Senior Manager/Manager – Scaling and Innovation Team (Global)

You will join Instiglio’s Scaling & Innovation Team — the engine driving Instiglio’s ambition to go from impact to impact at scale. Our mission is threefold: develop pathways to scale Instiglio’s proven approaches, incubate Instiglio’s presence in new regions, and design and spearhead new impact solutions that push the frontier of what’s possible in development.

We pursue this mission through two primary strategies:

1. Scaling partnerships with large development institutions: The core of this team’s work. We partner with major multilateral development banks (MDBs), bilateral agencies, and large philanthropies to strengthen how they drive outcomes at scale — combining impact strategy with deep change management. This isn’t traditional consulting: we embed ourselves in institutional transformation, helping partners overhaul their impact strategies, build internal capabilities, and implement reforms that cascade through the systems they fund. A flagship example is our four-year engagement with the Global Fund, where we supported the scale-up of results-based financing (RBF) to 15 countries, built core institutional capabilities, and helped embed a results-oriented performance culture. Similar partnerships are underway with institutions like the Millennium Challenge Corporation, the Swiss Development Cooperation, the IDB, and leading philanthropies.
2. Innovation: Beyond scaling, the team spearheads new impact solutions. Recent examples include an AI-driven reform assistant for government decision-makers, pull finance mechanisms for adoption of climate technology, and practical work on making health regulations drive better outcomes. This is where we prototype the next generation of Instiglio’s tools.

The team also leads the Government Empowerment Network (GEN) — though this is a secondary focus of the role. GEN is Instiglio’s global network that inspires and empowers civil service champions to drive transformational change from within their institutions. It combines an eight-month reform incubator — providing mentorship, peer exchange, and real-time coaching grounded in reform science — with an AI-powered platform connecting public leaders to curated knowledge and global practitioner networks. Launched in Uganda in 2025, with cohorts in Colombia and Morocco following, GEN aims to support 1,500 champion teams and drive 200 institutional transformations impacting 190 million citizens by 2030.

How You Will Make an Impact

This is a role that sits at the intersection of strategy, change management, and innovation — not in the abstract, but in practice. You will lead complex, high-stakes engagements that directly shape how billions of development dollars are spent, and how governments serve millions of citizens.

Specifically, you will:

• Lead high-impact scaling partnerships: Take ownership of multi-year engagements with MDBs, bilaterals, and philanthropies. This means diagnosing how institutions invest and manage performance, designing strategies to strengthen their impact orientation, and driving the change management work needed to make reforms stick. You will translate sophisticated analysis into clear recommendations that senior decision-makers can act on — and then stay in the room to help implement them.
• Spearhead innovation: Help design and pressure-test new impact solutions — from AI-enabled tools for government reformers to new financing mechanisms for climate outcomes. You will bring structured thinking to ambiguous, frontier problems and turn concepts into pilots.
• Manage complex stakeholder environments: Build trusted relationships with senior counterparts in governments, development agencies, and philanthropic organizations. Navigate multi-stakeholder dynamics with confidence, knowing when to push, when to listen, and how to build coalitions for change.
• Lead teams and delivery: Manage multidisciplinary teams across workstreams, geographies, and time zones. Own budgets, timelines, and quality — and develop the people around you.
• Contribute to thought leadership: Help shape Instiglio’s intellectual contributions in results-based financing, performance management, and global partnership strategy, feeding into a growing body of work that influences policy and practice globally.

Who You Are

We are looking for someone who is energized by complexity, undaunted by ambiguity, and deeply motivated by impact. You combine the structured rigor of a top-tier consultant with the entrepreneurial instinct to build something new.

Experience

• Significant professional experience (typically 9+ years for Manager; 11+ for Senior Manager of relevant professional experience) and we welcome candidates whose experience exceeds these thresholds.
• Strong background in strategy consulting, international development, or complex advisory roles — ideally spanning both.
• Demonstrated experience working with or inside multilateral and bilateral institutions, large philanthropies, or global development organizations.
• A track record of leading multi-stakeholder, multi-country engagements from design through implementation.
• Experience designing strategic initiatives or large-scale programs — not just advising on them.
• Exposure to results-based financing, performance management, or impact measurement is highly desirable.

Education Master’s degree (or equivalent) in Public Policy, Economics, Business, Development Studies, or related fields.

