We need people who dare to take ownership. With us, you don’t just get a ticket to solve blindly. You have real influence over decisions and direction, in a flat structure where professional and technical arguments carry real weight.
Trym Valebjørg
Join us in building the aid platform of the future
Trym Valebjørg works as a Tech Lead in Norad’s new digitalisation department.
– It’s incredibly inspiring to be the challenger – the one who gets to rethink how things are done, says the Tech Lead for Norad’s «GranMa» project, Trym Valebjørg.
Do you want to build something that truly matters – while working with cutting-edge technology? At Norad, we’ve put the off-the-shelf systems aside. We are now building a tailor-made platform for Norwegian development cooperation from the ground up, and we need developers who want to help define how it should be done.
At a time when many public IT projects end up with heavy, off-the-shelf solutions, Norad has made a bold and strategic choice: we are building our own platform. This is not digitalisation for its own sake. It is about giving the people who manage billions in development cooperation funding the tools they actually need to make good decisions. The goal is to free up time for what really matters, instead of forcing our grant managers to wrestle with old, unintuitive systems.
Trym Valebjørg is Tech Lead for the «GranMa» project. He describes it as a classic David vs. Goliath story:
– We are a small, highly skilled in-house team with a mandate you rarely see in the public sector. We’ve been trusted to prove that we can build solutions that are better, faster and more user-friendly than the large, heavyweight systems, he says.
Freedom from technical debt
For a developer, this is a rare opportunity: no 20-year-old codebase, no locked-down components, and no «spaghetti legacy» you have to patch.
– We have the opportunity to build exactly what we need from scratch. That gives a professional freedom you hardly find anywhere else. Here, you’re not committed to maintaining old modules; you help choose the architecture, languages and frameworks that will live, be iterated on and further developed for years to come, Trym explains.
He emphasises that this applies to both frontend and backend.
True cross-functional collaboration
The work happens in cross-functional product teams working iteratively. But unlike places where «cross-functional» is just a buzzword, the domain experts are actually part of the team and own the solution together with the developers.
– The distance from idea to production is short. The need for better tools is huge, and when we run demos or user research, we notice the enthusiasm immediately. People are ready for change, and it’s fun to build for users who are cheering you on, says Trym.
Functionality for agreements, budgeting and disbursements is already being tested. The first version of the core functionality is planned for 2027, but the platform will be continuously developed over time.
– We get very hands-on experience with product development. Seeing how our code directly improves the everyday work of the Grant Managers gives an immediate feedback loop that is incredibly valuable for learning.
Coding with purpose
Many developer roles are about optimising ad impressions or increasing sales of consumer goods. At Norad, you use your code to streamline work for a better world.
– It feels meaningful to go to work knowing that the system we’re building manages funds that go to education, health and emergency relief worldwide. We’re building decision-support tools to make sure money reaches the people and places that need it most, Trym says.
Open source and responsible AI
Norad also aims to give back to the wider community. The ambition is that components and tools can be shared as open source.
– We’re looking for developers who are passionate about their craft and about digital public goods. Open source is important to us – not for profit, but for learning, quality and community. I want to build an environment where we create genuinely good things because we’re proud of our craftsmanship.
When it comes to artificial intelligence, the approach is proactive but responsible.
– We see enormous potential, both in the solution itself and in how we work. We want to be at the forefront of AI-assisted development to become more efficient coders, while also exploring AI for decision support within the platform. But we approach it with a sense of realism. It’s about explainability, trust and low risk. We need developers who can balance the hype with solid engineering practices, says Trym.
Join the journey
Norad is now looking for more developers. Trym is open on who they are searching for:
– You don’t have to be a career climber, but you do need to be curious and professionally engaged. Having real influence, working with a modern tech stack, and at the same time feeling true ownership of what we build. I haven’t experienced that combination many other places.