Software Developer (5 Positions)

Ministry of Health and Sanitation

MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND SANITATION
DIGITAL HEALTH DIVISION VACANCIES

Background

The Ministry of Health and Sanitation through the Digital Health Division is implementing the Malawi Healthcare Information System (MaHIS) as a reform area towards digital transformation of health services under Health Sector Strategic Plan (HSSP III) pillar number 6.

The main objective is to attain a shared and seamless Electronic Health Record (EHR) system across all levels of care which will allow continuity of care using patient level data to inform progress of service delivery. The Ministry of Health has recently received funding from the Presidential in Initiative on Maternal Health to improve Maternal and Child health services including maternal and newborn death surveillance. As part of strengthening health services towards improving the quality of health service provision the Ministry intends to use part of this funding towards the recruitment of Technical Assistants (Tas) to support with the implementation of the MaHIS. The contract for the TAs will be for twelve months subject to availability of funds and performance. The Ministry is, therefore, seeking applications from suitably qualified Malawians for the following positions: –

Software Developer (5 Positions)

The Software Developer main function will be to conduct software development of services in MaHIS and MaHIS auxiliary services including laboratory, radiology and pharmacy. The Software Developer will be required to integrate new functions and update existing functions in MaHIS. The officer will report to the Chief Digital Health Officer – Software Development and will be part of the software development team for the DHD.

Key Duties and Responsibilities

  • Conduct user requirements analysis and design of required software functions.
  • Development of software in liaison with the Senior Software Developer leads, in line with program specification/requirements
  • Ensure that best practices and guidelines of Agile Software Development are followed.
  • Document the software development process, code, and APls for future reference, maintainability, and knowledge sharing.
  • Write and conduct automated tests to ensure that all use cases and user stories are adequately covered before the software is deployed.
  • Conduct user acceptance testing sessions in collaboration with the Software Quality Assurance team.
  • Integrate emerging systems requirements or user feedback.
  • Development updates and maintenance of the software components of the interoperability architecture including the Interoperability Layer, MHFR, Master Patient Index, Products Registry, among others.
  • Adhere to software development standards guided by available standard operating procedures, guidelines and from the senior development team.
  • Adhere to timelines and deliverables.
  • Ensure high levels of system performance, availability, sustainability, and security
  • Use version control tools to manage source code and collaborate with other developers.
  • Conduct peer code review to ensure code quality, maintainability, and adherence to coding standards.
  • Integrate security practices into the software development process, such as secure coding, vulnerability scanning, and adherence to security standards.
  • Identify and optimize software performance bottlenecks, ensuring that the developed software meets the required performance standards (e.g., SQL tuning).
  • Development of technical manuals for MaHIS and auxiliary services.

Qualification, Knowledge and Experience

  • Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Information Technology, Mathematical Sciences or any related qualification.
  • Other similar qualifications should be backed with proof of software development experience.
  • 3+ years of experience working in software development, systems development, or similar field of expertise. Experience working in the health sector is a plus.
  • Knowledge of health information systems technologies such as DHIS2, OpenMRS, OpenHIE and systems software interoperability and data sharing protocols/standards including SOAP, HL7, XML, FHIR, SDMX, among others will be an added advantage.
  • The position requires ability to work with Modern JavaScript (ES6), both on the back end (with Node JS/Typescript) and the front-end (with any of React JS, Vue JS or Angular JS), JavaScript testing libraries (such as Mocha and Chai) as well as NoSQL Database Systems (such as CouchDB, Elastic-Search and MongoDB).
  • Experience with DevOps technologies such as Docker (Deployment), Jenkins/Circle Cl (Continuous Integration), Zero MQ (Messaging) and Ngin (Load Balancing) will be an added advantage.
  • Experience with Python (Flask framework is an added advantage).

Skills and Competencies

  • Proficiency and fluency in English
  • Ability to communicate with ease in official language
  • Ability to identify systems improvements and provide recommendations to strengthen programmatic delivery and communications.
  • Ability to distill and analyze technical content, highly preferred.
  • Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships and to interact with different stakeholders; desire to work with people from diverse backgrounds.
  • Excellent presentation development and delivery skills
  • Able to multitask, be independent, mature and able to work under time-pressure and amicably in a team.
  • The position requires demonstrated excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
  • Ability to contribute at high level meetings by explaining technical concepts in layman’s terms.
  • Ability to quickly grasp new concepts and trends in software development.
  • Ability to write software specifications, based on information and observations.
  • Willingness to work in a Linux/Unix environment.

Method of Application

All interested applicants who meet the stipulated requirements should submit their applications accompanied by the updated Curriculum Vitae, copies of their Certificates and supporting documents with the names and addresses of three traceable referees one of which should be the last or current employer not later than Friday 19th December, 2025 to: –

The Secretary for Health and Sanitation
Ministry of Health,
P.O. Box 30377,
LILONGWE 3.
Attention: Director of Human Resource Management and Development
OR
recruitment@health.gov.mw