About Onja
Onja trains underprivileged youth into world-class software developers. Our organisation is unified by a common mission: give life-changing work through sustainable social enterprise.
We are recognised for our innovative model that finds exceptional talent where opportunity is scarce, invests in its development, and connects it directly to the global tech economy. Through an intensive two-and-a-half-year program, we co-create pathways to long-term social and economic stability that prioritise self-reliance.
We operate as one integrated organisation, where education, hiring, and partner collaboration work together to deliver high-performing tech talent with lasting social impact. Onja developers invest in their own futures and in their nation’s development, while ensuring Onja remains self-funding and scalable, paying forward opportunities to the next generation.
Onja is located in Toamasina, a lively city with beautiful beaches, nice restaurants, and with plenty to do and see. Toamasina is Madagascar’s second largest city (population 300,000) yet is surrounded by plenty of natural beauty, and even has a national park nearby.
About the Role
The Onja Carbon Mechanical Engineer will lead the design, development and scale up of improved biomass cook stoves for our clean-cooking carbon offset project.
The role will include taking our stove development from early prototype design through testing, iteration and production, with effectively taking into consideration our requirements for the stove, durability, cost, manufacturability and user needs. The Mechanical Engineer will work closely with the Onja Carbon team, local suppliers and eventually testing laboratories to develop stove models that can ultimately be produced reliably and affordably at scale and which meet our requirements to generate carbon credits.
This is a highly practical role. We are looking for someone who has a good foundation in engineering with curiosity, resourcefulness and a willingness to test, learn and improve. Experience designing cookstoves, combustion systems or comparable manufactured products would be an asset.
We believe in hiring based on potential, attitude and cultural fit rather than specific qualifications.
Your responsibilities will include
- Lead the design and development of improved wood and, where relevant, charcoal cookstove prototypes based on real life existing models and international examples.
- Build, test and refine prototypes, analysing test results and user feedback to improve performance.
- Carefully consider project requirements including fuel efficiency, emissions, durability and safety, usability, cost and manufacturability while balancing those with practical realities such as cost and ease of manufacturing.
- Develop designs suitable for manufacture at scale, including material selection, component requirements, tool and equipment requirements, efficient assembly methods and quality-control.
- Identify and evaluate locally available materials, components, equipment working closely with local suppliers to develop a steady, high quality and cost efficient supply of materials to manufacture 50,000 stoves.
- Establish a quality control system for stove manufacturing, including inspection criteria and testing to ensure we meet our project requirements.
- Work with independent laboratories and the Onja Carbon team to prepare stove samples for testing, ensuring designs meet applicable international technical and carbon-project requirements.
- Support field distribution by ensuring any technical failures or user issues are addressed promptly, incorporating lessons into future design and manufacturing processes.
- Support with any technical input required for our reporting requirements
- Twelve-month commitment (this ensures sufficient time to make a truly meaningful impact) with potential to renew/extend.
- Practical and hands-on: comfortable working in a workshop and building prototypes from scratch, conducting tests and troubleshooting.
- Attention to detail: able to work with measurements, specifications, test results.
- Persistent and problem solving: motivated to work through multiple rounds of design and prototype testing and manufacturing processes
- Motivated to work in an early stage project and be part of something new from inception: resistance and perseverance through technical setbacks during our early-stage project where processes are still evolving
- Organised and capable of managing multiple workflows at once.
- A technical background in engineering or manufacturing; this can be professional or concrete experience from studies or an internship would be an asset.
Why work with us
- Do impactful work: Working with Onja gives you the ability to make a real tangible difference with your work, and have a deep sense of purpose in your every-day.
- Our mission is to nurture talented, underprivileged youth to lead impactful careers in tech, unlock opportunities for others and accelerate Madagascar's development.
- Grow your skills fast: As a young fast-growing startup we are all in “over our head” and this is a great place to grow. You will be challenged but you’ll also be part of a very supportive team and caring environment. Our social model is innovative with exciting potential to scale, so there is a great opportunity for you to grow your career along with us.
- Work with very talented individuals who are very socially inclined: At Onja you’ll join a community of talented and passionate people from around Madagascar and the world.
Onja is a social enterprise with a sustainable model:
- Search for brilliant minds who would otherwise be limited to low-paid, unfulfilling careers.
- Students receive two years of English and software development instruction. Meet a developer here: https://onja.org/blog
- Graduates earn (and continue learning) at our outsourcing enterprise.
- All profits are used to train the next wave of students and the cycle begins again.
We want our recruitment process to be fair and inclusive, so please do let us know if there are any reasonable adjustments we can make. For example, if you identify as neurodivergent, we can accommodate and discuss modifications to our hiring process with you.
Skills Required
- Commitment to a minimum twelve-month engagement, with potential renewal or extension
- Practical, hands-on workshop experience building prototypes, conducting tests, and troubleshooting
- Strong attention to detail when working with measurements, specifications, and test results
- Persistence and problem-solving ability through repeated design, testing, and manufacturing iterations
- Motivation to work in an early-stage project with evolving processes and technical setbacks
- Organization and ability to manage multiple workflows simultaneously
- Technical background in engineering or manufacturing, including relevant study or internship experience
- Experience designing cookstoves, combustion systems, or comparable manufactured products
What We Do
We train talented, underprivileged youth into world-class software developers. Pronounced Oon-za, Onja means ‘waves’ in the Malagasy language
