About Onja
Onja trains underprivileged youth into world-class software developers. Our organisation is unified by a common mission: give life-changing work through sustainable social enterprise.
We are recognised for our innovative model that finds exceptional talent where opportunity is scarce, invests in its development, and connects it directly to the global tech economy. Through an intensive two-and-a-half-year program, we co-create pathways to long-term social and economic stability that prioritise self-reliance.
We operate as one integrated organisation, where education, hiring, and partner collaboration work together to deliver high-performing tech talent with lasting social impact. Onja developers invest in their own futures and in their nation’s development, while ensuring Onja remains self-funding and scalable, paying forward opportunities to the next generation.
Onja is located in Toamasina, a lively city with beautiful beaches, nice restaurants, and with plenty to do and see. Toamasina is Madagascar’s second largest city (population 300,000) yet is surrounded by plenty of natural beauty, and even has a national park nearby.
About the Role
In 2019, Onja developed and delivered an intensive, full-time program combining English language training and coding instruction, with 19 students from our first cohort now working for top tech teams in the US and Europe.
We now face a strategic inflection point. While we've proven our model works very effectively, we must scale from training dozens to hundreds, then thousands of students while simultaneously diversifying our course offerings to mitigate AI-driven disruption in the software development sector. The challenge is maintaining quality and employment outcomes while expanding at this pace.
We've identified mental health support as a promising alternative career pathway. We are excited at the prospect of serving people, all over the world, who are in need of mental health services. Simultaneously, we realise the field offers strong career opportunities for our students. With a growing global demand for mental health services, a viable remote service delivery model, we see a counselling education path creating meaningful employment opportunities for our students, while strengthening our social enterprise model.
Your objective is to build and design a comprehensive training program from the ground up. This program must transform absolute beginners into professionally competent practitioners equipped to provide counselling within a clearly defined scope, using evidence-informed methods such as CBT in an online-first delivery model. All Onja-trained counsellors are required to engage in regular supervision throughout their careers ensuring clients receive safe, ethical and accountable care.
Your responsibilities will include:
