Reporting to: Director of Platform
Background and Position Description:
A key development in these emerging energy markets is the rise of the pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) business model. This suite of technology solutions enables remote control of products, allowing customers to pay for expensive assets over time while simultaneously protecting the investments of the companies and investors in the space. If given the opportunity, customers in these developing markets have proven willing and able to pay small amounts over time to purchase large energy assets well beyond prices previously considered feasible. d.light considers PAYGO technology an important enabler of energy access across the world and continues to invest in strengthening this business offering within d.light.
Position Summary:
With a growing segment of external PAYGO partners distributing d.light products and using d.light’s Atlas software platform, d.light is searching for an experienced Product Manager to play a key role as we scale our software product and partner network. The Product Manager will fully own the partner experience on our software, playing a key role in building software solutions for challenging markets with exciting new use cases. You will be directly involved in enabling our partners and internal staff to provide customers with modern, renewable energy solutions, many for the first time.
Key Responsibilities:
Gather and prioritize direct product feedback from partners to enable the distribution of PAYGO products in their markets;
Assess the partner landscape as related to new software needs, feeding our roadmap and backlog for continuing product development and enhancements;
Lead cross-departmental initiatives on key feature developments and rollouts, providing project oversight;
Spec out new features for development, including basic UI elements, for communication to engineering and other business stakeholders;
Provide release communication and marketing materials for new releases to partners;
Manage a team to provide the first point of contact for Atlas related items, requests and issues coming from our portfolio of PAYGO partners in Africa;
Communicate regularly with PAYGO partners in Africa to ensure smooth operations and a successful partnership that drives value for our business and the partner;
When necessary, administer initial and ongoing training with partners to ensure Atlas functionality is being utilized properly, including travel to partner sites as needed;
When necessary, assist in demonstrations of our software platform to potential new partners;
Provide guidance to new PAYG partners in setting up local infrastructure for implementing PAYGO;
At the discretion of the executive team, recruit and develop junior team members who support a growing partner infrastructure in Africa.
Desired Skills and Experience:
5-7 years of professional experience in Product Management or similar;
Customer support / customer service experience in software or technical teams;
Excellent technology skills with an understanding of the intersections of mobile money, SMS, web pages, databases and how they interact in African markets;
Comfort communicating software experience elements with visual tools;
Experience managing partner relationships, preferably in a software context;
Fluency in multiple languages spoken in Africa;
Strong business acumen with track record of solving business needs through software solutions;
Deep understanding of PAYGO business models with experience in off-grid energy a plus;
Experience working in both local and distributed teams;
Experience working with mobile operators is a plus;
Experience working with financial transaction management is a plus.
