Data Scientist Job opportunity at Fenix International

Job Title: Data Scientist

Fenix International is a for-profit corporation and the creator of affordable, Pay-To-Own renewable energy products that empower those living off-grid. Over 34m people in Uganda are off-grid, which equates to 6.2m households who have no access to power and instead depend on kerosene for light and local businesses for phone charging. To address this, Fenix International has developed ReadyPay, a new Pay-To-Own Solar Power System. Coming in a range of kits, ReadyPay Power Systems are designed to provide clean light, phone charging, entertainment and more for those living off-grid.

Each ReadyPay is unique in that it contains lock-out technology, and, together with MTN Mobile Money, it allows a customer to take a solar power system home for a small down payment from just $15. Customers then “top up” their ReadyPay through MTN Mobile Money payments (starting from $0.40 per day). Each time a payment is made via Mobile Money, their ReadyPay Solar Power System is unlocked for a set period of time. Customers will then eventually own their ReadyPay systems after making continuous mobile money payments for a period 18 months.

Job Summary: The Fenix International Data Scientist should possess leadership experience to contribute to our management team by driving improvement and innovation in data gathering, interpretation, reporting, and incorporation of learnings into our business strategy. He / she will report to the East Africa Data and Strategic Initiatives Director and will work cross-functionally with our customer service, product development, operations, sales, marketing, and technical teams on the ground to design, test, execute, analyze, report, and refine data processes at Fenix. This position offers an incredible opportunity to work with an elite team of business professionals and engineers and directly contribute to the success of a Silicon Valley startup operating in the East African social enterprise space. All candidates must have a passion for entrepreneurship, renewable energy and sustainable development in frontier markets. As a Data Scientist, you will be based in Kampala, Uganda working on critical projects with real and immediate impact and will have the opportunity to travel domestically to understand Fenix’s customer base.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

Create standard systems and processes to work with Fenix management and key stakeholders to gather data needs.
Source the data analytics platform and visualization software to tap directly into our backend database.
Manage the continued maintenance of the chosen data analytics and visualization software.
Work closely with business leaders to design and ultimately develop interactive dashboards and reports to be used by our executive teams and field teams alike to make key strategic decisions.
Set up and conduct A/B tests and perform statistical analysis on the results to drive necessary business insights around sales, portfolio health, and more.
Actively collaborate with software team on database architecture and data collection methodologies.
Develop cutting edge new metrics and analyses to evaluate customer repayment behavior and the health of Fenix’s outstanding loan portfolio.
Special projects to analyze Fenix’s cost centers, optimize logistics and inventory supply chain, and more.

Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

The ideal candidate should hold a Bachelor’s degree. Possession of a Master’s degree is an added advantage
At least three years minimum work experience in data analysis / science, statistics, financial analysis, etc.
Past leadership and project management experience: we are looking for entrepreneurial candidates who have started or contributed significantly to a particular project, team, or new company and we especially value candidates who have seen projects through from start to finish, from design to scale up phase.
Significant experience with survey design, analysis, and interpretation of qualitative and quantitative data.
Past experience with data analysis and visualization software tools and familiarity with the various offerings.
Interactive report design and implementation expertise.
Proficiency with a statistical analysis program (e.g., STATA, R).
Commitment to live and work with Fenix in East Africa for at least 1 year.
Exceptional written and verbal communications skills (English).
Ability and drive to work independently.
Thrives on teamwork.
Previous experience analyzing loan repayments is desired
Past education and/or work experience in East Africa is an added advantage