M-KOPA’s mission is to make high quality energy affordable to everyone. OUR GROWTH SO FAR... M-KOPA has connected more than 400,000 homes in Kenya,Tanzania and Uganda to solar power with over 550 new homes being added every day.

Role Overview

This is an entry-to-mid-level research position within M-KOPA's Customer Intelligence (CI) team. As a CI Research Associate, you'll support end-to-end UX and product research from study design through to insight delivery; working closely with senior researchers and cross-functional teams. You'll be doing real research, on real products, for real customers whose financial lives depend on experiences that actually work.

This is a hybrid role, you would be working from our offices in Kenya, partnering with a diverse group of employees from our different markets and locations across the UK, Europe and Africa. You will be reporting to the Research Operations Lead.

Why this Role is Different

Most research associate roles put you in a support lane indefinitely. Here, you're working on products that are genuinely novel — serving first-time smartphone users, first-time borrowers, first-time digital finance customers across five markets. The research problems are complex, the stakes are tangible, and the team takes craft seriously.

What You'll be doing

• Conducting moderated usability tests, semi-structured interviews, and surveys — managing fieldwork logistics end-to-end for both remote and in-person sessions, and ensuring sessions are set up for quality data collection from the start.
• Coding and synthesising qualitative data using defined frameworks — producing affinity maps, insight lists, and structured reports that translate findings into clear, actionable outputs for your immediate team and stakeholders.
• Contributing to team research rituals, raising questions when briefs are unclear, and applying AI-assisted tools (including Claude and Notion AI) with the critical judgement to know when the output needs human scrutiny.

What You'll bring

• Demonstrable experience conducting UX research — including moderated usability testing, semi-structured interviewing, and survey design — with an understanding of when and why different methods apply.
• Proven ability to work with qualitative data: coding responses, identifying patterns, and producing synthesis artefacts (affinity maps, insight lists) with a structured, methodical approach.
• Familiarity with M-KOPA's markets or the broader context of first-time digital financial services users — and a genuine curiosity about the usability challenges that come with that territory.

• Conducting moderated usability tests, semi-structured interviews, and surveys — managing fieldwork logistics end-to-end for both remote and in-person sessions, and ensuring sessions are set up for quality data collection from the start.
• Coding and synthesising qualitative data using defined frameworks — producing affinity maps, insight lists, and structured reports that translate findings into clear, actionable outputs for your immediate team and stakeholders.
• Contributing to team research rituals, raising questions when briefs are unclear, and applying AI-assisted tools (including Claude and Notion AI) with the critical judgement to know when the output needs human scrutiny.

• Demonstrable experience conducting UX research — including moderated usability testing, semi-structured interviewing, and survey design — with an understanding of when and why different methods apply.
• Proven ability to work with qualitative data: coding responses, identifying patterns, and producing synthesis artefacts (affinity maps, insight lists) with a structured, methodical approach.
• Familiarity with M-KOPA's markets or the broader context of first-time digital financial services users — and a genuine curiosity about the usability challenges that come with that territory.

• BA/BSc/HND