Mobile Engineering Intern

Do you want to do work that matters? Do you want to help improve the lives of some of the most hardworking people in Africa, while also reducing carbon emissions? Do you want to use your skills to advance Africa and the Global South towards a zero-carbon future, not just to make a living? Ampersand is your answer.

About Ampersand

Ampersand is Africa’s emobility pioneer. Ampersand provides electric motorcycles and charging infrastructure (battery swap stations), uniquely tailored to serve half of Africa’s road fleet: Commercial motorcycle taxi and delivery drivers. Moto taxis are a primary means of public transport in African cities, and it is estimated that these drivers spend >$6Bn p.a. on gasoline in East Africa alone. Ampersand has developed an electric solution that is more powerful, fun to drive, and more cost-effective than the incumbent. Ampersand drivers routinely earn over 30% more income by going electric.

The company started in Kigali, Rwanda and expanded into Nairobi, Kenya in 2022. Today it has over 3,000 e-motorcycles on the road and 36 battery swap stations across the two countries. Ampersand is leading the market in quality and affordable tech, customer traction, and operational systems. The Ampersand team consists of 400+ staff drawn from diverse backgrounds and is working hard to see all 5 million taxi motorbikes in East Africa become electric by 2030. Ampersand is rapidly scaling its operations and is looking for innovative professionals who are passionate about clean energy and environmental impact to lead and contribute to our rapid growth.

Ampersand is a company that values innovation, creativity, and continuous improvement. It seeks people who are proactive problem solvers to drive results. Ampersand promotes leadership within the organization and is a place where you can grow your career as you work with some of the brightest and hard-working individuals in East Africa.

Our Values

• Customer-centric Everyday: We prioritize our customers daily, tailoring solutions to exceed expectations.
• Challenge The Status Quo Through Innovation: Our dedicated teams constantly challenge the status quo, driving innovation to enhance customer experiences and deliver solutions that go beyond expectations
• Love Solving Problems Together: Internal collaboration is our approach; we thrive on solving challenges alongside our customers.
• Stay Agile: We stay agile to swiftly meet dynamic customer needs and adapt to a changing landscape.
• Driven By People And Planet: Beyond business, we're committed to people and the planet, ensuring a positive impact.

About the role

The Ampersand energy ecosystem consists of a fleet of batteries, motorcycles and battery swap stations across Rwanda and Kenya. As part of this network, motorcycle taxi drivers and swap station attendants interact multiple times a day as its users. Ampersand develops and maintains several mobile apps for facilitating these interactions.

We are constantly developing new features for satisfying the needs of our customers and users following a mobile-first approach and looking forward to strengthening our team with mobile development capabilities.

This role would be in the Software Engineering team of the Engineering organization. Your objectives will include the following:

• Help maintaining existing mobile applications: Driver App and Swap App.
• Develop new features
• Test applications with real users and other stakeholders and collect feedback to iterate.

Ampersand is a good fit if:

• You love to see your impact on the product as quick as possible.
• You love complicated systems where optimization is key.
• You are not afraid of infrastructure projects and like playing with hardware.
• You like working in a fast-moving agile environment.
• You are motivated by personal growth and seeing your teammates grow and develop.
• You are looking for an entrepreneurial company that values innovation and strong execution.
• You value diversity and community in the workplace.

Minimum requirements

Across all our roles, we look for professionals with strong work ethic, and the ability to manage shifting priorities and unforeseen challenges. For this role specifically, you will have:

• Our current stack consists of Kotlin 1.5, Java 11.0.2, Gradle 7.0.2, JUnit 4, Firebase Analytics & Rollbar. Experience in some or all of these technologies is preferred.
• A good understanding of MVVM (Model-View-ViewModel) architecture and a clear understanding of separation of concerns (UI from business logic).
• A good understanding of Jetpack architecture components (Navigation component, Room (Reactive SQL local storage DB) ViewModel (mediator between UI and Model), Viewbinding.
• Familiarity with Single Activity architecture.
• A deep understanding of Fragments for modularization of the UI.
• A good understanding of Android Services for long-running or persistent background tasks.
• Familiarity with Camera2 API and Google ML Kit.
• Understanding of multithreading, especially using Kotlin Coroutines for asynchronous code execution.
• Good understanding of networking on Android using Retrofit and Moshi/GSON.
• Understanding of dependency injection using Hilt or Dagger2.
• Understanding of Google Maps SDK on Android.
• A strong work ethic, and the ability to manage shifting priorities and unforeseen challenges.
• Strong communication skills with a supportive and nurturing disposition

Timing

ASAP

Compensation:

A competitive compensation package commensurate with local market rates

Job location

This role will be based in Kigali, Rwanda

📢 Important Notice:

At Ampersand, we want to emphasize that we do not charge or request any form of payment from applicants at any stage of our recruitment process. Your job application and interviews with us are entirely free of charge. If you encounter any requests for payment or fees claiming association with our hiring process, please report it to, recruitment@ampersand.solar, immediately. Your trust and confidence in our company are paramount, and we are committed to providing a fair and transparent recruitment experience for all applicants.