Vacancy: Research & Development Engineer
Sanergy is an award-winning social venture that builds healthy, prosperous communities by making hygienic sanitation accessible and affordable in Africa’s urban informal settlements.
Our systems-based approach to solving the sanitation crisis involves five key steps: we build a dense network of low-cost, high-quality waterless sanitation facilities – called Fresh Life Toilets.
We franchise the toilets to community residents, who run them as commercial toilets; landlords, who offer them as a value-added service to their tenants; and schools, to ensure children always have access to a safe sanitation option.
We provide critical support services – such as access to finance, business analytics, training and aspirational marketing and branding. We collect the waste regularly and safely remove it from the community for treatment.
We convert the waste into valuable end products, such as organic fertilizer and insect-based animal protein, which we sell to Kenyan farms.
We launched our first toilet in November 2011, and we now have a network of over 600 active Fresh Life Toilets run by over 300 Fresh Life Operators. We have collected and converted over 7,800 tons of waste. At the same time, we have built a team of over 250 people.
For our work, we have been recognized by Fast Company as one of the 10 Most Innovative Companies in the World Doing Social Good and one of the 10 Best Companies in Africa.
Job Summary: We are currently developing and scaling the use of Black Soldier Flies (BSF) as a method of safely decomposing the organic waste that we collect from our sanitation facilities and creating effective agricultural inputs, including animal feed.
The Research & Development Engineer will be a member of the Black Soldier Fly Team, leading the technical work and developing engineering solutions to rearing BSF on a commercial scale.
Role & Responsibilities
- Research, implement and develop new technologies to effectively rear BSF
- Test and implement technologies for scaling up the production of BSF at scale
- Build partnerships with research institutions and technology developers to ensure Sanergy is always abreast of global best practices in insect rearing and animal feed
- Develop standard operating and maintenance procedures
- Design and oversee quality assurance and control protocols
- Provide technical expertise for grant reporting, budgeting, project management and health & safety
- Design compliance protocols with environmental, health, and safety standards for team members
Requirements
- Degree in Entomology or related
- Deep knowledge and experience in insect rearing or waste treatment processes
- Experience working in a production environment and designing production processes
- Project management or construction management experience, desirable
- Chemical analysis/microbiology/ Lab experience, desirable
- Excellent problem-solving and decision-making skills
- Good communication skills
- Excellent team management and coaching skills
More qualitatively, we are looking for people who have the desire to take on a new challenge in a pioneering context.
We believe that we are on the cusp of transformative change and we seek people who believe their knowledge and skills will bring about that change.
Application Deadline: 1st April 2016
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