Job Title: Research and Development Officer
Company: EarthEnable Uganda
Reports to: Research and Development Manager
Location: Jinja – with significant time in rural villages
Timeframe: This position will start as a 1 month probationary internship. Successful interns will either have their internship extended for 3 months, or be hired full-time.

Who We Are
At EarthEnable, we believe that our clients deserve our very best. Morning high-fives are the best way to start the day, and the best ideas can come from any part of the company. We celebrate each other’s wins, learn from our setbacks, and are deeply proud of the impact we make every day. We believe that a clean, dust-free floor means more than living in a healthy home. It means pride and dignity in the place our customers most treasure, their homes. Our focus is not just building floors but growing our organization and creating a better future for rural families.
What We Do
EarthEnable is transforming the way people live, by making homes healthier for families across rural Rwanda and Uganda. 80% of Rwandans and Ugandans live in homes with dirt floors which are dusty, unsanitary, and fertile breeding grounds for parasites and germs. While replacing a dirt floor with concrete has significant health benefits (e.g. reducing diarrhea by 50% and parasitic infections by 80%), concrete is unaffordable for many who need it.
EarthEnable addresses this pressing and ubiquitous problem by selling high-quality, earthen floors that are 80% cheaper than concrete with 90% less embedded energy. Earthen floors are prevalent in modern homes in the United States and are composed of natural materials (gravel, clay, sand, and laterite). EarthEnable trains and hires local masons to install the floors which are sealed using a proprietary drying oil that makes them waterproof, strong, and polished.

About the Role
The Research and Development officer will play a significant role in the implementation of the research agenda. We are seeking to hire someone who has advanced knowledge in soil science/engineering to lead research efforts to improve our product, and thus improve the health and livelihoods of rural communities. He or she will be primarily focusing on below key tasks:

Collaboration with District Teams
● Visit districts to collect data and understand their needs, innovations, challenges to update the R&D research agenda
● Help district teams to develop protocol of experiments and oversee execution to ensure they are being done accordingly and all learnings are documented and shared to other districts.
● Meet with clients and analyze other sources of feedback and data to identify product failure, and product improvement

Design and Implement Experiments
● Design experiments and develop detailed protocols
● Execute and document findings of experiments in a detailed and organized database
● In case of unsuccessful experiments, document reasons for failure

Dissemination of New Ideas
● Disseminate successful experiment to implementation, establish a strong partnership with the Quality Assurance, Construction and other relevant departments to ensure full integration of new innovations
● Work with the construction team to ensure any new learning or feedback from field during dissemination is added to the tasks of the R&D work stream

Qualifications
● Should have field knowledge in engineering, soil science, construction or applied science, data analysis (diploma or bachelor’s degree preferred)
● Should be willing to touch mud and work with mud
● Should be able to have an understanding of R&D processes like protocol development, planning experiments, analysing data e.g. through previous experience or education
● Should have excellent attention to detail
● Should be hardworking and committed to do whatever it takes to get work done
● Should be curious and vigilant
● Should be committed to delivering excellence and demonstrating outstanding work ethics
● Should be creative, strategic, analytical, and have the ability to think outside the box
● Should be flexible and adaptable to changing environments i.e with the ability to thrive in a bootstrapped culture
● Should be optimistic and willing to learn new things
● Should be humble, a patient team-player with a good sense of humor
● Should have strong computer skills (e.g Word, Excel, Salesforce, Google Docs, and Dropbox).