About Ampersand

Ampersand is Africa’s e-mobility 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 5,000 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

We are looking for a motivated and experienced Firmware Engineer to join our Ampersand's Battery System, Integration & IOT team. You will be responsible for supporting the firmware development team in the design, development and production of the firmware in our products. Apart from developing firmware, you will be working on testing, documenting and maintaining firmware standards.

Duties and responsibilities

● Planning, developing and implementing firmware

● Gathering and analyzing requirements

● Maintaining a stable firmware codebase

● Creating unit tests and HIL (hardware in the loop) simulations

● Performing code reviews

● Performing end to end tests

● Working closely with customers and other teams to resolve issues

● Writing and maintaining firmware documentation

● Maintaining CI/CD pipelines

Requirements and qualifications

● Minimum of a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science or related field

● Demonstrable knowledge of C programming language

● Experience in developing and debugging firmware for embedded microcontrollers ● Good knowledge of RTOS (FreeRTOS, Azure RTOS) is a plus

● Good understanding of electronic schematics and boards

● Excellent verbal and written communication skills

● Strong organizational and multitasking skills

● Knowledge of techniques like CAN bus, I²C, UART, SPI etc.

● Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work well in a team environment ● Ability to work under pressure

● Understanding and proficiency in other programming languages (like Python) is an advantage

Ampersand is a good fit if:

● You’re interested in clean energy and environmental impact (even without experience in it yet) ● You are a self-motivated, hands-on, proactive problem solver

● You’re comfortable thinking outside of the box

● You are able to negotiate details and big-picture priorities well

● You're organized and love to build systems

● You are looking for an entrepreneurial company that values innovation and strong execution ● You value collaboration, and diversity and community in the workplace

Timing

ASAP

Compensation

A competitive compensation package commensurate including health insurance