Reporting to: VP of New Products and Services
The Role:
The Field Manager will evaluate new product opportunities and organize trials for them on the ground in the Kenyan market. This manager will work with office teams across Africa, where new ideas will be exchanged and pilots will be tweaked to suit the country’s market.
Key responsibilities for the role include:
Define competitive commercial offers
Gain a deep understanding of customer needs—what are the energy needs, where do customers’ revenues come from, how they vary over time, how customers make investment decisions, what is the best payment plans.
Learn from existing solar operations and overall energy access market and define competitive customer offers.
Evaluate opportunities
Evaluate prospective products and technologies, including competitive landscape of the product and operational model (both in terms of existing product supply / technology innovation and in terms of distribution strategy).
Establish the systems and process to determine whether to introduce new products to Greenlight Planet clients.
Research the market and existing competition. Research customer demand and needs and market trends.
Research and Pilot
Work with Greenlight Planet’s direct-to-consumer sales force to launch and manage experiments and product pilots, collecting feedback to distill insights from end customers and the distribution channel.
Develop and share understanding of consumer needs / triggers for purchase / price sensitivity, as well as sales force needs and logistical challenges.
Convert market / consumer / competitive insights into design input.
Product Management
Upon successful pilot, plan and manage the product portfolio offering.
Provide ongoing product feedback and drive product development plans.
Align the product with customer needs and work with cross-functional teams/partners to implement these objectives.
Establish customer satisfaction and quality mindset throughout the organization.
The ideal candidate:
Has prior experience in consumer research / insights, specifically in rural sub-Saharan Africa, and specifically with smallholder farmers, including focus groups, usability studies, and pilot programs that led to scale-up.
Demonstrated sustained passion for this type of research in one or multiple roles over multiple years.
Deep experience with smallholder agriculture, rural consumer needs, and ideally solar-powered consumer products (lighting and multifunction solar home systems).
Experience in marketing, sales, or similar role within consumer electronics, agricultural, and electrical or mechanics industry is an additional plus.
Bachelor’s degree in a technical background preferred.
Is willing to spend 40-50% of his/her time on the road
Must be able to work under pressure
Is a Creative thinker in driving innovation
We are looking for someone who is driven, passionate and excited about the opportunity to bring honest, affordable, energy to homes in Africa and Asia. If this sounds like you, we would love to hear from you.
Greenlight Planet offers a competitive salary, a fun, supportive work environment and opportunities for continued professional growth within a fast-growing global enterprise.
Greenlight Planet believes in equal opportunity for all people, everywhere. It is the reason we exist! So, regardless of your race, color, religion, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, national origin, HIV/Aids status, disability or any other protected characteristic as established by law, we will accept your application and make a decision based on your suitability for the position.