Careers at Ackama

Software Development

We primarily work with Ruby/Rails, but we also work on projects using JS and React, Elixir and Phoenix, PHP with CWP Wordpress. We host on a mixture of managed platforms and AWS infrastructure (primarily EC2 and ECS). We strive to build solutions to client problems which find the right balance of speed of feature development, sustainable maintenance and ease of scaling. We support our apps in production for most clients.

We’re first and foremost a service delivery company. That means that we work on lots of different problems, from greenfields code to well established codebases. What you’re working on this week is unlikely to be what you’re working on in two or three months. Our project sizes also vary; it can be a single developer for a sprint or two, a small team of 2 or 3 devs for three months, and occasionally a large project with 4 or 5 devs for six months. Code review and pairing are really important to the way we work, so even if you’re on a project on your own, you’ll always have a wider set of teammates who are there to lend a helping hand.

For us, your non-technical skills are just as important as the technical ones. We regularly have in house training on subjects like client communications, giving and receiving constructive feedback in actionable and kind ways, negotiation, and client management.

We encourage growth into leadership. There are opportunities to contribute to how the company works through various working groups (like our Ops group, Front End Devs group, or the Wāhine group). Our Head of Development supports tech leads on projects with coaching and continuous learning opportunities to ensure projects run well and are delivered on time. Developers may be asked to participate in estimations for RFPs and attend sales pitches, and all our seniors have a few less experienced teammates to mentor.

Whatever your level, you’ll embrace our goal of making the world a better place, and you’ll be in tune with the values on our website. You’ll be someone who enjoys learning new technologies but who is focussed on the outcomes of the projects we take on. You’ll care about our clients, their end users, and your teammates.

For an intermediate we expect 2 - 3 years of industry experience and ideally some experience with Ruby/Rails. You don’t need to have experience being tech lead on a project, but we’d love you to be interested in doing so.

For a senior we expect 5+ years of industry experience, and at least some experience of being a tech lead on a project. Ruby/Rails experience is great but if you feel like you can jump in and come up to speed quickly, we trust your judgement. You’ll be someone who wants to help the team around you thrive, knows how to create good outcomes and enjoys the work of solving technical challenges.

People of all ages, genders, and backgrounds are encouraged to apply by Friday 14 June 2019 to jobs@ackama.com - any attached documents should be sent as a PDF.

Applicants for this position should have NZ residency or a valid NZ work visa.

Client Services

We are currently looking for an Account Manager in Wellington!

You will work collaboratively in the business development (BD) team consisting of two BDMs and a sales administrator. We work alongside the scrum masters and delivery leads. The BD team also covers the consulting and AI business units - you will primarily represent the software development business.

As Account Manager you will lead many sales efforts and early discussions, feel comfortable advising clients through early engagements and provide an overall commercial perspective on projects that are in delivery. You also will own many ongoing client relationships, to maintain regular discussions and coach them on identifying relevant opportunities. Ackama has a soft-sell approach, while we approach organisations who are relevant to our expertise and track record. We have an excellent reputation in the market through open and honest advice to our customers. We provide genuine advice for our customers and push for best-practice technical and design in our work. This translates to long-term relationships and an expectation from our teams to deliver high quality projects.

As a rapidly growing business, we’ve worked to create processes and support for our business development team. As a newly defined role, you should expect to have influence on creating KPIs and shaping your own work plan. While the bulk of your customers will be established relationships or early engagements you should feel comfortable in a prospecting or pre-sales context.

Whatever your level, you’ll embrace our goal of making the world a better place, and you’ll be in tune with the values on our website. You will be enthusiastic about representing these with our clients and demonstrating the results of our approach.

We expect the right candidate to have solid experience in an organisation that is relevant to tech. While an interest in technology is an advantage we place a high focus on interpersonal skills, personal leadership, working as a team, and being a problem-solver for our clients.

You should feel confident dealing with a range of stakeholders through client organisations, and working with them from conversations to advance high level strategies into proposals and projects. A professional understanding of government is helpful however we just as regularly work with commercial organisations, NGOs and startups.

You will be comfortable within or facilitating discussions around project management, account management, planning in an agile environment, and supporting our developers to lift capability within our client organisations.

People of all ages, genders, and backgrounds are encouraged to apply to jobs@ackama.com - any attached documents should be sent as a PDF.

We will be shortlisting as applications are received, and anticipate holding interviews from 21 August onwards.

Applicants for this position should have NZ residency or a valid NZ work visa.