Overall Purpose: M-KOPA Kenya Limited seeks a skilled Engineering Field Trials Manager whose main role will to support various products offered by M-KOPA.
About M-KOPA Solar: M-KOPA Solar, headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, is the global leader of “pay-as-you-go” energy for off-grid customers.
Since its commercial launch in October 2012, M-KOPA has connected more than 240,000 homes in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda to solar power, and is now adding over 500 new homes each day.
The success of M-KOPA (M= mobile, KOPA= to borrow) stems from making solar products affordable to low-income households on a pay-per-use installment plan.
Customers acquire solar systems for a small deposit and then purchase daily usage “credits” for Kshs 40, or less than the price of traditional kerosene lighting.
After one year of payments customers own their solar systems outright and can upgrade to more power.
All revenues are collected in real-time via mobile money systems (such as M-PESA in Kenya) and embedded GSM sensors in each solar system allow M-KOPA to monitor real time performance and regulate usage based upon payments.
This connected design means that M-KOPA is processing vast amounts of data (i.e. over 10,000 mobile payments per day) via the company’s proprietary cloud platform, M-KOPAnet.
As of January 2015 M-KOPA employs over 500 full time staff across East Africa and sells through a network of 1,000 direct sales agents. It has also commenced licensing its technology to partners in other markets.
M-KOPA has been recognised for its pioneering business mode and scale, notably winning the 2015 Zayed Future Energy Prize, being selected as the top New Energy Pioneer at the 2014 Bloomberg New Energy Finance awards and earning the 2013 FT/IFC Excellence in Sustainable Finance Award.
Role Profile
Key Accountabilities
Managing pilots from the point the devices arrive in country through field tests to commercial distribution
Managing pre-sales trials including the preparation of units and the distribution to test customers
Creating questionnaires to get feedback on new product performance from test and commercial customers
Conducting questionnaires and carry out follow up visits for test and commercial customers to evaluate product adoption
Analyzing data to understand the use and performance of new products
Creating dashboards and other presentations to share information on use and performance with the Product Committee
Reporting on customer acceptance and device performance to the Product Committee
Requirements
Education:
Bachelor’s degree in management, technology, science, engineering, or electronics.
Experience:
One year of project or field management experience.
Knowledge / skills:
Project management experience
Clear and precise report writing and presentation
Good troubleshooting skills and problem solving.
Experience with MySQL an added advantage for data analysis
Knowledge of hardware (embedded hardware) and firmware interaction is an added advantage
Remuneration: Competitive covering a monthly salary, performance bonus and medical benefits reflective of the candidate’s experience and skills.
How to Apply
To apply, send an updated detailed copy of your CV and a cover letter expressing why you feel you would be an excellent candidate for the role to careers@m-kopa.com with the subject ENG-FTM-2050
Deadline for applications 5pm on Monday 16th November, 2015.
Please Note: Due to the large number of applications received by us, we regret that you will not be contacted unless you are short listed for the post and invited for an interview.
Therefore, if you have not heard from M-KOPA within 4 weeks of the date of the deadline your application, you should assume that you have not been successful on this occasion.
This measure has been taken in the interests of efficiency and cost effectiveness and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.