The role

The Programme Manager provides strategic and operational leadership for the REACT 2.0 portfolio across Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia – covering portfolio construction, investment management, financial performance, technical assistance, risk management, donor reporting, and stakeholder engagement. The role leads and develops the Senior Portfolio Officer and Portfolio Officers, ensuring consistent delivery standards and programme impact across all three countries.

Key responsibilities

Strategic Leadership and Programme Management

• Lead programme strategy, workplans, budgets, forecasts, and performance targets across Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia
• Ensure alignment with donor agreements, investment principles, impact targets, and AECF policies throughout the programme cycle
• Identify emerging opportunities, risks, and implementation challenges and recommend management responses
• Support resource mobilisation and positioning for additional funding for the REACT 2.0 portfolio.

Portfolio Construction and Investment Selection

• Oversee competition design, market outreach, pipeline development, eligibility criteria, due diligence, and investment appraisal
• Provide quality assurance for application assessments, financial analysis, risk reviews, and investment recommendations
• Lead preparation and presentation of investment memoranda to internal and external investment committees
• Ensure investments are evidence-based, commercially sound, and aligned with impact, additionality, and inclusion objectives

Team Leadership

• Provide strategic direction, technical guidance, and quality assurance to the Senior Portfolio Officer and Portfolio Officers across all programme countries
• Convene regular portfolio performance reviews; agree and track corrective actions
• Build team capacity through coaching, mentoring, structured feedback, and professional development
• Promote collaboration, accountability, and consistent portfolio-management practices across countries

Investment Management, Financial Oversight, and M&E

• Direct investee management across the full investment lifecycle – contracting, onboarding, implementation, and exit
• Oversee disbursements, milestone verification, compliance with grant agreements, and resolution of investee-level performance issues
• Provide financial oversight of programme budgets, burn rates, commitments, and forecasts; address variances promptly
• Oversee monitoring of programme and portfolio performance against financial, operational, and impact targets; ensure corrective actions are implemented and tracked.

Technical Assistance, Risk, Compliance, and Reporting

• Support identification and coordination of bespoke technical assistance for investees, including investment readiness and follow-on investor facilitation
• Maintain oversight of portfolio-level financial, operational, legal, and reputational risks; ensure compliance with AECF’s environmental, social, gender, safeguarding, and fiduciary requirements
• Lead preparation of high-quality donor, governance, management, and investment-committee reports
• Serve as senior focal point for donor and stakeholder engagement; represent AECF at sector events and strategic forums
• Promote cross-country learning, knowledge sharing, and dissemination of lessons and impact evidence across the portfolio.

Qualifications, Skills, and Experience

Academic and Professional Qualifications

• Master’s degree in finance, economics, business administration, development studies, renewable energy, engineering, environmental studies, or a related field
• Professional project management, finance, renewable energy, or climate finance is an added advantage

Experience

• Minimum of 8 years of relevant experience in investment management, challenge funds, private-sector development, renewable energy, climate finance, development finance, or programme management
• Demonstrated experience managing multi-country or regional programmes and portfolios in sub-Saharan Africa
• Strong experience in portfolio construction: competition design, pipeline development, due diligence, investment appraisal, and investment-committee presentations
• Experience managing grants, results-based financing, milestone-based financing, blended finance, or other catalytic instruments
• Proven experience overseeing investee performance, disbursements, compliance, risk management, technical assistance, and reporting across the investment lifecycle
• Demonstrated experience managing, supervising, or providing technical leadership to portfolio teams
• Experience in renewable energy, productive use of energy, e-mobility, circular economy, or related sectors is highly desirable
• Strong understanding of the commercial, regulatory, and operational challenges affecting clean energy businesses in African markets

Technical and Leadership Skills

• Strong strategic leadership, portfolio management, investment analysis, financial analysis, due diligence, and risk-assessment capabilities
• Ability to interpret financial statements, business models, budgets, cash-flow forecasts, and investment performance data
• Strong programme planning, budgeting, forecasting, monitoring, and reporting skills
• High standards of integrity, accountability, coaching, and team development; ability to manage competing priorities across countries and deliver within tight timelines
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; ability to present complex investment and programme information to technical and non-technical audiences
• Commitment to gender equality, inclusion, environmental sustainability, and responsible investment.

How to apply

The AECF is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All applicants will be considered based on merit without regard to race, sex, colour, national origin, religion, age, disability, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

AECF does not charge any fees at any stage of the recruitment process (application, interview, meeting, processing, training, or otherwise).

If you believe you meet the criteria for the role, please register and apply at: https://recruitment.aecfafrica.org.  To be considered, your application must be received by 6th July 2026.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

The role

Investment Operations serves as the centre of excellence for AECF’s investment portfolio. The Head of Investment Operations is responsible for building and managing the platform – comprising frameworks, systems, and analytical capabilities – that supports and enables the construction and delivery of high-performing portfolios.

