Senior Specialist - Technology, Bangalore

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

Job summary

Ground Zero in Bengaluru is seeking a Senior Specialist - Technology to own the technology stack end-to-end for frontline micro-enterprise users. You will build offline-first web/mobile apps, with WhatsApp-first interfaces and vernacular UIs, designed for low-bandwidth environments.

You will also own data architecture, production AI, and the pipelines powering impact measurement and funder reporting, while shaping the engineering roadmap with program leadership.

Qualifications

• 4 - 7 years software development experience with deep problem solving.
• Solid database design, queries, and data modelling.
• Proficiency with coding tools to ship quality code fast.
• Experience designing web applications, APIs, authentication, and caching.
• Excellent written and spoken communication, able to explain trade-offs.

Responsibilities

• Own the technology stack end-to-end for field-facing products.
• Design web and mobile apps that work offline and in low-bandwidth contexts.
• Build voice-first and vernacular interfaces for low-literacy users.
• Develop data pipelines and analytics layer for impact measurement.
• Lead code reviews, testing, documentation and incident response.

Skills

End-to-end tech ownership

Offline-first engineering

WhatsApp-first interfaces

Localization/vernacular UI

Data architecture

Production AI

Strong programming fundamentals

Web API design

Clear communication

Tools

Claude Code

Cursor

Job description

Role name: Senior Specialist - Technology, Bangalore
Experience: 4 to 7 years
Salary: 10 to 12 LPA

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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
• Do code reviews, testing, documentation & incident response

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

Essential

• 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

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Hiring Note: Applications will be reviewed on rolling basis. This job is first posted on September 8th, 2026 on Ground Zero

For any questions, ping us on WhatsApp chat: [phone]