Head of Electronics and Embedded Systems

KOKO Networks

KOKO Networks

Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India
Posted on Dec 24, 2023
About KOKO Networks
KOKO Networks is a venture-backed climate-tech company with 1,800+ employees across East Africa, India, and the United Kingdom. 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; and (2) KOKO Climate, which retails the emissions reductions that occur from switching households from deforestation-based charcoal to KOKO Fuel. In 2021, KOKO was selected as the world’s leading emerging markets climate technology solution by FT/IFC.
Your Role
KOKO’s proven business model for supplying household energy and generating climate impact at scale depends on a range of liquids distribution infrastructure products. These products depend on world class electronics and embedded systems to deliver high quality services to their B2B and B2C users. We are looking for a senior engineering manager who can lead projects involving hardware design and the creation of associated embedded software in the development of hardware products for existing and new categories.
This is a senior leadership role, responsible for overseeing a team consisting of electronics, embedded software and systems engineers to ensure the successful delivery of complex and high-impact technology projects. You will need to leverage your extensive technical expertise and leadership skills, foster a high performance culture and drive strategic prioritisation of technical activities in your areas of responsibility. You are accountable for the quality and timeliness of the work produced by your team.
As an experienced technical leader, your focus will be on building and maintaining the team’s capabilities through recruiting, developing and retaining talent, while continuously improving processes and tools. You will need to collaborate with cross-functional teams and senior management to ensure that KOKO’s products meet design and project goals.

What you will do

  • Manage a diverse team of engineers and develop them both technically and professionally
  • Develop the electronic platform and embedded software that underpins KOKO’s distribution products
  • Undertake planning and project management to ensure solutions are developed to meet project deadlines
  • Ensure technical solutions are delivered to the cost target with the highest level of reliability and quality
  • Influence new product design and development to use best practice to resolve challenges
  • Work with manufacturing and supply chain teams to audit and improve suppliers and manufacturing partners through corrective action plans
  • Travel within India, Kenya, UK and Asia as needed for internal teamwork, as well as meeting with suppliers and partners

What You Will Bring to KOKO

  • Degree in Electrical & Electronic or Software Engineering from an internationally recognised University alongside significant industrial experience
  • Proven experience managing a team of highly talented engineers
  • Proven track record in developing and delivering Engineering solutions
  • In depth knowledge and experience in the design and development of industrial products or white goods
  • Leadership of electronic hardware and embedded software engineers and ability to leverage their potential
  • Experience with the use and configuration of PCB and schematic tools
  • Strong, proven experience and good design principles in C/C++ and embedded software
  • Knowledge of wireless connectivity standards and hardware including Cellular Modems, Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy and WiFi
  • Excellent analytical skills and the ability to communicate to a wide range of audiences including senior management
  • Experience of working with STM Microcontrollers and standard serial interfaces, such as SPI, I2C, UART
  • Knowledge of associated software stacks and protocols, as well as emerging protocols
  • We are looking for a highly technical leader with significant experience in scaling and maintaining complex, mission critical systems, and making key architectural decisions along the way. Aside from being an expert in your core skills areas, you should be comfortable leading and coaching, building rapport across the team, doing what’s necessary to ensure KOKO’s products always deliver.

What We Offer

  • Competitive salary plus a quarterly cash bonus
  • Annual compensation reviews - we reward great work
  • Health insurance
  • 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.
KOKO is committed to gender and racial diversity in the workplace. We encourage candidates of all backgrounds to apply!