Languages

• Excellent fluency in English (written and verbal).
• French or Spanish is a plus

Core Skills & Competencies

• Structured problem-solving & strategic thinking: You break down complex, ambiguous problems quickly and develop clear, actionable recommendations — the kind that a minister or a multilateral VP can act on.
• Change management & implementation: You understand that strategy without implementation is just paper. You know how to design for adoption, manage resistance, and build institutional ownership.
• Entrepreneurial & builder mindset: You can take an idea from whiteboard to pilot. You are comfortable with unstructured environments and motivated by building something, not just delivering it.
• Stakeholder management & communication: You engage credibly at the highest levels — with government ministers, donor executives, and foundation leadership — while remaining effective across teams and cultures.
• Project & team leadership: You manage multiple concurrent workstreams without dropping the ball, develop junior colleagues, and hold yourself and your team to a high bar.
• Global & cross-cultural collaboration: You have worked across geographies and cultures, and you know how to coordinate distributed teams effectively.
• AI-enabled working: You are genuinely curious about — and actively embrace — AI-powered workflows. At Instiglio, AI is not a future aspiration; it is central to how we research, synthesize, analyze, and deliver. The ideal candidate is already integrating AI tools into their daily work and is excited to push further.
• Adaptability & resilience: You thrive in ambiguity, adapt quickly to shifting priorities, and bring a low-ego, roll-up-your-sleeves attitude to whatever the work demands.

How You Can Grow with Us

This role offers a rare opportunity to work at the frontier of global development — not in a supporting role, but as a central player shaping strategy, building institutions, and pioneering new models of impact. You will develop deep expertise across donor strategy, government transformation, results-based financing, and innovation in development finance.

You will receive structured mentorship, regular feedback, and a clear path toward increasing leadership — including the opportunity to shape new global initiatives, and contribute to Instiglio’s growing influence in the field.

Working Model & Benefits

This position is open to both local and international candidates, with a strong preference for those based in our offices in Kenya, Morocco, Mauritius, or Uganda. Instiglio offers a comprehensive benefits package including personal days, remote work allowance, health and travel insurance, company holidays between Christmas and New Year’s, and parental leave.

Location: Kenya or Mauritius (strongly preferred)

Term: Full-time position

Expected Starting Date: June 1, 2026 or earlier

Application Deadline: Applications will be considered on a rolling basis

Join Our Team

Submit your application by attaching your CV and cover letter in English answering the following questions:

1. Tell us about a time you persuaded a decision-maker or group of people to take action — what was the situation, what did you do, and what was the outcome?
2. Tell us about a complex strategic or advisory engagement you led: what was the challenge, how did you approach it, and what impact did it achieve?
3. What excites you about working at the intersection of strategy, change management, and innovation in international development?

We read every cover letter carefully — please write yours in your own voice rather than using AI-generated text, as authenticity matters to us far more than polish.

How you will make an impact

As Transformation Director, you will lead Instiglio’s organization-wide transformation agenda - strengthening the systems, operating models, and change capabilities that enable us to scale impact globally.

This role sits at the intersection of strategy, systems-building, technology, and execution. It is designed for a leader who thrives in complexity and is equally comfortable designing transformation roadmaps and rolling up their sleeves to ensure adoption and results.

A member of Instiglio’s Executive Team is accountable for each substantive transformation initiative, so while reporting to the COO, you will also work closely with the CEO and Chief Impact Officer (CIO) on specific initiatives, agreeing and assuring strategies together prior to execution. You will also partner with fellow members of Instiglio Leadership Team to leverage their experience and expertise, and to ensure transformation efforts are coherent, integrated, prioritized, and embedded across the organization.

Key responsibilities will include, but are not limited to:

Lead Organization-Wide Transformation & Change Management

• Own and drive Instiglio’s Transformation & Change Management Program  end-to-end.

  • Diagnose organizational challenges and opportunities, design solutions, prioritize execution in line with Instiglio’s strategic goals, and ensure successful adoption.

  • Act as the integrator across teams (e.g., Partner Group, Leadership Team, People Committee, Finance Committee), ensuring transformation initiatives are aligned, sequenced, and mutually reinforcing.

• Establish clear success metrics and track progress, learning, and impact over time. 
  

AI Integration & Digital Transformation

• Lead the design, pilot, and scale of AI-enabled tools that enhance decision-making, productivity, and service delivery.

• Drive organization-wide AI adoption, capability-building, and change management.

