We have an opportunity to join our Grants Team, which is led by our Global Grants and Partnerships Manager, and sits within our Operations Finance team. The Grants Team works across all our locations, supporting dozens of grants projects.

Grants funding is crucial for SYSTEMIQ’s work; annually it accounts for more than 50% of our project revenues. Management of such grant funding requires ensuring spend is impact-oriented and in compliance with both funders’ contractual requirements and SYSTEMIQ’s standards.

You will also be a crucial part of starting out our presence in Nairobi, and helping to shape our work in the region in the grants space.

About the role

As a Project Grants Finance Manager, you will be responsible for delivering high quality management and oversight of several workstreams that are supported by funding from government, philanthropy and corporate funding sources. You will manage a portfolio of projects, including a large multiyear multimillion grants project funded by NORAD.

You will work closely with a range of internal stakeholders, including senior management, project delivery teams, Systemiq’s Global grants team, and the global finance team, PMO and legal team during the entire lifecycle of projects. Project staff are based across all our locations, and most global operations staff are based in London and Jakarta. Your Line Manager will be our Global Grants Finance Manager, who is based in Berlin.

The key focus of the role is to ensure compliance with company processes and policies, as well as project contractual requirements on due diligence, financial management, expenditure and invoicing, procurement and project auditing and reporting.

In addition, you will play a key role in supporting and developing relationships with funders and delivery partners and helping us to build out our funding network for our grants work in the region.

Project Preparation:

• Develop project budgets and financial plans for project grant funding proposals
• Support our project teams to negotiate cost-efficient budgets and demonstrate value for money
• Ensure project budgeting, staffing plans and preparation complies with company practice and client’s financial control requirements
• Complete formal proposal application processes

Project Delivery:

• Ensure project’s financial requirements are adhered to in relation to company policy, funder requirements and applicable laws and regulations
• Ensure compliance with company and funder procurement rules, and oversee large-scale procurement and tender processes for goods and services
• Lead downstream subcontracting and subgranting, including large-scale procurements for supply of goods and services
• Lead project audits, including sample data, field work and auditor communications
• Liaise with Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable to ensure correct invoicing for funders and suppliers, and track project cashflows
• Complete monthly financial forecasting and expenditure reconciliations to track cashflows and monitor financial position of our largest grants projects, supporting project planning and progress reporting against project delivery framework
• Prepare financial status reports for project and finance team leadership
• Prepare external financial, budgetary and accounting reports to clients / funders
• Liaise with PMO to set up new project finances and close finances of completed projects
• Provide guidance and documentation to the project team to support effective project financial management

General:

• Design and delivery of training materials and workshops on grants financial management
• Support annual company audit processes as required
• Support company’s financial controls, financial planning and financial analysis process (including budget forecasting, proposal pipeline monitoring and invoicing)
• Contribute to company’s best practice development for project financial management and expert grants financial management

The Mindset, Skills & Experience we are looking for

Our ideal candidate will be able to work in different contexts, and are keen to work in a new location for an entrepreneurial company to help shape the business and make maximum impact. You are interested in sustainability inspired by SYSTEMIQ’s mission and approach to system change.

Specifically, you come with a combination of the following mindset, skills, and experience:

• 3+ years’ experience within a project financial management function in a grants context, working on projects funded by governments, multilaterals or philanthropy
• 2+ years’ experience of leading processes on grants budgeting and financial reporting
• Experience of procurement of both goods and services, including supporting or coordinating large-scale tender processes to select suppliers
• Fluent verbal and written English is essential
• Intermediate to advanced Microsoft Excel skills
• Ability to maintain a high level of accuracy across complex budgets and expenditure records, with strong process orientation and excellent attention to detail
• Ability to work with confidential material and maintain high standards of discretion
• Ability to multitask and handle competing deadlines
• Collaborative team player and can-do attitude with good communication skills,
• Interest in working on project financial management for projects funded by non-commercial clients and on projects with restricted and unrestricted funding
• Alignment with SYSTEMIQ's values (creativity, challenge, collaborate, change, care).

We are keen to receive applications from all parts of the community.

Location: Kenya (Nairobi preferred)
Contract: 12-month FTC (very likely to extend / convert to permanent)
Team / Platform: Sustainable Finance
Reporting to: Sustainable Finance leadership 

About the role : Systemiq is looking for a Strategy Associate to join our growing Sustainable Finance practice in Kenya, focused on public and development finance. You will help governments and public finance institutions to strengthen financing strategies and mobilise capital for climate, nature and development priorities.

This is a strategy advisory role: working within small, collaborative teams, you will support complex advisory engagements and multi-stakeholder initiatives spanning governments, IFIs/DFIs, bilateral donors and the private sector. You will contribute to workstreams that draw on expertise across Systemiq and external partners, and over time you will have opportunities to shape and lead your own workstreams within the sustainable finance space.

