Evidence Action Product Design Senior Associate Job in Nairobi Kenya

Vacancy: Senior Associate, Product Design
Engineering - Nairobi, Kenya

Evidence Action is seeking a Senior Associate for Product Design for Dispensers for Safe Water.

About Dispensers for Safe Water: Each year, over 1.8 million children under the age of five die from diarrhea, a leading cause of which is unsafe drinking water. 

Dispensers for Safe Water is an entrepreneurial team tasked with scaling up chlorine dispensers, a proven innovation for dramatically expanding access to water treatment at extremely low cost. Our work is growing rapidly – we currently serve over 2.6 million people in Kenya, Uganda, and Malawi. We plan to reach 25 million in the next 5 years.
Our work is based on rigorous research and evidence of the effectiveness of chlorine dispensers. A randomized controlled trial in Western Kenya demonstrated a six-fold increase in the number of households treating their water with chlorine. 
Such a dramatic expansion in safe water usage will prevent over 1.4 million cases of diarrhea and 1,300 child deaths each year once we reach our Kenya target of 5 million people served.

About the Hardware: The chlorine dispenser hardware is designed to deliver a metered dose of dilute chlorine at communal water sources, where the reminder to treat is most salient and where the visibility of dosing promotes social norm formation. 

The hardware itself consists of a blow-molded HDPE tank filled with 1.25% sodium hypochlorite, a ball valve that delivers the appropriate dose of chlorine for a standard water collection container, and an injection-molded casing that is mounted on a concrete base near the water point using a standard PVC pipe.

The current design is a simple, affordable, user-friendly product that shifts water treatment activity from the point of use to the point of collection while also protecting household drinking water against recontamination during storage. 

The dispenser itself is just one component of Dispensers for Safe Water: ensuring a quality product also involves a commitment to community education and participation, and the development of a strong chlorine supply chain in rural areas.

About the Position: The Senior Associate: Product Design will be one of two key team members on the Design and Innovations team. In order to meet our programs’ ambitious targets as well as grow as an organization, we recognize that we must continuously search for opportunities for radical program improvements.  

We increasingly seek to apply Human Centered Design methodologies to identify and design solutions for drastic improvements supporting programmatic outcomes.

The Senior Associate: Product Design is responsible for the design and prototyping of hardware focused innovations. Initially, the majority of this person’s work would focus on Dispensers for Safe Water but may expand to other programs. 

The Senior Associate for Product Design will focus on key hardware design aspects such as the solid chlorine dispenser, valve redesign, the tablet pole, and any other hardware issues that have been identified as priority for the programs.

Key Responsibilities:

Finalize the design of the current generation dispenser hardware: Assess the current dispenser for design improvements, redesign the dispenser valve with a focus on durability in harsh conditions and other dispensing mechanism options, redesign any other components that are identified as weak or in need for improvement.Ensure the CAD design of our product line is up to date and complete. Generate documentation of all dispenser components including drawings, material specifications, costings, and packing.Design next-generation dispenser: Using solid chlorine could save up to 90% of our supply chain costs. Building on the initial prototypes, design a dispenser that accurately and consistently doses very small volumes of powdered chlorine. Lead the field test of the solid chlorine dispenser.Bring components to manufacturing: Develop a manufacturing plan for redesigned components with input from the Senior Associate for Supply and Logistics, develop tooling designs for new components.5 years’ experience detailed design work.Bachelors’ degree in Mechanical Engineering, Product Design, Industrial Engineering, or similar.Competent in Autocad Inventor.Proactive, willing to take on new challenges.Experience with powders, dispensing mechanisms (desired).A start-up personality; entrepreneurial, ambitious, independent, systematic attention to detail, structured thinker, goal-oriented, and flexible.Creative thinker, able to brainstorm and address current dispenser issues.