Product Designer- Hardware, Software

Product Designer- Hardware, Software & Experience Design(Clean Cooking)

Department: Clean Cooking

Employment Type: Permanent - Full Time

Location: Kenya

Reporting To: Head of Clean Cooking

Description
Job Location: Nairobi, Kenya

About the role:
The role holder be in charge of working with cross-functional teams to design and enhance user-cantered cooking products and services. The designer will be identifying customer pain points, developing and testing hardware and digital solutions, and refining designs based on field insights to ensure safety, efficiency, and user satisfaction across diverse markets.

What you would be expected to do: Discovery & Problem Framing

• Partner with product managers, engineers, and researchers to identify key cooking-related pain points through field visits, customer interviews, and data insights.
• Master the entire customer journey—from fuel refills to payment top-ups, stove usage to safety checks—in both urban and rural last-mile environments.
• Define opportunities where thoughtful product and service design can improve access, safety, efficiency, and user satisfaction.

Ideation & Solution Design and Hardware & UX Integration

• Design user experiences that seamlessly intergrate hardware (LPG stoves, cylinders, valves, induction devices) with embedded and digital interfaces (e.g. displays, mobile apps, SMS prompts).
• Develop app and service model prototypes, wireframes, and trials to trial new concepts and validate production-ready improvements. 
• Shape the physical product form—including ergonomics, CMF (Color, Material, Finish), heat safety, and component placement in contexts where our customers live.

Service Design & Customer Journey Mapping

• Map the full customer journey from product purchase and installation to usage, refuelling, servicing, and end-of-life.
• Design service blueprints that optimize delivery, maintenance, customer assistance, and agent interactions.
• Identify moments of friction (e.g. gas refill logistics, digital payments) and co-create practical, user-friendly solutions.

Prototyping & Concept Development

• Create and iterate through physical mock ups with the assistance of the hardware development team,  (3D prints, CAD models) and digital prototypes (Figma, wireframes, storyboards).
• Use scenario-based storytelling to show how customers interact with products in their daily lives—considering household roles, fuel cost dynamics, and mobile literacy.

User Testing & Validation

• Steer field usability tests for both product hardware and service flows (e.g. how users top up gas, interpret safety signals, or operate an induction panel).
• Conduct ergonomic evaluations for real-world cooking settings—considering counter space, pot size, heating time, and safety.
• Iterate designs based on insights from live pilots and agent/customer feedback loops.

Team work & Communication

• Work closely with mechanical, electrical, and firmware engineers to ensure design intent is carried through to mass production and deployment.
• Work with the Customer Experience, Carbon, Training, and Field Ops teams to align design with delivery, serviceability, and sustainability goals.
• Deliver clear design documentation—CAD packs, annotated wireframes, journey maps, service flows—for local and global implementation.

Delivery & Implementation Assistance

• Participate in vendor reviews, field testing, and pilot deployments to ensure real-world performance matches intended design.
• Refine physical designs and embedded interactions (e.g. LED indicators, error states, thermal feedback) based on test results and field conditions.
• Assist localization and versioning of designs for different cooking contexts and markets.

Iteration, Lifecycle & Sustainability

• Continuously improve product and service designs based on usage evaluation, feedback from last-mile agents, and regional variations.
• Steer initiatives in design for serviceability, reparability, and recycling, aligning with Sun King's long-term sustainability goals.
• Anticipate cooking fuel trends, energy access shifts, and changing customer needs to guide future iterations.

You might be a strong candidate if you:

• Care deeply about real-world impact and designing for underserved communities.
• Thrive in cross-functional teams solving complex system-level problems across hardware, software, and service.
• Comprehend how to prototype fast, test in the field, and learn from real users—across languages, geographies, and infrastructure constraints.
• Want to help shape the future of clean cooking, while contributing to climate, gender, and health outcomes.

What we offer:

• An opportunity to grow as a professional in a dynamic, fast growing, high impact industry; 
•  The chance to work in an open minded, collaborative culture surrounded by enthusiastic Greenlighters who are driven by the challenge of continuously innovating and growing a smart, sustainable business with profound impact on the world;  
• A truly multicultural experience: you will have the chance to work with and learn from people from different geographies, nationalities, and backgrounds. Structured, tailored learning and development programs that help you become a better leader, manager, and professional through the Greenlight Academy.

We place great importance on sustaining a diverse, inclusive work environment. 

We believe that diversity (of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, national origin, personality type, perspective, and all the other fascinating characteristics that make us different) enriches innovation and our competitiveness in the market. 
 
We strive to ensure diverse perspectives inform critical decisions, and we actively work towards ensuring all Greenlighters feel like they belong.  We also know that sustaining an inclusive workplace requires conscious effort and is a continuous journey, not an end-state.
 
Greenlight recruits, employs, trains, compensates and promotes individuals based on experiences and demonstrated job performance, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, national origin, HIV/AIDS status,  disability, or any other protected characteristic as established by law.

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