Product Manager

Fenix’s mission is to improve the quality of life of our customers through inclusive energy and financial services. 80% of households in Africa lack access to energy. Fenix is addressing this problem by providing Pay as you Go solar lighting as well as LPG.

The recent introduction of Pay as you Go LPG by Fenix provides an opportunity for Africans to have access to affordable clean cooking energy.

Job Description - Clean Cooking Product Manager 

Location:  Kampala, Uganda
Application Deadline: Rolling

Position: Full-time

Experience: Intermediate

Team: Fumba (Paygo cooking)

Compensation: Competitive salary & benefits commensurate with education and experience
 

We are building a diverse and inclusive team and this opportunity is open to any qualified internal and external applicants. Women, as well as candidates from Africa and those with experience working on the continent, are particularly encouraged to apply for this role. 

About Fenix

Fenix International is a next-generation energy and technology company. Our mission is to improve the quality of life of our customers through inclusive energy and financial services. Our flagship product, Fenix Power, is a modular, lease-to-own solar home system financed through affordable instalments from just $0.11 per day. We use real-time transaction data to create a next-generation credit score to finance power upgrades and other life-changing loans, unlocking modern financial services for our customers. To date, Fenix has sold over 500,000 Solar Home Systems in Uganda, Zambia, Côte d'Ivoire, Benin, Nigeria and Mozambique, bringing clean, reliable power for lights, phones, radios, TV and much more to over 2,500,000 people.

In early 2018, Fenix joined forces with ENGIE, one of the world's largest energy companies and a leader in the move to renewable, decentralised and digital energy. This has allowed Fenix to make significant commercial investments to accelerate the path to our mission, via new markets and innovative products. Together, Fenix and ENGIE are making universal access to modern energy a reality.

Job Overview

As part of Fenix’s engagement to bring life-changing products to its customers, Fenix is expanding its product base to include a new range of clean-cooking products and services. To do so efficiently, Fenix has created an independent and entrepreneurial team (Fumba team). The Fumba team is looking for a highly motivated, innovative and well organised Clean Cooking Product Manager to join its Business Development and Strategy team. The Product Manager is the voice of the users and will be responsible for designing our product portfolio strategy in order to meet the needs of our customers and our business, all with the aim of increasing affordability, usability and experience for our customers. This is an exciting role which requires strategic visioning as well as operational execution. As Product Manager you will fully embody Fenix’s core values “Think Big” and “Make It Happen”. You will work cross-functionally with our business development and strategy, engineering, operations, and commercial teams and will report directly to the head of the business development and strategy department.

Candidates should expect a fast-paced startup culture. They will be expected to come up with innovative and daring solutions to new problems and to take ownership over a wide range of responsibilities.

This position offers an incredible opportunity to work with a dynamic team of business development professionals and engineers and to directly contribute to the success of the Fumba Team startup. Candidates must have a passion for entrepreneurship, renewable energy and sustainable development in Frontier Markets and be willing to spend significant time with customers in the field.

Key Responsibilities

Clean cooking product portfolio

• Refine product portfolio strategy,

• Be the voice of the customer in the Fumba Team – Ensure that products are committed to smart, iterative design.

• Analyze customer needs, design and prototype using Human-Centered Design approaches.

• Supervise the design, rolling-out and iteration of pilots on product usage drivers strategies, changes in/ new products (cookstand, design and features of controller, etc.), pricing and other initiatives with the aim of driving products’ performance. 

• Conduct diligent market research to build a strong case for each new products.

• Define test procedures in partnership with Engineering team.

• Contribute to the product pricing strategy.

• Determine core KPIs and develop monitoring frameworks to frame the goals and to monitor the success of our product portfolio.

• Ensure exceptional user experience by constantly monitoring customer feedback and propose and test small, measured design changes whenever beneficial.

• Produce customers voice reports on our product portfolio.

• Assess competition by comparing products.

• Create product marketing communications objectives driven by customer insights.

• Develop product training material for staff facing customers.

• Inform the team about lesson learned through the product management process. 

• Keep informed of best practices and technological developments in your fields in order to recognize improvement opportunities and articulate the potential benefits these could bring to the role.

Proprietary web/digital applications and backend database system

• Create user stories, detailed specs and work closely with the software team to iterate on implementable solutions, by testing and monitoring.

• Supervise the design of mobile and web products’ user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) technical and functional specifications by gathering and validating users insights, business and technical requirements.

• Create wireframes, mockups and prototypes to help define and visualize expectations as part of the solution development process.

Required Skills & Experience

• Minimum Bachelor in product/industrial design, engineering, architecture, ethnography  or other relevant field,

• 3+ years of experience working in product design or product portfolio management roles,

• Good knowledge of best practices in the field of product management and development,

• Proven experience designing or developing new and innovative products,

• Professional experience working in at least one african country,

• Project management experience (in particular planning, scheduling and execution),

• Strong communication skills to translate needs between technical and non-technical teams,

• Experience in designing and conducting rigorous quantitative and qualitative research (focus groups, in-depth interviews, surveys),

• Experience piloting products or programs with smart, iterative design processes

• Organised and able to follow through and prioritize tasks,

• Strong attention to details, strong critical and analytical thinking skills,

• Ability to work with large amounts of data to develop strategies and make rigorous decisions,

• High competency in Microsoft Office products and data visualization tools,

• Proven experience with graphic design and UI/UX tools skills,

• Experience as a collaborative, hands on team player and eagerness to learn new tools and/or roll-up sleeves to get the job done,

• Experience working with last mile customers in Africa,

• Willingness to travel to Fenix markets across Africa,

• Commitment to live and work in Uganda for at least 2 years.

To Apply

Please submit your resume and cover letter through the job posting at www.fenixintl.com/careers/.

In your cover letter, please answer the following questions (not more than 400 words for each question):

1. Why do you want to work with Fenix?

2. What excites you in this position?

Fenix recognizes the value of diversity in our workforce, and is an equal opportunity employer. Women are strongly encouraged to apply. Fenix offers a competitive salary and a fun work environment. We thank all candidates who choose to apply, however, only those selected for a further interview will be contacted.

Desired Skills

• Understanding of rural BOP markets,  and/or renewable energy industries in Africa,

• Experience designing solutions using HCD approach,

• Experience with Agile software development practices and issue tracking software, e.g. JIRA,

• Ability to maintain big-picture vision while being detail-oriented,

• Demonstrated entrepreneurial or intrapreneurial experience inside a larger company,

• Experience managing software product is a plus.

Expect a fast paced and exciting startup environment with competitive benefits