Tender for six Senior Software Engineering Trainers for Code Reviews (International Expert Positions) as Trainers for the Rwandan Software Development Trainee Program "1000 Intermediate Developers"

1. General information

1.1 About KB21

KB21 Ltd. is committed to promoting the Rwandan IT scene. We focus on capacity developmentand job creation in the Rwandan IT economy. KB21 Ltd. has been partnering with Rwandan companies, institutions, and individual trainers in several projects, connecting Rwandan tech teams to international projects and remote work opportunities.

In 2019, we introduced our independent training program, called “The Gym”, together with our partner Tech in Ruanda e.V., guiding young Rwandan ICT talent through a structured set of technology and professional skills modules empowering them to provide services for global clients. Later this program evolved into the “1000 Intermediate developers” program.

1.2 About “The Gym” and “1000 intermediate developers”

The Gym is Rwanda's most intense software development trainee program. Trainees join the program with solid foundations in software development and undergo a rigorous 6-month, full-time, on-site training in software development, professional skills and ways of work that brings them to the level of being able to join international software development teams as Junior Developers. The 1000 intermediate developers program adapts The Gym’s 6-month full-time training into a 12-month part-time program that runs in parallel to university, targeting students at the beginning of their studies. After completion of the 12-month core training, successful graduates transition into the project phase of their traineeship, which lasts until graduation from university. The project-phase allows participants to grow to the level of intermediate software developers. Graduates of The Gym work remotely from Rwanda for international companies. Find out more on https://www.thegym-rwanda.com/

For this assignment: We are looking for six Trainers who have deep experience in working as a software developer in a European context, preferably a German context, as this is where most employers of the “1000 intermediate developers” program graduates are based.

The Experts need to have immersed themselves in the ways of work in Europe on-site and need to have this experience from several companies, allowing for more representative impression and not the limited perspective of a single company.

At the same time the person should have an initial understanding of the Rwandan context. They should have experienced working on-site in Rwanda, even if it is for brief period, so that the basics of working in the country are not completely alien. They should also have collected some experience working with Rwandan software developers from various companies.

2. Contractual information 

• The service can be performed remotely.
• The service performance period is November 2026 to January 2027.
• The legal entity that is carrier of The Gym and 1000 intermediate developers is KB21 Ltd., a Rwandan limited liability company.
• Quotes for this tender can be specified in EUR or in RWF.
• Companies need to specify the individual trainers who will be conducting these trainings and share the information (CV, references etc.) related to that specific trainer.
• Companies will only be able to change the expert trainers during the duration of the contract with prior written consent of KB21 Ltd. When the trainers change, KB21 Ltd. will have the right to terminate the contract, if it does not consent to the change of trainers.

3. Tasks to be performed by the contractor 

Our trainees work on exercise projects in groups of approximately 4 people. Their work is peer reviewed and reviewed by coaches. But additionally, we want it to be reviewed by an international Senior Developer. This aims at ensuring highest standards of code quality and best practice adherence, but it also aims at exposing our trainees to the expectations and habits regarding communication style and ways of work that an international senior developer has.

To this end we are looking for six international senior developers who will provide:

• approximately 2 to 2.5 hours of code reviews and technical help on complex exercise projects per group of approximately 4 trainees every week, depending on the coaching needs of the group.
• There will be 57 groups of trainees requiring this coaching, meaning that we are expecting approximately 135 hours of coaching per week across all groups.

• The coaching will be delivered by six coaches, with each coach responsible for approximately 9 to 10 groups.
• This will be done for a defined portion of the cohort period, totalling approximately 11 weeks (3 months).
• The total number of consultant hours is going to be 1,482 hours.

Detailed task breakdown:

• Code reviews:
  • Trainees use GitHub as a version control system and remote repository.
  • When they work on exercise projects they share their code with the trainers through a pull request. Pull requests are either feature-based or they represent the coding progress done up to a certain point in time (e.g. via a dev->main PR at a certain predefined cutoff-date)
  • The trainers then add detailed comments to individual lines of code in the pull request through GitHub's built-in commenting functionality. Comments relate not only to errors but also to best practices and code quality criteria.
  • Comments need to be detailed and make the recommended improvement explicit.
  • Trainees then edit their code and ask for a re-review.
  • This continues until comments have been addressed to the full satisfaction of the trainers in which case the trainers mark the comments as resolved.
  • When all comments have been resolved the trainers merge the pull request.
  • Notifications about pull requests, comments, requests to re-review etc. are triggered through GitHub's built in notification functionalities. Additionally, they can be shared on discord or any other similar communication platform that is used for coordination between the trainers and the trainees. 
• Technical help:
  • The trainers conduct a weekly call with the trainees to talk through noteworthy issues identified during code reviews and to help with particularly challenging questions faced by the trainees.
  • Trainees prepare questions for these calls about issues they are stuck on and share those questions with the trainers before the call.
  • During the call the trainers provide ideas for how to solve the issue verbally and shares any resource-links in the chat of the call.
  • In some cases, requests for such technical help may also be shared in between calls on discord or any similar communication platform that is used for coordination between the trainers and the trainees.

4. Tender requirements

4.1 Qualifications of the experts needed
 

• General professional experience: At least 5 years of experience working as a Senior software developer in a European context, out of which:

• • At least 1-year experience in Germany;
  • Within at least 3 different teams on-side in Europe.

• Specific professional experience:

• At least 3 years as a Tech Lead in Europe on-site, out of which:

• • • • At least 1-year experience in Germany;

• Within at least 2 different teams on-site in Europe.

• Leadership / management experience: Lead developer teams in at least 2 projects with an international team-composition, including the participation of Rwandan developers in at least 1 project.

• Experience in the region / knowledge of the country: at least 1 project in Rwanda, e.g. short-term assignment working on-site, leading or training Rwandan software developers.

4.2 Specifications of input

For the purpose of the financial bid, bidders shall calculate their price based on exactly 1,482 hours. This is the maximum estimated volume of services; KB21 Ltd. is not obliged to use the full number of hours, and payment will be made only for hours actually performed. The weekly volume of approximately 135 hours is indicative and may vary according to the needs of the assignment, within the overall maximum.

5. Requirement on the format of the tender

The quote should include:

• A financial quote
• Evidence of commercial register entry
• A signed declaration by the company submitting the quote, confirming that none of the exclusion grounds listed in the “Eligibility criteria” section apply.
• Trainer CV
• The criteria table (can be merged with Trainer CV, for details see criteria table section below). Please make sure to provide a reference for each experience you mention in the criteria table.

The structure of the tender must correspond to the structure of the ToR. In particular, the criteria table should be organised in accordance with the positively weighted criteria in the assessment grid (not with zero). The tender must be drawn up in English language. 

Criteria table

Please submit a table in the format below. Use one row for each criterion, and list the name of the company / organization. The criteria table can be combined with the CV’s, as long as the matching between criteria and experience is made obvious.

6. Evaluation Criteria

The technical assessment is based on this technical assessment grid.

An offer will be selected, if the vendor is eligible and the offer ranks the best based on the combined reached points in the technical assessment (weighted 70%) and the price assessment (weighted 30%).

7. Eligibility criteria

Eligibility criteria for this tender are:

• Evidence of commercial register entry
• Exclusion grounds: The tenderer must provide a signed declaration confirming that none of the following situations apply:
  • Criminal convictions for corruption, fraud, money laundering, or other offences affecting professional integrity;

• Insolvency, bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceedings;
• Serious professional misconduct affecting the ability to perform the contract;
• Actual or potential conflict of interest with the contracting entity or the project.

8. Submission of Quotes, relevant dates

Deadline for submission of quotes is the 05th of November 2026.

Please submit your quotes by uploading them to 

https://www.the-gym.rw/Senior-Software-Engineering-Trainer-International-Expert 

Service provision is expected to start on the 09th of November 2026.