About KOKO Networks
KOKO Networks is a venture-backed climate-tech company with 1,200+ employees across East Africa & India. Our mission is to imagine and deliver technology that improves life in the world’s fastest growing cities. We offer a fast-paced and highly collaborative work environment with significant opportunities for professional growth. Our core lines of business currently include: (1) KOKO Fuel, an ultra-clean liquid bioethanol cooking fuel solution delivered via a network of smart fuel ATMs and leveraging existing downstream liquid fuels infrastructure; (2) KOKO Climate, which retails the emissions reductions that occur from switching households from deforestation-based charcoal to KOKO Fuel; and (3) KOKO Club, a tech-enabled, direct-to-consumer, instant fulfillment retail platform operated in partnership with neighborhood retailers. In 2021, KOKO was selected as the world’s leading emerging markets climate technology solution by FT/IFC.
Your Role
We are looking for a Principal Mechanical Engineer to provide technical leadership for the mechanical designs for hardware products that make up KOKO’s clean fuel distribution network.
In this position on the engineering team, you’ll have the opportunity to contribute to and add value across multiple hardware products, at different stages of the product life cycle, and be part of the wider cross functional technology team delivering best-in-class hardware and software solutions.
What you will do
- As a domain leader in the area of mechanical engineering, oversee the complete life-cycle of our hardware products from design, documentation, test, deployment to continuous monitoring.
- Lead new initiatives and best practices in the field of mechanical design engineering
- Collaborate with product and engineering stakeholders to understand design requirements and provide strategic input into mechanical designs that meet such requirements
- Researching new technologies and design concepts through self-driven initiatives to innovate our products
- Help define test strategies / support building test rigs for R&D, production and operational needs.
- Serve as a technical authority representing mechanical design and enable confidence in everything we do in this area
- Help build the engineering culture at KOKO, mentor and guide junior engineers and instill engineering excellence into the team.
What You Will Bring to KOKO
- 10+ years of hands on experience in design engineering of Mechanical products (i.e. Hardware Products)
- Strong track record developing and delivering significant hardware products through to production.
- Significant experience in materials, mainly in steel sheet metal & plastics
- Knowledge of mass / batch manufacturing processes for general engineering parts
- Understanding of National & International standards / guidelines for various mechanical products
- Experience prototyping processes for metals & plastics
- Ability to conceptualise & detail ideas using 3D CAD tools (Solidworks or similar) and 2D sketches.
- Well developed skills in designing for testability, reliability, maintainability and cost effectiveness
- Experience in design for global compliance standards (CE, CSA, UL, etc.)
- Experience in working within cross-functional teams (Electronics, Software etc.)
- Strong communicator, both written and verbal.
- Empathy for your colleagues, encouraging team members to think creatively while knowing where to intervene to tackle tough problems and navigate conflicts.
Nice to haves
- Use of CAE Tools for design analysis (Ansys /others)
- Ingress / environmental protection
- Familiar with Engineering Change Management
- Knowledge of automated dispensing systems design for liquids and solids.
- Knowledge of fuel distribution industry
What we offer
- Competitive salary plus a quarterly cash bonus
- Annual compensation reviews - we reward great work
- Medicare for you and your family
- 21 days of annual leave plus public holidays plus examination leave
- Hybrid working model - allowing you to split your time between in-person collaboration at one of our offices and working remotely
- Ongoing investment in you and your skills, incl. full access to over 5,000 online courses
- The right equipment for the job - a choice of MacBook, Windows, or Linux laptop
We believe that our people are critical for our ambitious growth plans in Kenya and beyond. We want to build an organisation where people thrive, feel included, grow professionally, and enjoy having high impact through their work.
If you share our passion for technology and our vision for global impact, we strongly encourage you to apply!
KOKO is committed to gender and racial diversity in the workplace. We encourage candidates of all backgrounds to apply!
