Technical Officer – Solar

This is a unique opportunity to work with an innovative and ambitious organization that sells solar lights at scale across Zambia, bringing electricity through solar to rural households and reducing reliance on candles and fuels such as kerosene.

About SunnyMoney

SunnyMoney is a social enterprise, wholly owned by SolarAid, an innovative, fast-growing organization working in Malawi and Zambia which focuses on business based solutions to poverty. Our goal is to eradicate the kerosene lamp in Africa by the end of the decade. For all countries this means a substantial scaling up of operations. We believe our goal is achievable by creating a genuine solar lighting market by ensuring anyone can gain access to clean, safe reliable and affordable energy. We have begun to reach this goal by selling over 2 million lights across Africa and over 250,000 in Zambia.

Position

We are looking for a hard-working, quick thinking and enthusiastic Technical Officer with the ability to assist the Project Manager on our Repair grant. This would include supporting operational planning and implementation risk assessment, supporting the development of and implementing the monitoring and evaluation of the project, lead the technical repair components of the project ensuring that key milestones are met and ensuring the project remains on schedule. The successful candidate will be creative, adaptive, follow high standards of ethics and able to work independently as well as manage staff.

Skills and Qualifications

• University degree in business, engineering or other related field
• Must hold an EIZ license
• Experience of working with renewable energy and PicoSolar
• Experience and ability to write high quality reports.
• Ability to work with and communicate effectively with people from different education, economic and cultural backgrounds
• Ability to set work plans and meet deadlines
• Well organized and detail oriented
• Able to work well under pressure and multitask
• Critical thinking and problem-solving skills
• Able to manage flow of information and communicate with a diverse array of people
• Effective time management and planning
• Good IT skills in Excel, Word and PowerPoint
• Passion and enthusiasm for SunnyMoney’s social goal and the work it does.
• Desirable: speak some local Languages- Lozi, Tonga and Bemba

Job Description

Project Coordination

• Support Project Manager on managing and overseeing the Repair Grant under SunnyMoney Zambia
• Obtain an in-depth understanding of picosolar lights and the repair industry, and contributing to workable solutions to bring about a sustainable repair environment
• Ensure project activities are implemented according to project timeline and milestones;
• Develop regular project reports for donors, trip reports and regular updates on project
• Able to thoroughly assess risks and put in place contingencies
• Preparing project presentation to update senior management on project progress
• Manage budget and all costs related to the field work and being responsible for all money spent and money collected
• Manage Driver/Project Assistant
• Responsible for recruiting and signing up agents and shops and the follow up, training and paperwork of said people
• Carry out marketing and agent surveys as required
• Developing a tracking network of faulty lights and repaired lights

Monitoring and Evaluation

• Ensure all data is regularly collected as per the Monitoring and Evaluation plan and that data is sound and of the highest quality;
• Provide guidance to staff to ensure smooth data collection and project management
• Assist in adequate resources are allocated in the project budget to cover M&E related tasks, including monitoring reviews, external evaluation and AARs
• Keep the project workplan updated according to the project activities and timeframes.

Training

• Update the current training material based upon a needs assessment
• Facilitate trainings for agents and repair shop staff, or others as needed;
• Follow up with agents, shops and participants of trainings to assess the success of the training
• Work with Repair App developers to update as needed
• Work with Technical schools and meet with students to ensure good understanding of solar
• Fixing of broken solar lights and ensuring that fixed lights are in working order

Logistics

• Look for ways to increase project profitability and manage expenses
• Design and control project schedule and timeline
• Handle financial queries
• Data input
• Document project phases and milestones reached and delayed

Sales and Marketing

• Facilitate trainings and train potential agents and shops
• Organize meetings and find participants for trainings by working with local NGOs, Government offices, ministries, Corporate Partners and local organizations
• Support agents and shops by teaching any staff that need to be knowledgeable about SunnyMoney lights
• Plan and deliver trainings on how to become an agent and how to use and care for solar lights

Admin

• Assign tasks and monitor the schedule to ensure you are on track
• Delivery of scheduled reports to necessary parties
• Document costs of activities and stick to the budget
• Perform any other duty as required
• Working hours from 0800 – 1700 Monday through Friday, weekends as needed.

To apply for this position, please verify that you have all of the qualifications and skills before sending in your CV. Please highlight your previous experience working with project management, a budget, and sales. Please ensure that your cover letter is no more than 1 page and your CV is no more than 3 pages in length and that you only send it through one time to [email protected].

Only short-listed people will be contacted