Allied Talent Partners (ATP), a Three Cairns Group initiative, is a mission-driven, not-for-profit talent marketplace focused on solving the human capital bottlenecks slowing down sustainable development efforts in emerging economies, with an initial focus on Africa. ATP connects vetted, experienced, context-relevant professionals to high-impact opportunities in energy access and sustainable development – strengthening local capacity and fuelling economic vitality. We specialize in fixed-term, deliverable-driven engagements – from interim leadership and generalist projects to niche technical expertise – handling project scoping, talent vetting and matching, contracting, payroll, and compliance so that our clients can focus on impact.

High-level Overview

The client is seeking a Senior Blended Finance Structuring & Pipeline Development Expert for a pipeline-development assignment. The Expert will lead the prioritization and investment-readiness process for selected climate-investment opportunities, provide strategic oversight and quality assurance for specialist preparation inputs, and translate emerging technical, commercial, environmental and social evidence into coherent financing and resource-mobilization pathways. S/he will also be in charge of investor mapping as well as project-investor matchmaking.

The ideal candidate will be a senior climate-finance, blended-finance or project-preparation practitioner with demonstrated experience leading multidisciplinary teams, structuring climate financeable opportunities, and engaging public institutions, private sector, development-finance partners and investors in African or comparable emerging markets. The candidate should also have a good understanding and knowledge of climate financiers.

Role & Responsibilities

Role: Senior Blended Finance Structuring & Pipeline Development Expert
Reports to: Chief Strategy Officer-RGF
Direct reports: All other consultants under this assignment
Candidates required: 1

Deliverables

• Lead a practical investment-readiness process for prioritized climate-investment opportunities, including pipeline review, prioritization, readiness diagnostics, decision gates, preparation plans and sequenced work orders.
• Undertake the financial structuring of prioritized projects, including the design of tailored blended finance solutions and capital stacks that address project-specific risks, optimise the use of concessional and public finance, mobilise private capital, and enhance access to climate finance and other investment sources.
• Integrate climate finance considerations into technical work, drawing on relevant climate finance expertise to develop projects that are technically sound, climate-aligned, financially viable, and eligible for funding from relevant climate funds and other financing sources.
• Provide strategic oversight and quality assurance of inputs from Climate-Smart Agriculture, Sustainable Land Management, Sustainable Cities and Urban Infrastructure, ESG, financial and economic modeling, and digital pipeline specialists; ensure that technical designs, cost assumptions, implementation arrangements, risks and evidence gaps are addressed proportionately before opportunities advance.
• Develop early financing and funding diagnostics and resource-mobilization pathways for selected projects, including tailored financing strategies, capital-stack options, risk-allocation approaches, suitable funding sources - including climate funds, development-finance institutions, development partners, institutional investors and commercial financiers - and establish and maintain a project-financier matching matrix.
• Integrate specialist findings into decision-ready investment-readiness packages, including project-preparation action plans, risk and mitigation summaries, investment-case inputs, financing propositions and investor-facing materials.
• Guide investor and funder engagement for priority opportunities, capture feedback, refine financing propositions and advise client counterparts on next-step transaction or resource-mobilization priorities.
• Maintain quality control across the pipeline-development workstream and provide practical coaching, tools and knowledge transfer so that client counterparts can apply a consistent project-preparation and financing approach after the assignment.

Requirements

Experience Required

• At least 10 years of relevant experience, including demonstrated responsibility for leading project-preparation, financing-structuring, or resource-mobilization workstreams for climate investments.
• Demonstrated experience leading climate, infrastructure, agriculture, nature-based or comparable project pipelines from concept through feasibility, investment readiness and resource mobilization.
• Track record developing financing strategies, capital stacks, concessional or catalytic finance structures, investor propositions or transaction pathways for projects or investment platforms.
• Experience integrating multidisciplinary technical, environmental and social, commercial and financial inputs for projects, facilities or investment platforms.
• Experience advising governments, development-finance institutions, investors, developers, utilities, project-preparation facilities or climate-finance institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa; wider East African experience is strongly preferred.

