IT Solutions Engineer

Application Deadline – May 22, 2024

We are Persistent in our quest to build climate ventures in Africa 

Persistent is a leading climate venture builder in Sub-Saharan Africa, founded by thought leaders and pioneer investors in the off-grid energy sector.

We believe that building commercially successful climate impact ventures in emerging markets can both make the world a better place and provide attractive financial returns.

We believe that climate change is the biggest challenge of our time and therefore focus on companies that proliferate renewable energy and other climate mitigating solutions to customers in emerging markets.

Our model is simple. We bring expertise and experience, as well as the right financial capital to start-up companies. The Persistent team can provide business and financial modeling, fundraising, legal and tax structuring, technology architecture, digital strategy and HR management expertise.

Our model is unique for two reasons. First, we go beyond boardroom advice, roll up our sleeves and fill operational roles. Our sector experience helps companies avoid making mistakes we have already seen in the sector. Second, due to our close involvement and deep experience, we can provide risk tolerant capital to our companies in the most flexible way.

Our model provides positive impact and financial returns because we only work with exceptional entrepreneurs, are backed by the most visionary investors, institutions and foundations and because we are Persistent.

Your role 

We are looking for an experienced and all-round IT Solutions Engineer who is both a passionate technologist and a proven customer advocate. Your main role will be to connect the dots between business needs of small to medium sized businesses and appropriate IT solutions. You will be assessing existing technical solutions to determine if they are fit for business growth and expansion both to help companies develop their own infrastructure and/or to inform investment decisions. Where needed, you will work with companies to help design and implement suitable architectures and solutions to help our customers grow their business through the use of technology.

Your responsibilities

● Work with external customers’ technical and business teams to turn business requirements into technical realities. This can involve implementation, configuration and connecting applications using APIs and cloud storage solutions.

● Review and provide insight into clients’ technical setups, and suggest improvements/ recommendations. Design or optimize application networks when needed.

● Compare and recommend software solutions given clients’ requirements.

● Develop and improve data models and be able to link this to related business processes.

● Research new topics of interest to strengthen internal expertise and/or tools.

● Support Persistent’s IT administration.

Your profile 

● BSc/BA in computer science, IT, business or relevant field, MSc or MBA is an advantage.

● 5+ years of working experience as IT solutions engineer and/or full stack developer, ideally working with a portfolio of companies and various technologies. With experience in at least one of the following sectors: climate tech, renewable energy, financial accounting, supply chain management, customer support, PayGo financing.

● Experience in application network design, specifically focused on SMEs in Africa.

● You know what it means to design, make and document good applications. You have expertise in various common programming languages like Java/Python as well as Github, cloud infrastructure services like AWS/Azure/Google Cloud, low code development and API tools like App Sheet, Zoho Creator, Postman and Mobile App development tools.

● Ambition with an entrepreneurial, growth-driven mentality, analytical approach and strong problem-solving abilities.

● Self-starter and allrounder: You are willing to take bold steps to achieve the success of Persistent and our portfolio entrepreneurs. You are not afraid to get your hands dirty and do not consider even basic venture building tasks beneath you.

● Building relationships and representing: You are able to build trustful relationships with peers, key partners and stakeholders and take ownership of client engagements.

● Location & Travel: You can legally live and work in Kenya, and are able to frequently travel to spend time with ventures and the distributed Persistent team and able and willing to work remotely.

Build with us

Our culture at Persistent is entrepreneurial, collaborative and flexible. We seek talented people who are passionate about climate and impact and have a drive for excellence. We offer a dynamic work environment that is required to work closely with our fast-moving partner companies that are located in more than a dozen countries in Africa.

Join us at Persistent and benefit from:

Impact: An opportunity to work directly with start-ups in underserved markets and create lasting social and environmental impact.

Steep learning curve: You will join a small, but experienced team that will enable you to become a multi-skilled professional in a short period of time and build the confidence to embrace and tackle most business challenges.

Opportunity to take initiative: Leverage your expertise to create practical and relevant solutions for companies on the frontline and see concrete outcomes of your work.

Flexibility: Exercise a significant amount of discretion in determining what you do and how you do it.

Persistent is a workplace that gives you the flexibility to balance the requirements of work and private life. While you will frequently travel to our partner companies and to be with your colleagues, you will also be able to work from home when necessary, and make use of flexible hours and family focused leave policies. We also offer attractive compensation that is designed to reward your performance and impact over the long term.

Applications to be sent to join@persistent.energy

Application Deadline – May 22nd, 2024 (incoming applications are reviewed on a rolling basis)