communication Technology Officer or in a comparable position.
• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Business IT, Software Engineering, ICT Project Management, Computer Engineering or any other equivalent qualification from a recognized institution.
• Master’s Degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Business Information Technology, Software Engineering, Project Management, Business Administration, Data Science, Computer Engineering or any other equivalent qualification from a recognized institution.
• Leadership course lasting not less than four (4) weeks from a recognized institution.
• Management course lasting not less than four (4) weeks.
• Professional qualification in any two of the following: CISA, CISM, CRISM, CEH, CISSP, MCSE, MCITP, CCNA, Project Management Certification, SSCP, CompTIA Security+, OSCP or VOIP.
• Membership to a relevant professional body and in good standing where applicable.
• A valid practicing certificate where applicable.
• Shown merit and ability as reflected in work performance and results