Career Opportunities in M-KOPA Kenya

Introduction
 
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.
 

M-KOPA is seeking:
 
Position Title: Business Intelligence Analyst 
 
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
 
Position Start: As soon as possible
 
Reporting to: Head of Business Intelligence Systems
 
Overall Purpose: Collecting and analyzing business requirements for the M-KOPA BI Platform and as acting as a liaison between business users and the BI development team.
 

Role Profile
 
Key Accountabilities
  • Defines and documents business functions and processes.
  • Consults with business users to identify, define and document business needs and objectives, current operational procedures, problems, input and output requirements.
  • Acts as a liaison between developers and end-users in the analysis, design, configuration, and testing to ensure optimal operational performance.
  • Engaging business users and the technology team in order to prioritize requests
  • Analyzes the feasibility of, and develops requirements for, new systems and enhancements to existing systems; ensures the system design fits the needs of the users.
  • Tracks and fully documents changes for functional and business specifications; writes detailed universally understood procedures for permanent records and for use in training.
  • Identifies opportunities for improving business; assists in the preparation of proposals to develop new systems and/or operational changes.
  • Conducts change impact analysis to assess the potential implications of changes and documents court business rules, functions and requirements.
  • Participates in user acceptance testing and testing of new system functionality
  • Developing user documentation and training manuals as required
Incumbent Requirements
 
Education:
  • Bachelor’s degree /relevant credentials in technology, science, engineering, or electronics.
Experience, Knowledge & Skills:
  • Required: Demonstrable SQL experience (preferably SQL Server)
  • Required: Should have at least 3 years of experience working in a similar role
  • Required: Advanced Excel knowledge
  • Required: Ability to engage with and present to senior management
  • Experience in Agile methodology will be a big plus
  • Strong analytical and problem solving skills with keen attention to detail
  • Experience in the development and implementation of standards, procedures and guidelines to support operational processes
  • Self-motivated with the ability to prioritize, meet deadlines, and manage own time with changing priorities in an agile environment
  • A results oriented individual who thrives working in a fast paced environment
  • Excellent interpersonal skills with a willingness to go the extra mile to assist other team members
Remuneration: Competitive package covering a monthly salary, performance bonus and medical benefits reflective of the candidate’s experience and skills.

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 EV-BI Analyst-2041

Position Title: Telesales Team Representatives
 
Location: Nairobi HQ
 
Position Start: ASAP
 
Contract: An initial 6 month contract leading to a full term employment depending on individual performance. 

Role Profile
 
Telesales Team Representatives Responsibilities
  • Telesales of M-KOPA Product portfolio
  • Excellent communication and representation of M-KOPA company values
  • Achieve and Surpass sales targets
  • Handling customer queries and escalating to Customer Care team
  • Excellent and diligent record keeping
The Person
  • MUST be a driven individual who works to achieve and surpass targets
  • Is an excellent communicator and sales person
  • MUST be computer literate and exposed to Microsoft Office (Email, Word and Excel)
  • Passionate about Sales and Customer Care
  • Experience working with  MSOffice
  • Fluent in written and spoken English and Swahili
  • Able to work well under pressure and under minimum supervision
  • An excellent communicator
  • A team player
  • Must be time flexible and able to work in a shift clock system including Public holidays and Weekends
  • Exposure to Customer Care, Dealer Care or Call Centre experience  and CRM systems is a plus
Remuneration: Ksh 20,000 Gross + Commissions (On a per sale Basis) plus medical benefits after the 6 month period.

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  EV-TELESALES-2040.

Position Title: Senior System Engineer
 
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
 
Position Start: ASAP
 
Reporting to: Head of Technology Operations
 
Overall Purpose: Responsible for the overall design, building, deployment and maintenance of M-KOPA’s platform infrastructure.