Technical Requirements

• Strong judgment on project-preparation sequencing, feasibility-stage decision gates, investment-readiness diagnostics, financing constraints and resource-mobilization pathways
• Ability to translate technical, commercial, ESG and financial evidence into proportionate financing strategies, capital-stack options, risk-allocation approaches and credible investor propositions.
• Experience reviewing financial models, investment cases, risk registers, implementation plans and investor-facing materials without duplicating specialist technical, ESG or financial-modeling roles.
• Working knowledge of concessional, catalytic, guarantee, grant, debt, equity, quasi-equity, results-based and other blended-finance instruments.
• Ability to provide strategic oversight and quality assurance across climate-smart agriculture, sustainable land management, sustainable cities and urban infrastructure, and ESG and safeguards workstreams.

Language Requirements

Professional fluency in English is required; French is advantageous.

Soft Skills

• Executive presence and sound judgment in complex public-institution, technical and investor settings.
• Collaborative, low-ego leadership that provides clear direction and quality assurance across specialist inputs without creating unnecessary layers or duplication.
• Clear, concise writing and confident presentation of options, assumptions, trade-offs and accountable next steps.
• Responsive, hands-on working style with a commitment to practical coaching and institutional knowledge transfer.

Working Arrangement

Location: Rwanda

Working model

Remote, with strategic oversight and quality assurance across task-order-based specialist inputs.

Travel requirements

Periodic regional and in-country travel may be required; frequency will be with agreed with client.

Terms of Agreement

Required start date: October 2026

Contracting period: Up to six months (October 2026-March 2027).

Capacity allocation: Up to 75 working days (15 working days per month, starting in November).Exact allocation to be agreed with the client.

• Lead a practical investment-readiness process for prioritized climate-investment opportunities, including pipeline review, prioritization, readiness diagnostics, decision gates, preparation plans and sequenced work orders.
• Undertake the financial structuring of prioritized projects, including the design of tailored blended finance solutions and capital stacks that address project-specific risks, optimise the use of concessional and public finance, mobilise private capital, and enhance access to climate finance and other investment sources.
• Integrate climate finance considerations into technical work, drawing on relevant climate finance expertise to develop projects that are technically sound, climate-aligned, financially viable, and eligible for funding from relevant climate funds and other financing sources.
• Provide strategic oversight and quality assurance of specialist inputs and ensure that technical designs, cost assumptions, implementation arrangements, risks and evidence gaps are addressed proportionately before opportunities advance.
• Develop early financing and funding diagnostics and resource-mobilization pathways for selected projects, including tailored financing strategies, capital-stack options, risk-allocation approaches, suitable funding sources and a project-financier matching matrix.
• Integrate specialist findings into decision-ready investment-readiness packages, including project-preparation action plans, risk and mitigation summaries, investment-case inputs, financing propositions and investor-facing materials.
• Guide investor and funder engagement for priority opportunities, capture feedback, refine financing propositions and advise client counterparts on next-step transaction or resource-mobilization priorities.
• Maintain quality control across the pipeline-development workstream and provide practical coaching, tools and knowledge transfer.

• Project-preparation sequencing, feasibility-stage decision gates and investment-readiness diagnostics
• Financial structuring and blended-finance solutions
• Capital-stack design, concessional and catalytic finance structures
• Resource mobilization and investor propositions
• Risk allocation and financing pathways
• Review of financial models, investment cases, risk registers, implementation plans and investor-facing materials
• Working knowledge of concessional, catalytic, guarantee, grant, debt, equity, quasi-equity, results-based and other blended-finance instruments
• Strategic oversight and quality assurance across climate-smart agriculture, sustainable land management, sustainable cities and urban infrastructure, ESG and safeguards
• Professional fluency in English; French is advantageous
• Clear, concise writing, confident presentation, collaborative leadership, practical coaching and institutional knowledge transfer

• At least 10 years of relevant experience, including demonstrated responsibility for leading project-preparation, financing-structuring, or resource-mobilization workstreams for climate investments.
• Demonstrated experience leading climate, infrastructure, agriculture, nature-based or comparable project pipelines from concept through feasibility, investment readiness and resource mobilization.
• Track record developing financing strategies, capital stacks, concessional or catalytic finance structures, investor propositions or transaction pathways for projects or investment platforms.
• Experience integrating multidisciplinary technical, environmental and social, commercial and financial inputs for projects, facilities or investment platforms.
• Experience advising governments, development-finance institutions, investors, developers, utilities, project-preparation facilities or climate-finance institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa; wider East African experience is strongly preferred.
• Professional fluency in English is required; French is advantageous.