Associate Manager - Sustainable Finance

Company Description: Systemiq is a system-change company committed to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement by transforming markets and business models across five key systems: nature and food, materials and circularity, energy, urban areas, and sustainable finance.

As a certified B Corp, we combine strategic advisory with high-impact, on-the-ground work, partnering with business, finance, policymakers and civil society to deliver system change. With offices across Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas, we are dedicated exclusively to sustainability-focused work.

Role title: Associate Manager, Sustainable Finance
Location: Kenya, Nairobi preferred
Team: Sustainable Finance
Reporting to: Sustainable Finance leadership

About the role

Systemiq is looking for a Associate Manager to join our Sustainable Finance practice in Kenya, focused on public and development finance.

This is a project leadership role for someone who can manage complex advisory engagements, lead small teams, and work confidently with senior stakeholders across governments, IFIs/DFIs, bilateral donors and the private sector. The role sits between Associate and Director level: you will be expected to own significant parts of delivery, shape the answer, manage team members and build trusted client relationships, without yet carrying full responsibility for platform strategy, major business development or senior client account ownership.

You will lead work on sovereign financing strategies and capital mobilisation for climate, nature and development priorities. This will involve combining strategic problem-solving, macroeconomic and financial analysis, stakeholder engagement, and high-quality communication in fast-moving, multi-stakeholder environments.

What you’ll do

• Lead complex workstreams and, where appropriate, day-to-day delivery of advisory projects.
• Manage small project teams, including Associates, Analysts and external experts.
• Structure ambiguous problems and translate them into clear workplans, analysis and client-ready outputs.
• Own the development of high-quality strategy decks, technical notes, briefing papers and senior stakeholder materials.
• Lead work on sovereign financing strategies, including macroeconomic context, sovereign risk, debt sustainability and credit dynamics.
• Design and assess financing approaches and instruments, including concessional finance, blended finance, sustainability-linked bonds or loans, debt-for-climate or nature swaps, and risk-sharing structures.
• Manage stakeholder engagement with ministries, debt management offices, central banks, IFIs/DFIs, donors and private sector partners.
• Facilitate workshops, consultations and convenings with senior stakeholders.
• Support proposal development, thought leadership and knowledge building within the Sustainable Finance team.
• Contribute to team development through coaching, feedback and quality control.

Mindset, skills and experience

Essential

• Degree or Master’s in economics, finance, international development, public policy or a related field.
• Around 4-6+ years of relevant experience, likely including strategy consulting, development finance, sovereign finance, IFIs/DFIs, finance ministries, central banks, debt management offices, credit rating agencies, or sovereign research.
• Experience managing workstreams or projects, ideally in advisory, consulting or multi-stakeholder environments.
• Strong understanding of sovereign financing, concessional finance, blended finance and climate or nature finance instruments.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to structure complex issues and drive teams toward clear answers.
• Excellent written and verbal communication in English, including senior client-ready materials.
• Strong stakeholder management skills, including confidence engaging with senior public-sector and institutional stakeholders.
• Experience managing, coaching or reviewing the work of junior team members.
• Strong project discipline, including planning, prioritisation, quality control and delivery under pressure.
• Strong mission alignment with Systemiq’s purpose and values.

Desirable

• Strategy consulting experience, ideally at Engagement Manager or equivalent level.
• Experience in Sub-Saharan African sovereign financing contexts.
• Exposure to public-sector policy, planning or reform processes.
• Experience working directly with governments, IFIs/DFIs or donor-funded advisory programmes.
• Formal training in macroeconomics, development economics, climate economics or nature economics.
• Additional languages, especially Swahili or French.

Candidate profile

You are a project leader who combines analytical rigour with practical judgement. You can take an ambiguous problem, structure the work, guide a team, manage the client process and produce high-quality outputs that influence real decisions.

You are likely operating at a level similar to an Engagement Manager in a strategy consulting environment, but you are motivated by systems change rather than conventional commercial advisory alone. You are not yet expected to be a Director or Associate Partner equivalent, but you should show the judgement, ownership and client maturity needed to grow toward that level.

You will align naturally with Systemiq’s values: Creativity, Challenge, Collaborate, Change and Care.

Additional information

Only candidates legally eligible to work in Kenya will be considered. Visa sponsorship and relocation costs will not be provided.

Diversity & Inclusion
At Systemiq, we absolutely believe diverse perspectives are essential to driving system change. We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace where people feel respected, supported and able to do their best work.

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