The role applies strong investment discipline, financial analysis, and process rigour across the full deal lifecycle: from marketing and competition management through sourcing, due diligence, structuring, and Investment Committee decision-making.

It is accountable for ensuring that investment decisions are made with quality, consistency, and speed. The role reports to the Director of Programs and works in close partnership with the Sector Leads (Agribusiness and Energy), who hold portfolio accountability within their respective sectors.

Key responsibilities

Sourcing and Competition Management

• Lead enterprise sourcing competitions end-to-end: design, marketing, applications, scoring, and shortlisting, assuring the integrity, quality, and efficiency of the process.
• Continuously improve competition design based on yield data, applicant quality, and conversion to investment – ensuring each competition cycle delivers a stronger, more decision-ready pipeline.
• Build and steward complementary sourcing channels through proactive outreach, ecosystem partnerships, and co-investor referrals, ensuring pipelines are not solely dependent on competition cycles.
• Manage the underlying sourcing infrastructure, including CRM, pipeline-tracking systems, marketing campaigns, and application management platforms.
• Ensure pipeline data is current, well-organised, and usable by the Portfolio Management teams to make decisions.

Investment Analysis and Deal Team Support

• Provide financial modelling, structuring expertise, and analytical capacity for deal teams to draw on during due diligence and structuring.
• Act as a thought partner and constructive challenger to Sector Leads, bringing investment rigour to deal shaping without taking the pen on investment decisions.
• Build deep analytical capability within the investment operations team that supports both the energy and agri sectors as a shared resource.

Investment committee process and governance

• Serve as process owner for the Investment Committee: scheduling, agenda management, memo quality assurance, and tracking of conditions precedent.
• Ensure all submissions to IC meet the standards required for decision-readiness.
• Manage post-IC follow-through, including documentation and conditions tracking.

Portfolio analytics, systems, and Reporting

• Own portfolio analytics, performance dashboards, and the data infrastructure that makes portfolio performance visible, accurate, and comparable across sectors.
• Lead systems automation and digitisation initiatives that improve speed, transparency, and efficiency across the investment lifecycle.
• Look across the portfolio for patterns, trends, and lessons that sharpen how we invest and design initiatives.

Process discipline and continuous Improvement

• Monitor and continuously improve cycle times across the deal lifecycle (from origination to IC, from IC to disbursement, and from disbursement to the first milestone).
• Diagnose bottlenecks and lead operational improvements that increase the speed and efficiency of portfolio construction without compromising rigour.

Investment Framework and Standards

• Develop and maintain the standards that govern the deal lifecycle: due diligence templates, structuring playbooks, Investment Committee memorandum standards, valuation and financial analysis methodologies, and risk assessment tools.
• Ensure frameworks are applied consistently across sectors, and evolve them based on lessons learned from the portfolio.
• Lead on and continuously refine the catalytic capital framework that guides instrument selection – when to deploy grants, repayable grants, or concessional debt – and the catalytic logic underpinning each.

Capability Building and Team Leadership

• Lead and develop the Investment Operations team.
• Build investment skills across the broader organisation, including analysts and associates, through training, coaching, and structured capability development.
• Foster a performance-driven, collaborative, and investment-led culture across the portfolio delivery function.

Qualifications and Experience:

• Master’s degree in Finance, Economics, Business Administration, or a related field.
• CFA, ACCA, or equivalent professional qualification.
• Eight years of investment experience across the full deal lifecycle – sourcing, due diligence, structuring, Investment Committee, and portfolio management ideally within impact investing, blended finance, or development finance.
• Deep expertise in management of catalytic capital instruments – grants, repayable grants, and concessional debt – and the design of frameworks governing their use.
• Demonstrated experience designing and operating investment platforms, processes, and systems, rather than primarily leading individual deals.
• Experience designing and managing structured sourcing programs – competitions or cohort-based pipelines – including evaluation methodology and applicant assessment at scale.
• Strong investment/financial analysis, structuring, and Investment Committee process experience.
• Track record of supporting and enabling deal teams, sector leads, or portfolio managers in a centre-of-excellence or platform capacity.
• Experience working with early-stage portfolios and complex multi-stakeholder environments, including donors and concessional capital providers.
• Strong people leader, clear communicator, and an exceptional team player.

How to apply

The AECF is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All applicants will be considered based on merit without regard to race, sex, colour, national origin, religion, age, disability, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

AECF does not charge any fees at any stage of the recruitment process (application, interview, meeting, processing, training, or otherwise).

If you believe you meet the criteria for the role, please register and apply at: https://recruitment.aecfafrica.org.  To be considered, your application must be received by 30th June 2026.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.