Front-End Software Developer Volunteers

Overview

Frontend Software Developer Volunteer  you a Frontend Software Developer wanting to use your skills to help people in a humanitarian crisis and ultimately help save lives? Map Action can enable you to volunteer to do just that. Volunteers have been the heart of Map Action for over 20 years and we continually evolve the range of skills needed. We are looking for enthusiastic frontend software developer professionals who want to commit to a great team and to help Map Action make a difference that has a lasting effect on vulnerable communities.

Map Action works with humanitarian partners from local organisations to global UN partners. Be part of something exciting and impactful.

Map Action is a leading humanitarian mapping charity delivering information services and products to enhance decision making in disasters and conflicts. We collaborate with partners to provide mapped information that helps responders understand vulnerabilities and target their response, contributing to saving lives and minimising suffering. We work with a team of skilled volunteer professionals and a small paid staff team. The humanitarian sector is evolving, and technical expertise such as GIS, mapping, information management, data processing and visualisation are increasingly used for improving decision making in complex humanitarian response.

Map Action and our partners are uniquely positioned to provide technical expertise in support of this.

• As a volunteer, you will work with technical staff and volunteers on different opportunities. After onboarding, you can choose tasks and projects that fit your skillset and interests.
• Map Action external projects that require a frontend software skillset (e.g., hazard exposure platforms, conflict incident visualisation, custom data visualisation tools).
• Collaborate with external partners such as UN agencies, International NGOs and academic institutions.
• Work with Data Science and Data Engineering volunteers to enhance software used in data processing.
• Support internal systems maintenance in collaboration with Map Action’s IT Support Engineer.
• Represent Map Action at technical conferences and train other volunteers or external organisations on Data Engineer tools and processes.

If you feel you are a good match but do not meet all requirements, we still encourage you to apply.

• A desire to use skills, experience and dedication in the cause of humanitarian ends
• Good team player with leadership and/or project management experience or ambition
• Exceptional communication skills to explain work to non-technical stakeholders and experience in understanding partner needs and requirements
• Adaptable, resilient and solution-oriented
• Self-motivated and organised
• Time to commit to Map Action
• Three or more years of professional experience in a software development team
• Experience and proficiency with Python
• Experience with testing regimes including unit and regression testing and continuous integration
• Project management experience
• Experience in participating in a volunteer organisation or open source projects
• Experience developing with ESRI’s GIS product suite and/or other geospatial technology
• Experience with systems engineering
• An interest in data engineering or data science (e.g., ML / DL / AI / Statistics)
• Humanitarian knowledge/experience

Being part of Map Action means joining a close-knit community of highly skilled professionals across sectors, using your skills to help prepare for, anticipate, or respond to humanitarian emergencies, enabling partners to provide life-saving support.

At Map Action, training and team building are core. We host frequent online and in-person meet-ups where paid staff and volunteers train, share skills, and strengthen our service offering. Volunteers work alongside colleagues at UN agencies and other humanitarian partners, and may help shape the organisation’s strategic direction and operational capacity.

You may have opportunities to travel for training events, project work abroad, missions or representing Map Action at conferences.