Legal

Privacy Policy

Last updated: 23 August 2026

Engineer Hub is an independent networking platform built for IEK-affiliated engineers, graduates, and students, including for use in connection with the National Engineering Strategy. It is not an official product of the Institution of Engineers of Kenya. This page explains what information we collect, why, and who can see it, and is written to align with the Kenya Data Protection Act, 2019.

1. What we collect

• Account information: your name, IEK membership number, phone number, and email address, provided when your account is onboarded, plus the PIN you set to secure your login.
• Profile information you add: bio, job title, company, location, engineering discipline, years of experience, work history, education, skills, and any profile or cover photo you upload.
• Content you post: posts, photos, videos, comments, and reactions on the feed, and jobs you list on the jobs board.
• Messages: direct messages you send to other members you're connected with.
• Network activity: your connections, who you follow, and the engineers who view your profile (visible only to you, as a count and a list of who viewed it).
• Usage information: when you were last active and whether you're currently online, shown to other members as presence ("Active now" / "Active 2h ago").
• Consent records: whether and when you agreed to this Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and whether you opted in to receive opportunities, jobs, training, and mentorship information.

2. How we use your information

We use the information above to create and verify your profile against the official IEK register, to operate the networking features of the platform (connections, messaging, the feed, and the jobs board), and — where you've opted in — to share relevant engineering opportunities, jobs, internships, training, mentorship, and professional development information with you.

3. Data sharing

We don't sell your data, and we don't share it with third parties or advertisers for their own use — there is no advertising on Engineer Hub. Information is only shared as described in this policy: with other logged-in members as part of normal platform use (section 5), and with our infrastructure providers (section 6) solely to host and run the platform.

4. How your PIN is protected

Your PIN is never stored as plain text. It's hashed using scrypt (a one-way cryptographic function) before it ever touches the database — we can verify a PIN at login without ever being able to read it back out. Five incorrect attempts locks an account for 15 minutes to slow down guessing.

5. Who can see what

• Your IEK membership number, phone number, and PIN are private — never shown to other members, only to you and to admins managing onboarding and support.
• Your profile details, posts, and activity are visible to other logged-in members, the same way they would be on any professional network.
• Direct messages are visible only to the two people in the conversation.
• Admins can see engineer records for the purpose of onboarding and support, but do not have routine access to your private messages.

6. Data retention and where your data lives

We retain your information for as long as your account is active, so the platform can keep working the way you'd expect. Data is stored securely in a managed Postgres database (Neon) and uploaded photos/videos in managed object storage (Vercel Blob), both hosted on Vercel's infrastructure, with access restricted to what's needed to operate the platform. If you request account deletion, we remove your account and associated profile data, subject to what we're legally required to retain.

7. Your rights

Under the Kenya Data Protection Act, 2019, and as a matter of how we operate regardless, you have the right to:

• Access — ask what data we hold about you.
• Correction — fix inaccurate or outdated information. Most profile fields can be edited directly from your account at any time.
• Deletion — request that your account and data be removed.
• Withdraw consent — the required consent to be processed is necessary to use the platform at all and can't be withdrawn while keeping your account active (withdrawing it means requesting deletion instead); the optional opportunities/marketing consent can be switched off anytime from Settings.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us using the details below.

8. Changes to this policy

If this policy changes in a way that matters, we'll update the date at the top of this page.

9. Contact

Questions about your data or this policy, or to exercise your rights above: NES@engineerhuub.com (National Engineering Strategy Secretariat)