Senior Specialist - Technology

Ground Zero; Bengaluru; On-site; INR 1,000,000 - 1,200,000; Full time

Job summary

Ground Zero in Bengaluru is seeking an experienced software engineer to own the technology stack end-to-end for frontline micro-entrepreneurs, focusing on offline-first apps, localization, and AI in production. You will design web and mobile apps, build voice-first vernacular interfaces, and create the data layer for impact measurement and reporting, while mentoring a growing engineering team. This is a hands-on role with close collaboration on roadmaps and delivering high-quality outcomes.

Qualifications

• 4–7 years building software with strong fundamentals.
• Solid database work: schema design and query optimization.
• Fluency with agentic coding tools to ship high-velocity code.
• Strong knowledge of web APIs, authentication, state and caching.
• Clear written and spoken communication of tradeoffs.
• Experience building offline-first, low-bandwidth apps in India.
• Production AI experience in real-world workflows.
• WhatsApp Business API or messaging platforms at scale.

Responsibilities

• Design and build web and mobile applications that hold up in low-bandwidth and intermittently connected areas — offline-first, low-data, low-end Android.
• Build voice-first and vernacular interfaces for users with low digital literacy.
• Identify where AI meaningfully improves field operations including evaluation, guardrails, and inference cost control.
• Build the data layer that powers impact measurement and funder reporting: pipelines from Saathi field collection through to defined metrics, with data quality and lineage.

Skills

Programming fundamentals

Problem solving

Web app design

APIs

Authentication

Caching

Communication

Tools

Claude Code

Cursor

Azure

AWS

GCP

Job description

Experience: 4 to 7 years

Salary: 10 to 12 LPA

About the role

Our technology initiatives serve micro-enterprises—small retail shop owners, local vendors, and home-based producers. These users operate on thin margins, in patchy network conditions, often with limited digital literacy, and almost exclusively in regional languages. Very little off-the-shelf software fits their unique context and operational realities.

We are looking for an individual to own that technology stack end-to-end:

• Field Data Collection: Supporting our frontline community partner network.
• User Delivery: WhatsApp-first interfaces and workflows built directly for micro-business owners.
• Localization: Voice-enabled and vernacular user interfaces.
• Data Architecture: The underlying data layer driving core impact measurement and analytics.
• Production AI: Deploying and scaling AI systems into active production workflows.

This is a hands-on technology role. You will work on setting the product and engineering roadmap alongside program leadership, help decide what to build, estimate technical scope, and deliver high-quality outcomes.

What you'll own

• Design and build web and mobile applications that hold up in low-bandwidth and intermittently connected areas — offline-first, low-data, low-end Android
• Build voice-first and vernacular interfaces for users with low digital literacy
• Identify where AI meaningfully improves field operations including evaluation, guardrails, and inference cost control
• Build the data layer that powers impact measurement and funder reporting: pipelines from Saathi field collection through to defined metrics, with data quality and lineage

Team and partners

• Hire, mentor, and grow the engineering team
• Manage external technology partners, vendors, and other engineering collaborations
• Set engineering practice — review, testing, documentation, incident response — proportionate to a small team rather than ceremony for its own sake

Data responsibility

Own privacy and consent design for data, including obligations under India's DPDP Act and the data commitments we make in grant agreements

Skills and experience

• 4 - 7 years building software, with strong programming fundamentals and real problem-solving depth — able to go deep in at least one language and pick up others quickly
• Solid database work: schema design, query design and performance, and modelling for
• Fluency with agentic coding tools (Claude Code, Cursor, or similar) to ship quality code at high velocity
• Good grasp of web application design — APIs, authentication, state, caching, failure modes
• Clear written and spoken communication, and the ability to explain a technical tradeoffs

Nice to have

• Built for low-bandwidth, rural, or offline-first contexts in India
• Production experience with AI-native applications — systems real users depend on
• WhatsApp Business API or comparable messaging platforms at scale
• Speech technology (ASR/TTS) or Indic-language NLP
• Data engineering and analytics pipeline ownership
• Cloud infrastructure ownership on AWS or GCP, infrastructure-as-code, and cost management

Mindsets we're looking for

• A genuine pull towards social impact — one that shows up in the tradeoffs you make, not only in your interest in the sector
• Comfort with ambiguous and shifting requirements, and a habit of helping set the requirements rather than waiting to receive them
• Appetite for field immersion. You will spend time in markets with Saathis and Vyapaaris. This is not optional color — it is how you will know what to build

Tools required: AZURE, AWS, GCP.

Experience in Cloud and DevOps and languages required in website and platforms/products development.