Team Leader, Tech

Contract: Full-time staff with benefits Responsible to: Director, Impact and Innovation Duty Station: Bangkok, Thailand (On-site) BACKGROUND Issara Institute is an independent non-profit organization based in Asia, Europe, and the United States tackling human trafficking and forced labor from the lens of business and human rights. The Institute was established in 2014 by a team of anti-trafficking experts coming out of the United Nations who created an alliance of private sector, civil society, and government partners committed to transformational, sustainable, worker-driven approaches to forced labor, especially those occurring in global supply chains. It is staffed by leading regional and international experts in labor rights, business and human rights, and research and technology. OVERVIEW We believe that, together, we can transform the lives of tens of millions of workers through worker voice, partnership, and innovation
- that sustainable systems driving more ethical labor recruitment and working conditions are vital to the future of workers individually and collectively, to equity and fairness across supply chains, and to sustainable poverty alleviation efforts. Issara Institute has a growing team of software engineers, and we are building groundbreaking tools and applications to help fight human trafficking and support workers in supply chains exporting to the U.
S., Europe, Australia, and beyond. The ideal candidate is interested in integrating the tech and non-profit worlds; keen to understand the needs of a diverse set of users (our team, workers, jobseekers, businesses, and other NGOs); and, has experience building web applications using Django and React/Vite. SCOPE OF WORK Specific aspects of the scope of work of the Team Leader include: Technical strategy: Maintain a technical roadmap for new and existing projects, aligning it with business goals and product strategy. Identify and evaluate new technologies, tools, and platforms to improve efficiency and innovation. System design & review: Conduct architectural reviews of existing and new systems. Collaborate with managers and directors, the engineering team, and other stakeholders to translate business requirements into robust and scalable technical solutions. Mentorship & guidance: Act as a technical mentor and a subject matter expert for tech developers team members. Provide guidance on complex technical challenges, promote a culture of technical excellence, and help upskill team members as well as manage team member tasks in JIRA. Cross-functional collaboration: Work closely with cross-functional teams, including managers and directors, DevOps, and tech developers, to ensure seamless integration and deployment of solutions. Documentation and reporting: Create and maintain clear, comprehensive architectural documentation, including design specifications, system diagrams, and technical standards. Manage reporting to the Director of Impact and Innovation. Problem solving: Troubleshoot and resolve complex technical issues, providing expert-level support to development teams. Additional

responsibilities:
Strategic impact: This role is critical for ensuring the long-term technical health and scalability of our products. The team leader will act as a strategic partner to senior leadership, helping to make informed technology investments and mitigate future technical debt. Risk management: Reduce the risk of system failures, security vulnerabilities, and performance bottlenecks by defining and enforcing architectural standards, avoiding costly redesigns and repeated re-platforming. Accelerated innovation: Streamline development processes by providing clear, well-defined blueprints, enabling the engineers to build new features faster and more efficiently. Human-centered design: Participate in and co-lead human-centered design sessions with workers and multi-stakeholder partners, and develop implementation plans based on identified priorities and needs. Cost efficiency: By optimizing system design and leveraging the right technologies, control infrastructure costs along with DevOps (e.g., cloud spend) and improve resource utilization, directly impacting the bottom line. REQUIRED SKILLS & EXPERTISE We have a lean, dynamic, seasoned team that is committed to change, innovation, and impact. We are conscientious, hold a high standard of care for the people we serve, and understand that we have to be able to work effectively with partners spanning the largest multinational corporations to the smallest grassroots CBOs. Our work ecosystem is multicultural, respectful, and energetic, whether we are working on tasks in teams, or working remotely from home. We aim to ensure that there are many opportunities for sharing, learning, and growth on our team, and are looking for individuals who would flourish in our unique environment. Experience leading teams and coordinating with product managers and management is desirable. In addition, we are building new models and tools based on federated learning ecosystems and advanced uses of agentic AI
- thus an interest in learning and deploying these services is beneficial. The Team Leader, Tech & Innovation should have: At least 5 years of experience in full stack development using Django At least 2 years of experience working with React Must be able to verify code performance and security Must have experience leading engineering teams An ability to work closely with product users and multi-cultural teams, solid listening and teamwork skills, an ability to independently complete tasks assigned and respond in a timely manner to the assignments and communication with the team Preferred Experience and Skills JavaScript (ES6+): async/promises, modules, plus hands-on TypeScript experience. Backend experience with Python/Django and/or Node.js. Frontend experience with React (and ideally React/Vite; Material-UI a plus). SQL and relational data modeling (MySQL). AWS: EC2/ECS, RDS, S3, and Lambda. Git / GitHub, with experience building/maintaining GitHub Actions CI/CD pipelines. TDD / unit testing discipline. Agile/Scrum experience. Clear written communication and comfort working in a distributed, mission-driven team. Soft Skills Exceptional communication and presentation skills, with the ability to articulate complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences. Strong leadership and influencing skills, with a track record of mentoring and guiding technical teams. Excellent problem-solving and analytical abilities. Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced, agile environment. Nice to have Familiarity integrating AI/ML components into web applications. PWA development and deployment via Google Play Console. Our stack Languages: Python, TypeScript, JavaScript Backend: Django, Node.js Frontend: React, React/Vite, Material-UI Database: MySQL Infrastructure: AWS (EC2/ECS, RDS, S3, Lambda) Version control & CI/CD: Git, GitHub, GitHub Actions