Role Profile

Key Accountabilities
  • Responsible for network and application security
  • Responsible for ensuring our servers and applications have 99.999% uptime
  • Resolve server or application related support issues
Incumbent Requirements
 
Education:
  • Bachelor’s degree in a related field.
Experience: 
  • Great in design, building, deploying and managing virtual servers using VMWare or Hyper-V
  • Experience working with cloud service providers such as Windows Azure or Amazon Web Services
  • Team leadership skills, assigning tasks to junior engineers as well as following on tasks to completion
  • Project management skills
  • Ability to assess, plan and build on capacity
  • Demonstrated Windows Server Administration skills
  • Demonstrated SQL Server Database Administration skills
  • Experience working with monitoring tools such as PRTG or System Center 2012
  • At least 4 years’ working experience in a similar role
  • Solid understanding of network protocols and services
  • Experience dealing with server security issues
  • Solid programming background in .NET
  • Deploying software using automated tools
  • Ability to effectively communicate and work closely with M-KOPA staff to determine needs and assist with system requirements
  • Review all backups and periodically check the validity of the same by running trial restorations on tests servers
  • Scripting in Windows environment using PowerShell
  • Training and documentation of all systems
  • Attend to escalated support tickets on our service desk system
  • Excellent verbal and written communication skills
Knowledge / Skills: Windows Server 2012, SQL Server 2012, scripting
 
Beneficial:
  • Microsoft SQL DBA Certification will be considered a plus
  • CCNA certification will be considered a plus
  • MCSE certification will be considered a plus
  • Linux Server Administration skills will be considered a plus
  • ITIL certification will be an added advantage
Remuneration: A generous and competitive remuneration package will be offered to the successful candidate/s.

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 EV-SnrSE-2042

Position Title: System Engineer
 
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
 
Position Start: ASAP
 
Reporting to: Head of Technology Operations

Overall Purpose:
 Responsible for the building, deployment and maintenance of M-KOPA’s servers.

Role Profile

Key Accountabilities
  • Responsible for network and application security
  • Responsible for ensuring our servers and applications have 99.999% uptime
  • Resolve server or application related support issues
Incumbent Requirements
 
Education: Bachelor’s degree in a related field.

Experience: 
  • Experience building, deploying and managing virtual servers
  • Demonstrated Windows Server Administration skills
  • Demonstrated SQL Server Database Administration skills
  • Knowledge working with monitoring tools such as PRTG
  • At least 2 year experience in performing in a similar role
  • Solid understanding of network protocols and services
  • Experience dealing with server security issues
  • Experience working with cloud service providers such as Windows Azure or Amazon Web Services would be an added advantage
  • Ability to effectively communicate and work closely with M-KOPA staff to determine needs and assist with system requirements
  • Review all backups and periodically check the validity of the same by running trial restorations on tests servers
  • Training and documentation of all systems
  • Attend to support tickets on our service desk system
  • Excellent verbal and written communication skills
Knowledge / Skills: Windows Server 2012, SQL Server 2012, scripting with PowerShell
 
Beneficial:
  • CCNA certification will be considered a plus
  • MCSE certification will be considered a plus
  • Linux Server Administration skills will be considered a plus
  • Scripting skills will be considered a plus
Remuneration: A generous and competitive remuneration package will be offered to the successful candidate/s.

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 EV-SE-2043

Position Title: Device Network Support Engineer
 
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
 
Position Start: Immediate
 
Reporting to: Head of Engineering
 
Overall Purpose: M-KOPA Kenya Limited seeks a skilled Device Network Support Engineer whose main role will be taking up device network related issues / escalations and following up with relevant parties (Safaricom and Eseye) for resolution.


Role Profile

Key Accountabilities
  • Provision of technical assistance to Dev Ops on issues brought through customer care team in relation to device network.
  • Assist in device communication validation through SIM testing/Profile changes/Network validation.
  • Assist in predictive analysis through device use and communication data gathered.
  • Coordinating activities involving network from Eseye/Safaricom(SIM testing,GSM traces,Network coverage analysis).
Incumbent Requirements
 
Education: Bachelor’s degree /relevant credentials in technology, science, engineering, or electronics.

Experience:
 Adequate understanding of M to M communication and the integration of the same into embedded systems

Knowledge / skills:
  • Experience with MySQL/SQL
  • Knowledge of hardware (embedded hardware) and firmware interaction
  • Knowledge of GSM and mobile telecom interaction
  • Good troubleshooting skills and problem solving.
Remuneration: Competitive covering a monthly salary, performance bonus and medical benefits reflective of the candidate’s experience and skills.

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-DNSE-2038

Deadline for applications 5pm on Friday 16th October, 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.