Job Title:   Product Manager

Department:  Operations

Reporting line: Head of Operations

Location: Job Grade: Arusha, Tanzania

ENGIE Energy Access is one of the leading Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGo) and mini-grids solutions providers in Africa, with a mission to deliver affordable, reliable, and sustainable energy solutions and life-changing services with exceptional customer experience. The company is a result of the integration of Fenix International, ENGIE Mobisol, and ENGIE PowerCorner; and develops innovative, off-grid solar solutions for homes, public services, and businesses, enabling customers and distribution partners access to clean, affordable energy. The PAYGo solar home systems are financed through affordable installments from $0.19 per day and the mini-grids foster economic development by enabling electrical productive use and triggering business opportunities for entrepreneurs in rural communities.With over 1,700 employees, operations in nine countries across Africa (Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia), over 1.5 million customers, and more than 7 million lives impacted so far, ENGIE Energy Access aims to remain a leading clean energy company, serving millions of customers across Africa by 2025.

Job Purpose

• The Product Manager is responsible for managing all Engie Energy Access (EEA-TZ) product lines.
• Responsible for developing a vision and roadmap for all products by involving business development and other cross-functional teams to deliver products that align with the company’s vision and strategic goals.
• This is an exciting role requiring creativity, strategic visioning, and innovative operational execution.

Responsibilities:

Product Strategy:

• Constantly, work with the Business Development Manager on translating and analyzing business requirements and consumer needs.
• Define, plan, design, communicate, and drive the execution of all product lifecycles.
• With the support of the Head of Operations, identity, source, and onboard relevant suppliers (local and international) for product acquisition – become the custodian of the Country Specific Products (CSP) process.
• Collaborate closely with engineering, marketing & sales, and global teams on the development of products and balance of resources to ensure success for the entire organization.
• Create product strategy handbooks that describe local business cases, high-level use cases, and technical requirements.
• Translate product strategy into detailed requirements for prototype acquisition and final product launches.

Product Management:

• Coordinate the rollout of pilot projects and New Product Introduction initiatives (NPIs)
• Drive timely implementation of changes in our current product offerings which necessitate collaboration between the Business, Operations, Customer Experience, Finance, and Software teams.
• Develop and deliver appropriate product training programs to the technical, marketing & sales, and customer-facing staff, with the support of the Global Product Team to ensure success is guaranteed and achieved; work closely with the sales team to promote the products.
• Collate and escalate feedback from key stakeholders (customers, finance, marketing, sales, customer experience, customer finance, operations, and global product team) to improve product performance.
• EOL (End of Life) product management. Regularly, identify end-of-life products and propose their disposal and write-off cycles to the Country Inventory Committee. Become the focal point for e-waste management activities in the country.
• Quality Assurance (QA): Act as a country QA point of contact. Every month, inspect and analyze all the quality-related data in the PowerHub (i.e., Maintenance cases, Revision cases & Customer cases) then escalate all product performance issues to the key stakeholders and Africa Global QA team, for product improvement and warranty claims.
• Ensure warranty claims are lodged on time and follow up to ensure closure of open warranty claims with the Africa Operations team and the Upstream Supply chain team.
• Responsible for overseeing that products and appliances returning from the field are properly assessed and diagnosed with failure/defect mode and correctly ticketed on Power Hub prior to being sorted for repair or EOL.
• Responsible for escalating to the Technical Support Team (Global) any new potential defect modes encountered on their first instance for the Technical Support Team to troubleshoot and validate whether the new failure mode is liable to be the result of a manufacturing defect.
• Tracking of validated manufacturing defects against spares rates in the country and escalating them to Africa Global QA when they exceed issued spares rates.

Go-To-Market:

• Assist and be involved in all go-to-market product-related strategies.
• Owning the Country-Specific Process: you are responsible for all local product launches.
• Drive product launches by working with marketing, sales, and customer experience on messaging, presentations, videos, and other deliverables.
• Be the voice of the customer for the Global Product and Global QA teams. If a product is not working, tell us why. If there is an opportunity that we are overlooking, present it to us. You are responsible for ensuring that the customer is served to the highest level of customer satisfaction.

Leadership:

• Determine core KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and develop monitoring frameworks to frame the goals and monitor the success of our product portfolio.
• Cost management: Ensuring timely completion of product launches at no cost overruns.
• Prepare and deliver regular reports as required by the business and Head of Operations.
• Inform the team about lessons learned through the product management process.

Requirements:

• University bachelor’s degree in product design, electronics, electrical or industrial engineering, or any other related field
• Strong experience in a dynamic product management role with proven experience in overseeing all elements of the product lifecycle.
• 3-5 years of relevant work experience in the renewable energy industry is a MUST.
• Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a plus.
• Project management experience is a plus.
• Knowledge of the local market for renewable energy products is a plus.
• Proficient in spreadsheet and database applications and comfortable with quantitative and qualitative analysis
• Experience using computer-aided design software (CAD) or related design applications and tools.
• Exceptionally good organizational and interpersonal skills
• Effective communication and presentation skills
• Strategic mindset and commercial awareness and team player
• Willingness to travel domestically.
• Fluency in English and Swahili languages.

ENGIE is an equal opportunity employer, promoting diversity, and is committed to creating an inclusive environment for all. All applications are screened based on business needs, job requirements, and individual qualifications, without any regard to origin, age, name, sexual identity, orientation or preference, religion, marital status, health, disability, political opinions, union involvement, or citizenship. Our differences are our strengths!Documents to attach:

• Your current and updated CV/resume
• Copies of Academic certificates
  • Certificate of Secondary Education Examination (CSEE) – THIS IS NECESSARY
  • Advanced Certificate of Secondary Education Examination (ACSEE) – THIS IS NECESSARY
  • College certificate/University degree certificate – THIS IS NECESSARY
• Your motivation letter, briefly explaining why you are interested in the position.
• All documents should be legible/readable and in PDF format. No images or scans will be accepted.

Please note:

• The deadline for receiving applications will be Monday, 22nd May 2023.
• This vacancy is for both the internal ENGIE Energy Access Tanzania (i.e., MySol + MySol Grid) staff (i.e., current FTEs, Interns with 6+ months, Contractors) and external individuals.
  • If you know someone who is competently fit and may be interested to apply for this position, please share this job Ad with them.
    • As you share the job ad with them, please emphasize to them that they should adhere to all requirements and application instructions.
• For internal candidates, your application letter must be signed by your line manager.
• Female candidates are encouraged to apply.

All vacancies announced by ENGIE Mobisol Tanzania are completely free and candidates are not at any point requested to pay a fee for applying or during the recruitment process.We thank all applicants for their interest, however, due to the large volume of applications we receive, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.