Product & Industrial Designer | Nairobi, Kenya – Full Time

About the Factor[e] Venture Studio
Factor[e] is building a new venture studio in Africa. The mission of the venture studio is to build a portfolio of high impact, commercially viable ventures in Energy, Agriculture, Mobility and Waste that are addressing some of Sub-Saharan Africa’s greatest income inequality and climate challenges. Our team of entrepreneurial, experienced venture builders will ideate, pilot, iterate, build and scale the most promising ventures. And our post-investment support team will help venture teams develop the strategies, hone the technologies, build the teams, and raise the funds they need to achieve impact at scale. To date, Factor[e] has identified, validated, de-risked, built, and/or invested in over 23 scalable, high impact technology ventures in these sectors in Africa and India and these companies have gone on to raise an additional $305m in capital. Over the next 5 years the Factor[e] Platform will expand its investment and venture building capacity to grow 100 high impact ventures and catalyze over $1B in co-investment in these important sectors.

The Role
We are searching for a highly dynamic Product and Industrial Designer who will create products that will have significant impact on people’s lives, is able to connect the dots between global technologies and local needs, can think about product market fit, and can work across a diverse set of teams and ventures bringing design thinking and rigor to the early stages of new venture creation. In this role, you will support prototype design and printing, product and system ideation, technical illustrations, product engineering, manufacturing drawings and generative design for companies in our growing portfolio of 23+ ventures and in the new Factor[e] Venture Studio, which is creating new products and companies from scratch. You’ll have a chance to work with actual venture teams and customers to test, iterate and scale life-changing, commercially viable B2C and B2B products in multiple markets across Africa. You’ll also leverage your technical skills to help external early and growth stage companies tell product stories visually to customers and partners. Our ideal candidate is not just passionate about designing products, but also the entire product design journey from customer need, to prototyping, product-pricing market fit testing, design for manufacturing and fundraising support.

As a Factor[e] Product & Industrial Designer, You Will:

• – Create tangible design expressions for new products, services, or consumer experiences leveraging excellent sketching, form development, 2D/3D visualization, CAD modeling, and graphic skills (ideally using Fusion360 and other Autodesk software).
• – Bring a passion for human centered design and prototyping, across hardware and software, physical and digital spaces to teams that otherwise may not have design or engineering experience and embody them in our day-to-day work in the Factor[e] Venture Studio.
• – Create exceptional presentations and pitch decks that may include research summaries, sketches, user scenarios, product renderings, and appearance models.
• – Support research into design trends, consumer segments, and market competitors to inspire and guide your design directions, including in-person, in-market customer research.
• – Collaborate effectively with entrepreneurs, CEOs, CTOs, Venture Builders, and manufacturing partners/portfolio companies to identify opportunities, solve design issues, and preserve design intent throughout a project.
• – Support the Autodesk-Factor[e] Partnership, which includes the following
  • – Make the unique software and professional development opportunities offered by Autodesk available to our portfolio teams and provide support as needed
  • – Create Autodesk reports on the Product & Industrial Design support we provide to portfolio & studio companies.
  • – Have regular calls with the Autodesk team to support an open, transparent and collaborative partnership

Experience, Skills, & Mindsets We’d Be Excited By:

• – A passion for high impact product and industrial design
• – An African perspective on design, or a deep curiosity and openness to living and working in Africa
• – 3-5 years of product and industrial design experience in fast-moving environments
• – Physical and digital prototyping experience
• – Human Centered Design experience and ability to lead teams and partners through HCD processes
• – Sketching, form development, CAD modeling, rendering, and graphic skills
• – Familiarity with and ability to learn/master Fusion360 and other Autodesk software with training
• – Fluency in Adobe Creative Suite, Illustrator, InDesign Photoshop
• – Must be independent in your work-style, comfortable self-managing multiple priorities and partners
• – Able to set, measure and reflect on core key performance indicators (KPIs)
• – Able to generate and visualize ideas quickly without a lot of background information or specifications
• – Outstanding verbal, written, visual communication and presentation skills
• – Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in Industrial Design (could include mechanical or industrial engineering or similar field with design coursework or focus).
• – An understanding of basic manufacturing and a willingness to learn about new technologies and processes; experience with global sourcing and contract manufacturing desirable.

What you should show in your Portfolio:

• – Your best work/ projects – new products, interesting challenges with unique solutions
• – Design process – research, strategy, concept generation, iterations, etc
• – Presentation – example of how you communicate product ideas
• – Experimental work and explorations (we’d love to see what ended on the cutting room floor)

To Apply: Please submit your resume, cover letter explaining your interest in the position and in joining the Factor[e] team and your work samples/ portfolio to talent@factore.com with the subject line “Last Name – Industrial Designer”. When submitting your work samples/portfolio, please indicate your specific role(s) and contributions for each project presented.

Factor(e) Ventures does not discriminate on the basis of race, age, color, religion, national origin or ancestry, sex, gender, disability, veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression. Factor(e) Ventures is committed to providing a safe and productive learning and living community and we encourage all candidates to apply, especially women and candidates based on the ground in Africa close to the customers and markets we serve. To achieve that goal, we may conduct background investigations for all final candidates being considered for employment. Background checks may include, but are not limited to, criminal history, national sex offender search and motor vehicle history.