This role blends macro-level strategic thinking with strong research and analytical skills, excellent stakeholder engagement and communication, and the ability to deliver high-quality outputs in fast-moving, stakeholder-heavy contexts. Strategy consulting experience is welcome but not essential.

What you’ll do

• Help support or lead workstreams and deliver high-quality advisory support on public and development finance for climate and nature outcomes.
• Develop structured analysis and synthesize complex information into client-ready materials (strategy decks, technical notes, briefing packs).
• Drive development of sovereign financing strategies, including consideration of macroeconomic context, sovereign risk, debt sustainability and credit dynamics.
• Help design, shape, and assess financing approaches and instruments, including concessional and blended finance, sustainability-linked bonds/loans, debt-for-climate/nature swaps, and risk-sharing structures.
• Support stakeholder engagement across ministries, debt management offices, central banks, IFIs/DFIs, donors and private sector partners, including workshops and convenings.
• Contribute to proposal development, thought leadership and knowledge building within the team.

Mindset, skills & experience

Essential

• Degree/Masters – Economics/Finance/International Development especially welcome
• 2–5+ years of relevant experience, for example in:
• strategy consulting (sustainable finance focus)
• international financial institutions (e.g., IMF, World Bank, AfDB),
• central banks or debt management offices,
• credit rating agencies,
• sovereign research / strategy teams,
• finance ministries or public finance roles,
• development finance / advisory roles with strong sovereign finance exposure.
• Familiarity with the sovereign financing landscape, including concessional finance, blended finance and/or climate and nature instruments e.g. sustainability-linked bonds/loans, debt-for-climate/nature swaps etc.
• Strong problem-solving, analytical and research skills — able to synthesise complex material into clear, structured outputs.
• Excellent communication in English (written and verbal), and demonstrated stakeholder engagement skills
• Strong project discipline and ability to deliver high-quality work under tight deadlines.
• Collaborative team player with an entrepreneurial mindset and strong mission alignment.

Desirable

• Formal study in economics, with a focus on macroeconomics, development economics, climate economics and/or nature economics
• Exposure to public-sector policy or planning, for example within finance ministries, environment ministries, or IFIs/DFIs.
• Familiarity with Sub-Saharan African sovereign contexts and financing priorities.
• Experience supporting stakeholder consultations, convenings or government-facing processes.
• Additional languages (e.g., Swahili, French).

Candidate profile

You are mission-driven and excited by the opportunity to help governments and financial institutions mobilise financing for climate and nature outcomes. You combine intellectual rigour with pragmatism and strong relationship skills. You thrive in small teams, enjoy working across disciplines and stakeholder groups, and want your work to influence real-world decisions.

You will also align naturally with our values: Creativity, Challenge, Collaborate, Change and Care.

Additional information

• Only applications from candidates legally eligible to work in Kenya will be considered.
• Visa sponsorship / relocation costs will not be provided.

Systemiq, the systems change company and certified B Corp, was founded to drive the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on climate change by transforming markets and business models in five key systems: nature and food, materials, and circular economy, energy, urban areas, and sustainable finance.

We are guided by the conviction that all system transformations are rooted in human transformations. We must continue to bring more diverse people and voices into real conversations to succeed. We know we don’t have all the answers; we may not even have all the right questions. But we know that open mindsets drive change, so relationships, people, and trust are at the heart of everything we do

We are looking to grow our global network of talented independent consultants with experience in consulting, professional services, and project management. As we frequently require contractors at short notice, we’re building a pool of trusted professionals to support our diverse and high-impact assignments aimed at driving system change worldwide.

With advanced problem-solving, analytical and relationship skills, you will be experienced working on consulting projects to deliver breakthrough insights, action and results. Ideally your background includes working at a leading management consultancy or in a strategy role in industry, public sector or civil society. You are keen to work in a small yet fast growing company where you can play a shaping role and make an impact.

We work with both global blue chip clients, public-private partnerships and ground-breaking new ventures. Recent initiatives include advising on circular economy in Germany, developing go-to-market strategies for new technologies as well as forest restoration and preventing ocean plastic pollution in South East Asia.

The high-performing contractors may be considered for a full-time position when an opportunity becomes available. 

Requirements

• Very strong analytical skills with high level of comfort and enthusiasm for building dynamic excel models and synthesising large data sets
• For Project Manager specific roles, you will have previous experience leading teams on strategy consulting projects
• Ability to work in a stand-alone capacity and deliver a defined output
• Strong problem solving and structuring skills, delivering intuitive presentations of complex data
• Intellectual curiosity and an interest to quickly dive into new topics,
• Skills and experience of relationship management on a senior level,
• Collaborative team player and can-do attitude,
• Entrepreneurial spirit with the ability to identify opportunities and new initiatives and to turn them into reality.