Head of Strategic Projects

Every year, 10–12 million young Africans enter the workforce, but fewer than 3 million formal jobs are created. Better-paying jobs are the most direct route out of poverty, and the countries that got rich did it by creating them at scale.

The Africa Jobs Fund builds businesses that create higher-paying jobs for African workers. We focus on the two sectors that are highest leverage for creating huge income gains: export manufacturing and international labour mobility.

We’re building the fund for the most cost-effective private sector approaches to development. We find and back the entrepreneurs building these businesses from day one. Our team is made up of world-class founders and operators who have built companies across Africa, including the biggest supply chain startup in Africa ($145M+ raised), Germany’s largest social consumer brand (200M+ units sold), a major greenfield beverage factory in Ethiopia ($27M investment) and the largest solar financing company in Malawi (serving 1M+ households).

We aim to spend less than $10 of philanthropic capital to double one person’s income for a year (<$10 per DCY). This means we are aiming to be one of the most effective organisations in global development.

Most of our work is finding and backing founders. But some of the biggest opportunities don’t fit that model. There are large-scale projects out there, with existing partners, that are ready to absorb tens of millions of dollars with the right scoping, structuring and support. For example, you might be working on launching a $50M financing facility to help low-income African students study abroad.

With a third wave of philanthropy emerging, there’s real appetite for these large-scale deployments, if the cost-effectiveness is there. We’re looking for someone to find these projects and make them happen.

You’ll work directly with our Founding Partner, Daniel Yu, with enormous autonomy from day one, leading multiple projects worth tens of millions of dollars each year. We’re a small team, the pace is quick and the bureaucracy is minimal. The ceiling on this role is very high for the right person.

Strategic project development

• Find opportunities for large-scale projects across export manufacturing, labour mobility and other areas with high potential for cost-effective deployments, through research, our network and conversations with partners.
• Scope each one properly: the problem, the model, financing structure, budget, delivery partners, risks and the impact case (working with our Impact Lead on cost-effectiveness).
• Build relationships with philanthropists and other funders and bring them into these projects. This will be the biggest part of the role.
• Bring on board the other partners each project needs, such as financiers, employers, governments, training providers and manufacturers.
• Write concept notes and proposals, and take projects through funder conversations and diligence.
• Work closely with our Founding Partner to raise the money and make these projects happen.
• Build a pipeline of 5–10 well-scoped projects, and drop the ones that don’t stack up.
• This work will likely also include scoping and executing internal strategic projects, such as figuring out a new focus area or approach, for example outbound business development to bring more Chinese manufacturers into Africa.

Implementation (around 20%, growing over time)

• Once projects are funded, help get them off the ground: setting up partner agreements, coordinating delivery, tracking progress and reporting back to funders.
• Unlike a pure funder, we often play a meaningful operational role in our projects, drawing on our team’s deep experience building scalable for-profit companies in Africa.
• This share of the role will grow as more projects make it through the pipeline.

Fundraising and strategic support (around 30%)

• Support fundraising for AJF and its projects: drafting proposals, scouting new funders and managing follow-ups.
• Long-form writing.We’d be particularly excited about a candidate who would also be keen to help build our Substack by writing, commissioning and editing high-quality long-form articles on our work and development more broadly.
• Taking on strategic internal projects, for example designing a new investment process, supporting on developing an approach to impact measurement, or building a new website.
• Ad hoc strategic support for the Partners.

We will not hire anyone who doesn’t meet all of the following:

• Exceptionally talented and intelligent. You can think deeply about hard problems, absorb information quickly and turn it into sharp analysis.
• High agency. You see a problem, decide what to do about it, and do it. Very little direction suits you fine.
• Hardworking.This is not a 9-5. We’re a small team with a huge mission and we work hard.
• Mission-driven.You’re committed to dramatically raising incomes for African workers, and you care about doing it in the most cost-effective, evidence-driven way.
• AI-native. You use the best AI tools constantly and rely on them to automate your work.

• Experience working in or on Africa.
• A track record of putting together and closing large and complex projects or deals, for example in investment banking, private equity, DFIs, blended finance, philanthropy, consulting or major funding partnerships.
• Able to take a rough idea to a credible, fundable proposal on your own, including the financial model.
• Strong interest in both cost-effective and growth-oriented development economics.
• Comfortable running several complex processes at once with little oversight.
• Familiarity with building and assessing cost-effectiveness analyses.
• 5–15 years of experience.

Bonus experience. These are not required, but would be great to have:

• Experience in labour mobility, student financing, export manufacturing or similar.
• Knowledge of the philanthropic and DFI funding landscape.
• A strong writer with good taste in high-quality long-form writing on global development.

• Competitive compensation, reflecting your experience and the scope of the role.
• Full-time and remote, with a preference for candidates based in Africa.
• Travel to meet funders and partners, and to project sites across Africa.