iDE is looking for a Product Designer with Human
Centered Design and Mechanical Engineering
experience to take up the challenge of designing
a marketable hygienic toilet for rural Bangladesh.
You have the potential to make a massive global
impact and be at the frontier of development work.
2.5 billion people do not have a toilet,
suffering dire consequences in health,
environment, economics, and human dignity.
Diarrheal illnesses kill more children than HIV,
malaria, and tuberculosis combined. Well-meaning
subsidies have depressed demand for toilets,
stymied private sanitation markets, and
discouraged a sense of ownership. Research,
however, has shown a strong demand for household
latrines existed. Sanitation markets also existed
in that there are customers and suppliers, but
they have failed to address the sanitation needs,
wants, and desires of the poor. Purchasing a
latrine is prohibitively expensive and
logistically challenging for the majority of
people living in developing countries.
To address this market failure, for more than 8
years, in iDE Vietnam, Cambodia, Timor Leste, Lao
PDR, Nepal, and now Bangladesh has pioneered
innovative, market-based approaches to sanitation
access in rural areas that incorporates both business and design thinking.
The design challenge:
Building on the recently completed Deep Dive
Market Assessment and Design Principles, your
challenge will be to design an affordable,
accessible, and desirable hygienic toilet
product(s) that can be profitably manufactured
and sold by local business in rural Bangladesh.
We are looking for:
Mechanical Engineering Degree (Bachelors or
Masters), or equivalent, with the following experience:
·      2+ years product design
experience, background in mechanical or civil engineering
·      Experience with Human Centered Design
·      Experience working with and knowledge of concrete structures
·      Experience with wide range of manufacturing processes
·      Experience prototyping and a
creative problem solver, you’re used to working
nimbly as roadâ€blocks arise, and have basic
metal working, wood working, and hand skills for prototyping ideas
·      Design For Manufacturability and
experience with high volume manufacturing methods
·      Excellent verbal and written
communication and documentation skills
·      Engineering/manufacturing experience in developing world a plus
·      Cross cultural or international experience a plus
·      Project management experience
·      Leadership and mentorship skills
·      Willingness to get dirty and work in the field
Your responsibilities will include:Â
·      Lead new product design efforts
for affordable, accessible, desirable toilet product(s)
·      Design, develop, and prototype
product concepts through hands on prototyping and testing in the fieldÂ
·      Work with external designers and engineers when necessary
·      Build the capacity of the local
iDE Bangladesh staff in product prototyping and testing
Some logistics details:
·      Three month contract, based in
Rajshahi district of Bangladesh with frequent trips to Dhaka
·      Compensation to be negotiated
Interested candidates should send their CV and
cover letter to
<mailto:conor.riggs_at_ide-bangladesh.org>conor.riggs_at_ide-bangladesh.org,
including your earliest available start date, by
May 25, 2012. For more information about iDE
please visit <
http://www.ideorg.org>www.ideorg.org.
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Received on 2012-05-18 10:45:12