Tupande Human Centered Designer (Fixed-term)

About One Acre Fund

Founded in 2006, One Acre Fund equips more than 4 million smallholder farmers to make their farms more productive. Across nine countries that together are home to two-thirds of Africa's farmers, we provide high-quality farm supplies, tree seedlings, accessible credit, modern agronomic training, and a wide range of other agricultural services. On average, this model enables any farmer to increase her income and assets on supported land by more than 40 percent, while permanently improving her climate resilience. This is all made possible by our team of 8,000+ full-time staff, drawn from diverse backgrounds and professions. To learn more, please see our Why Work Here blog post.

Our Kenya program, founded in 2006, is our second largest. We operate under the farmer brand Tupande, serving over one million farmers and employing 2200 staff. We aim to transform every farming community in Kenya by delivering sustained food security and pathways to prosperity. tupande.co.ke.

About the Role

You will guide customer-centric innovation and design products and services that align with Tupande’s user needs, business objectives, and impact goals. You will work across departments to integrate design thinking into strategic processes, ensuring that all initiatives consider end-user insights from conception to execution. You will report to the Tupande User Experience Lead. This role is based in Kakamega and is hybrid.

Responsibilities

• Design research & user insights:
  • Guide design research efforts, employing qualitative and quantitative methods such as user interviews, field observations, surveys, and usability testing
  • Analyze and synthesize research data to uncover user needs, pain points, and opportunities for innovation
• Design thinking & innovation:
  • Facilitate design thinking workshops and ideation sessions to foster creativity and problem-solving
  • Guide teams through an iterative design process from discovery to delivery, ensuring continuous learning and improvement
  • Prototype and test new ideas rapidly, using both low-fidelity and high-fidelity methods
• Product & service design:
  • Collaborate with multiple teams to develop user-centered product, service, and process concepts
  • Create journey maps, personas, wireframes, and mockups to visualize and communicate design ideas
  • Ensure that all touchpoints in the user experience reflect the core principles of human-centered design
• Stakeholder engagement & collaboration:
  • Collaborate with multiple teams in the organization to translate user insights into actionable design solutions
  • Present findings, design concepts, and recommendations to leadership and cross-functional teams to influence decision-making
  • Promote a user-first approach in all projects across departments

Career Growth and Development

We have a strong culture of constant learning and we invest in developing our people. You’ll have weekly check-ins with your manager, access to mentorship and training programs, and regular feedback on your performance. We hold career reviews every six months and set aside time to discuss your aspirations and career goals. You’ll have the opportunity to shape a growing organization and build a rewarding long-term career.

Qualifications

Across all roles, these are the general qualifications we look for. For this role specifically, you will have:

• Bachelor's degree in Design, Human-computer interaction (HCI), Anthropology, or a related field
• Minimum of 2+ years of experience in human-centered design, user experience design, or service design
• Experience leading user research and translating insights into successful product and service design
• Proficiency in design research methods, user testing, and usability evaluation
• Proficiency in design tools such as Sketch, Figma, Adobe XD, and InVision.
• Experience communicating with varied audiences, including translating complex research findings into clear, actionable insights

Preferred Start Date

As soon as possible

Job Location

Kakamega, Kenya

Benefits

Health insurance, paid time off 

Contract Duration

3 years

Eligibility

This role is only open to citizens or permanent residents of Kenya

Application Deadline

06 February 2025.  Please note that we hire on a rolling basis which means that applications are reviewed and processed on a continuous basis until a hire is made.

One Acre Fund never asks candidates to pay any money or pay for tests at any stage of the interview process. Official One Acre Fund emails will always arrive from an @oneacrefund.org address. Please report any suspicious communication here ([email protected]), but do not send applications or application materials to this email address.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI), and anti-racism are deeply connected to our organization’s mission and purpose. One Acre Fund aspires to build a culture where all staff feel consistently valued, represented, and connected – so that our team can thrive as professionals, and achieve exceptional impact for the farmers we serve.

We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender, gender identity or expression. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace.