Overview

Reporting to: Chief Product Officer

Location: Dar es Salaam 

Ubongo is building brains and building change for families across Africa through fun edutainment on accessible technologies. We’re a social enterprise founded and based in Dar es Salaam, and we broadcast our shows Akili and Me and Ubongo Kids across the continent. We’re getting ready to expand our offices and operations into new markets, so we’re looking for energetic and self-starting new Ubongoers to join the team as we grow. Working here won’t be easy, but it will challenge and excite you, with lots of responsibility, plenty of fun, and the opportunity to impact the lives of millions of kids every day.  

We’re looking for an educationalist, passionate about research and learning to maximize the educational quality of Ubongo content. You’ll work closely with all Ubongoers to innovate and create the most effective quality content for kids across Africa .  

SOME OF YOUR TASK WILL BE:

• Work closely with Ubongo’s executive team to refine long-term education strategy for the company. You will help us keep up to date with the latest research and thinking in educational media and technology, and work with us closely to ensure our overall company strategy points toward long term educational impact for kids in Africa.
• Work within Ubongo’s production team to ensure educational quality of content created. You will check-in at all stages of production, from story development and script writing, through to animation and final editing-- bringing in assistance from our network of teachers and specialists as needed.
• Lead research team in prototyping of new educational content and products, and testing this content with users.
• Lead research team in developing or adapting assessments, and coordinate in-house testing of our products with children in Tanzania. Coordinate with partners in other countries to conduct testing with children in Rwanda, Kenya and elsewhere.
• Collaborate with research partners on study design and analysis of educational impact assessments.
• Curriculum development for shows and alignment to various countries curricula
• Pedagogical methods and documentation of pedagogy
• Keeping up with the latest research and best practices in education, cognitive neuroscience and developmental science, incorporating new advances into our approach
• Continuously find innovative and simple ways to make education and research processes more efficient and fun!

TO BE A MATCH, YOU’LL NEED TO:

• Be fluent in written and spoken English and Kiswahili
• Strong verbal and written communication skills
• Masters or PhD. in Education, Psychology or related field, with practical experience in teaching or educational product development
• OR related Bachelor’s degree and 3+ years of proven experience in teaching or educational product development
• Strong research and analytical skills, including but not limited to human-centered design, prototyping, and research design
• Ability to put educational theory into practice with educational media development across a wide range of subjects and topics.
• Experience in installing and managing workflow processes including but not limited to time tracking, task delegation, budget and payment, etc
• Have a can-do attitude and readiness to learn on the job as we create an innovative new educational service
• Good at dealing with ambiguity and able to figure things out for yourself.
• Self-motivation and a high level of responsibility to complete tasks in a timely manner and make significant progress without direct supervision.
• Someone who loves kids. They’re why we do what we do. They’re running around our office all the time. Our kids’ music and videos will become part of your life (and constantly stuck in your head).
• Collaborative worker, good at working in a diverse team with different backgrounds and skills. You will need to work closely with technical team members to ensure educational quality of the content and products that they create.
• Open-minded and flexible thinker, willing to test new methods and approaches, then analytically assess their effectiveness.
• Comfort dealing with and understanding digital products (apps, video etc.)
• Passion for Ubongo’s vision of bringing localized edutainment to learners across Africa

Phew! You made it through that. The good thing is that there are also perks, like delicious healthy lunch at the office, health insurance, and you get to watch cartoons at work.