Customer Insights Associate

M-KOPA is a fintech and digital financial services company that provides smartphones and a range of financial products to everyday earners across sub-Saharan Africa, operating in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and Uganda. The company uses an asset-financing model that allows customers to make an initial deposit on a smartphone and then pay it off through affordable daily, weekly, or monthly installments, building a credit history in the process. This approach has enabled M-KOPA to serve over 10 million customers and unlock more than $2 billion in credit for individuals who are largely excluded from traditional financial systems. M-KOPA's suite of services extends beyond device ownership to include digital loans, health insurance, device protection, and affordable data bundles, all designed to expand economic opportunity for low-income populations. The company also operates a large network of over 35,000 sales agents, many of whom are themselves beneficiaries of the economic empowerment model M-KOPA promotes. M-KOPA has been recognized among the world's top fintech companies and continues to scale its impact across the African continent. While M-KOPA is primarily categorized as a fintech company, its roots are in the renewable energy and pay-as-you-go solar sector, where it pioneered off-grid solar solutions for underserved communities before expanding into smartphones and broader financial services. This evolution reflects the company's enduring mission to connect underserved populations to transformative technologies and financial tools that improve quality of life and drive sustainable economic inclusion.

We are looking for a Customer Insights Associate to join our Customer Insights Team; as we scale up and drive digital and financial inclusion across our markets.

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.

About Us

M-KOPA is a connected asset financing platform that has extended over $2 billion in credit to more than 7 million customers across Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa. 55% of those customers are accessing financial services for the first time. 86% report an improved quality of life. The Customer Insights team is the intelligence engine behind the product decisions that make those numbers move and they're looking for a data analyst who brings both quantitative rigour and qualitative instinct to the 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.

The honest part

This is a guided role — you'll be working within defined scope, using established templates, and leaning on senior team members as you develop. If you're looking for full autonomy from day one, this isn't that. If you're looking for a place to build serious research craft on problems that actually matter, it is.

Why M-KOPA?

At M-KOPA, we empower our people to own their careers through diverse development programs, coaching partnerships, and on-the-job training. We support individual journeys with family-friendly policies, prioritize well-being, and embrace flexibility.

Join us in shaping the future of M-KOPA as we grow together. Explore more at m-kopa.com.

Recognized four times by the Financial Times as one Africa's fastest growing companies (2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026), named on CNBC's World’s Top Fintech Companies 2025 & 2026 and by TIME100 Most influential companies in the world 2023 and 2024 , we've served over 10 million customers, unlocking $2 billion in cumulative credit for the everyday earners across Africa, in addition to over 10,000 e-bikes financed in Kenya.

Important Notice

M-KOPA is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer committed to assembling a diverse, broadly trained staff. Women, minorities, and people with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply.

M-KOPA explicitly prohibits the use of Forced or Child Labour and respects the rights of its employees to agree to terms and conditions of employment voluntarily, without coercion, and freely terminate their employment on appropriate notice. M-KOPA shall ensure that its Employees are of legal working age and shall comply with local laws for youth employment or student work, such as internships or apprenticeships. 

M-KOPA does not collect/charge any money as a pre-employment or post-employment requirement. This means that we never ask for ‘recruitment fees’, ‘processing fees’, ‘interview fees’, or any other kind of money in exchange for offer letters or interviews at any time during the hiring process.

Applications for this position will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Shortlisting and interviews will take place at any stage during the recruitment process. We reserve the right to close the vacancy early if a suitable candidate is selected before the advertised closing date.

If your application is successful M-KOPA undertakes pre-employment background checks as part of its recruitment process, these include; criminal records, identification verification, academic qualifications, employment dates and employer references.