Vice President, Engineering

The Company...
Founded in 2005, Kiva is on a roll! Featured in Forbes, Inc., Time, CNN, Fox (to name just a few) & most recently on TV's Good Morning America, Kiva's mission is to alleviate world poverty. We're the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs around the globe. To make this happen, Kiva partners with existing expert microfinance institutions.

Kiva provides a data-rich, transparent lending platform. We are constantly working to make the system more transparent to show how money flows throughout the entire cycle, & what effect it has on the people & institutions that lend, borrow, & manage it along the way. Our technology enables one-to-one interpersonal connections & lending at the lowest possible cost.

Your Mission...
By creating industrial-strength platforms & systems for lenders / partners / developers / fellows & staff, you'll advance Kiva's mission to alleviate world poverty. Doing what's likely to be the most important work of your career, you'll create a high-performing, well-oiled Engineering Department that already includes an impressive roster of tech talent. You'll introduce best practices, establish just the right amount of process, add to the existing team (now ~ 10) & optimize the organization to deliver its all-time highest output. What you deliver comes at a most critical point in Kiva's short history, as aggregate loans flowing through the system now exceed $75M with over 500,000 lenders!

Your Responsibilities...
As a member of the Management Team, you'll report to the CEO & lead the engineering team by:

• Guiding software development, using Agile concepts
• Gaining the trust & credibility of existing staff while defining roles & responsibilities of team members
• Introducing innovative development processes & methodologies to create robust & scalable systems
• Growing our resident engineering team with a keen eye toward preserving Kiva's unique culture
• Motivating/coaching/mentoring the team to reach optimal performance & output

Your Profile...
Our ideal candidate has led Engineering for a local e.commerce startup & appreciates Kiva's mission, plus:

• 10+ years in software development with 5+ years managing & scaling teams of 25+ staffers
• Strong leadership to: deliver high-quality products / harness team strengths / maximize productivity
• Hands-on leader who knows how to dive into the code
• Adept at handling high-level requirements as well as implementation details
• Compelling communicator with both tech & non-tech audiences
• Education — BSCS/BSEE from a top school; (MSCS/MSEE is a plus)
• Attributes — collaborative / egalitarian / purpose-driven / flexible leadership style / compassionate / low ego
• Wish List — experience with: B2C e.commerce / Agile environments / LAMP / open source

Your Compensation...

• Base salary with bonus potential for 2010, plus a comprehensive benefits package
• Psychic income for doing good in the world – priceless!
• Please note — Kiva is a non-profit organization (ie, there's no "equity" stake) & cash comp is not designed to support an affluent lifestyle