At M-KOPA, We Finance Progress.
The scale and impact of our work is massive. M-KOPA is a fast-growing FinTech company offering millions of underbanked customers across Africa access to life-enhancing products and services. From our roots as the pioneer in pay-as-you-go “PayGo’” solar energy for off-grid homes, we have grown into one of the most advanced connected asset financing platforms in the world, empowering a broad range of customers to achieve progress in their lives.
M-KOPA is now working to extend this connected asset financing expertise into the electric mobility space; with an initial focus on electric 2-wheelers. Your work will have massive impact both environmentally and in the financial independence it creates for our customers.
You will work closely with embedded engineers. You will use a variety of cell and battery pack models, fleet data, and laboratory test data to create feedback control and estimation algorithms for M-KOPA’s electric mobility battery management systems. Your projects will range from cell capacity, impedance, energy and degradation estimation to diagnostics of sensors, cells and battery pack components.
It is a fully remote role #LI-Remote, within the following time zone (UTC -1 / UTC+3). You will be reporting to the Head of Embedded Engineering.

About this role:
1. First and foremost, we are looking for someone who is excited about what we do. You don’t need to be an expert in FinTech but you are keen to learn and apply our company’s values
2. As a Senior Battery Algorithms Engineer, you will be developing and pioneering algorithms to remotely assess battery performance and safety in electric mobility vehicles, starting with 2-wheelers: State of Charge and State of Health, among others
3. Reconciling battery usage data with other vehicle telemetry such as location, speed, and driving behaviour
4. Validating and iterating algorithms to improve their accuracy and reliability
5. Applying advanced techniques such as machine learning to maximize the insights from telemetry collected
6. You’re excited about this opportunity because:
7. You will be working with an enthusiastic team focused on accelerating the transition to electric mobility in Africa
8. Your work will have impact on our customers’ livelihood by achieve progress in their lives through technology and financing accessibility
9. Demonstrating team spirit is important to you
10. We’re excited about you because:
11. You have at least 4 years of commercial experience with battery algorithm design
12. You have experience with modelling lithium-ion cells
13. You understand the importance of well communicated concept with partners
14. Expertise in battery management system design and battery pack engineering will be beneficial

What’s in it for you:
1. We can offer full FTC or Consultancy contract
2. Initial 6 months with possibility to be extended to 12 months
3. Day rate is negotiable depending on contract type
4. You must have rights to work full time without sponsorship to apply for this role. We will ask you to provide us with proof of your rights to work during the recruitment process


JOB DETAILS:

At M-KOPA, We Finance Progress.
The scale and impact of our work is massive. M-KOPA is a fast-growing FinTech company offering millions of underbanked customers across Africa access to life-enhancing products and services. From our roots as the pioneer in pay-as-you-go “PayGo’” solar energy for off-grid homes, we have grown into one of the most advanced connected asset financing platforms in the world, empowering a broad range of customers to achieve progress in their lives.
Want to know more about M-KOPA? Click this link: About M-KOPA

M-KOPA Impact, the impact measurement and impact projects team within M-KOPA, is looking for a Senior Manager- Impact and Partnerships with a strong track record in grant-raising and impact measurement to join its growing team.

The role will be two-fold:
1. Impact Measurement and Communications: Owning and leading all impact measurement and storytelling to investors and the wider world and actively working to refine M-KOPA’s impact narratives, all the while working to improve credibility and industry alignment of our impact metrics
2. Partnerships: Leading all grant-raising pursuits from end to end, starting with building leads for grant financing primarily from private foundations and corporates, qualifying those leads, and taking them to contract signature.

Roles and Responsibilities
Impact Measurement and Communication:
1. Be M-KOPA’s impact measurement champion - influencing teams to embed impact goals and measurement across the organization
2. Owning delivery of M-KOPA’s impact reporting to investors and the wider ecosystem, including leading M-KOPA’s annual impact report
3. Continuously improve and execute an overall strategy for the collection and analysis of impact data, both quantitative and qualitative, from different sources
4. Staying abreast of, and applying, best practices in impact measurement to the role, including saying familiar with industry standards and aligning M-KOPA’s practice to these.
5. Working with independent impact measurement providers and with impact project teams to share and disseminate high-quality, data and evidence-based impact narratives.

Partnerships:
1. Collaborate with the senior management team to lead and manage a strong pipeline of projects that leverage concessional funding (grants) and M-KOPA’s unique capabilities to deepen impact in an existing area (e.g close the gender gap in smartphone ownership) or support new product development (e.g electric mobility financing). Your key role is leading the grant fundraising process and managing funder relationships.
2. Lead, manage, and develop and strong grant fund opportunities that align with the company’s impact pillars/themes
3. Manage the end-to-end fundraising cycle, including writing proposals and working with project teams to define the scope and budget for projects
4. Lead on managing operational relationships with funding partners, developing them to become long-term partners
5. Supporting the project management team with reporting to funding partners (working with other members of staff who will lead on the provision of content).

Skills and experience required:
1. A minimum of 4 to 6 years experience, ideally a mix of impact measurement and business development/grant fundraising experience
2. 1 to 3 years of industry/sector experience and/or a strong understanding of the African context;
3. Strong proposal/project/sales pipeline management skills;
4. Prior experience working with development organizations and foundations is an advantage;
5. An entrepreneurial nature and strong business acumen with an understanding of social enterprises or private sector development in emerging markets;
6. Exceptional communications skills with the ability to create compelling and concise narratives for a range of audiences using Word and PowerPoint;
7. Superb problem-solving skills and the ability to see ‘the big picture;
8. Strong organizational skills and ability to prioritize to meet deadlines in a fast-moving environment;

In addition, the candidate will have:
1. Strong relationships with development donors and corporate philanthropists.
2. Passion for the role of mobile technology in development.
3. Comfortable working with remote teams, startups, and/or social enterprises.
4. Understanding of the donor landscape (aid agencies, private foundations, multilateral, etc.) is desirable