Hardware QA Engineer

About KOKO Networks
KOKO Networks is a venture-backed climate-tech company with 1,200+ employees across East Africa & India. 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; (2) KOKO Climate, which retails the emissions reductions that occur from switching households from deforestation-based charcoal to KOKO Fuel; and (3) KOKO Club, a tech-enabled, direct-to-consumer, instant fulfillment retail platform operated in partnership with neighborhood retailers. In 2021, KOKO was selected as the world’s leading emerging markets climate technology solution by FT/IFC.

We are looking for a Hardware QA engineer to own and support QA activities (both in house and at with our production partners) related to our bespoke, in-house designed hardware devices. Our network hardware provides our customers with smart delivery of fuel and other products and services through our unique last mile distribution network.

As part of the engineering department you will provide QA expertise and assurance to enable us to thoroughly test our hardware designs, ensuring we always deliver high quality products. You will define tests, test plans and test reports. You will work with engineering to design new test fixtures, own such fixtures and manage their usage in test execution. You will work with production support teams to migrate any tests over to our production partners,oversee their execution and monitor their results. You will work with operational support teams to understand failures in the field, assist in root cause analysis and create new or adapt existing test plans to address such failures. You will have a background in mechanical, embedded software or electronics engineering background which you will use to gain a deep understanding of our network hardware. Aside from being skilled in your background area, you should be comfortable working as an individual contributor as well as part of the wider engineering team

What you will do

• Test management. Track what has been tested on what revisions, what tests are needed for each milestone, and arrange the resources to complete testing for upcoming milestones.
• Evaluate new product concepts from a quality perspective, and define the scope of required testing/QA activities
• Plan and execute functional, non-functional, and acceptance tests during new product development
• Work closely with other teams in Engineering, Product and Operational Support to ensure a collaborative approach to product quality
• Develop your own areas of technical expertise, and share this knowledge with the rest of the QA team
• Support our operational teams with testing for maintenance updates, as well as ensuring on-going compatibility with third party software and hardware releases
• Be data driven. Use data to inform your actions as well as to help and guide other teams
• Automate, optimise and continuously improve. Enable the organization to scale through smart use of technology and refinement of the support functions processes
• Perform lab and field testing in root cause analysis and solution testing scenarios.
• Help build the engineering culture at KOKO, support your fellow engineers and infuse engineering excellence into the team.

What you will bring to KOKO

• A degree in one of mechanical or electronics or embedded software engineer areas
• 3+ years professional experience in a QA role working with hardware at scale
• Ability to set up and use automated testing tools and frameworks to test IoT devices
• Experienced in testing IoT and/or embedded systems, motors / pump control
• Able to write test scripts in C/C++ or Python and manage custom test fixtures
• Write and deliver detailed test plans, strategies, checklists and results
• Knowledge of different test methods (unit, integration, system)
• Ability to work out of your comfort zone
• Willingness to learn new techniques and teach them
• Clear communicator who is used to translating business needs into testing requirements in close collaboration with stakeholders
• Empathy for your colleagues and your internal customers, encouraging team members to think creatively while knowing where to intervene to tackle tough problems and navigate conflicts.

Nice to have- IOT Security & Penetration testing experience

• Knowledge of automated dispensing systems design for liquids and solids.
• Knowledge of fuel distribution industry

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.

What we offer

• Competitive salary plus a quarterly cash bonus
• Annual compensation reviews - we reward great work
• Discounted health insurance with no-cost financing for you and your dependents (in Kenya)
• 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!