• Translate emerging AI opportunities into practical workflows, operating model shifts, and strategic advantages.

• Ensure ethical, responsible, and effective use of AI across the organization.

Impact Management Systems (in partnership with the CIO)

• Strengthen how Instiglio measures organizational performance, learning, and results.

• Design and refine frameworks, tools, and processes that clarify goals, drive alignment, and support strategic decision-making.

• Improve visibility and coherence across impact data, organizational learning, and performance management.

Partnerships Development Systems

• Build and refine systems that strengthen how Instiglio develops, manages, and sustains partnerships across donors, governments, and the private sector coordinating with the Partnership Development Centre and Business Development Teams.

• Develop processes that improve pipeline visibility, institutional engagement, and strategic prioritization.

• Enable leadership teams with better data, tools, and decision frameworks for partnership growth.

Internal Operating Model & Process Evolution

• Lead the evolution of Instiglio’s internal operating model as the organization scales.

• Redesign workflows, governance rhythms, collaboration structures, and decision-making processes.

• Embed AI and digital tools across core operational systems to improve efficiency and effectiveness.

• Ensure changes are practical, adopted, and sustained in day-to-day operations.

Hands-On Execution & Delivery

• This is not a strategy/transformation-only role.

• You are accountable for seeing transformation initiatives from idea to execution to sustained adoption. On internal strategies, systems & processes, you will work closely with Internal Services teams and management to see through and sustain excellence in a sustained role that is necessarily operational in nature.

• You will personally:

  • Build tools, templates, and dashboards;

  • Draft frameworks and operating models;

  • Run complex, cross-functional projects;

  • Facilitate alignment and decision-making;

  • Troubleshoot operational bottlenecks; and

  • Ensure implementation sticks beyond launch.

Who you are

We are building a team of thoughtful, driven professionals who are motivated by our mission and excited to grow with the organization. An ideal candidate will have:

• Experience: At least 10 years of relevant experience in:

  • Organizational transformation and change management.

  • AI or technology implementation in organizations.

  • Systems-building in high-growth or complex environments.

  • Management consulting, public sector reform, or international development.

  • Designing and scaling operating models, decision systems, and workflows.

  • Working closely with senior leaders to translate strategy into execution.

• Languages:

  • Professional working proficiency in English (C1).

  • Working proficiency in French and/or Spanish would be an added advantage.

• Skills & Competencies:

  • Strong builder mindset - energized by designing systems from scratch and iterating toward excellence.

  • Exceptional project management and coordination skills across multiple high-stakes initiatives.

  • Hands-on operator who can move seamlessly between strategic thinking and detailed execution.

  • Structured thinker who brings clarity to ambiguity and complexity.

  • High emotional intelligence, humility, and adaptability.

  • Creative and innovative leader comfortable in fast-changing environments.

  • Cross-cultural fluency and effectiveness working across geographies and diverse teams.

  • Deep alignment with Instiglio’s mission and commitment to public-sector transformation.

• Mindset & Culture Fit

  • Thrives as a resourceful, sleeves-rolled-up doer; not an armchair strategist.

  • Calm and effective in moments of organizational pressure and uncertainty.

  • Collaborative, influence-oriented, and committed to building strong relationships.

  • Values purpose over spotlight.

How you will grow with us

Your work will be driven by impact and purpose, within a dynamic culture rooted in inclusion, collaboration, and high performance. You will partner closely with teams delivering complex, high-impact projects, gain exposure to a wide range of approaches and contexts, and collaborate across a diverse, international organization. You will be encouraged to take ownership, exercise judgment, and contribute meaningfully to shaping how Instiglio operates and grows.

As a Director at Instiglio, you will continue to develop and deepen your leadership, systems-thinking, and transformation capabilities. You will lead internal initiatives and organizational priorities, with support and guidance from senior leadership. Instiglio has a strong feedback culture, including bi-annual, structured performance reviews complemented by ongoing, real-time feedback. Mentorship and individual development plans are embedded in our people model to ensure sustained professional growth and support.

With Instiglio’s planned continued growth there are also progression opportunities for high-performing candidates.

Working model and benefits

Instiglio has adopted a hybrid working model (i.e., minimum of two (2) days a week at the office for face-to-face connections). Instiglio offers generous benefits, which include personal days, remote workdays, travel and health insurance, pension, a company end-of-year holiday additional to vacation, and parental leave, among others.

Join Us 

To apply, please submit your CV in English and answer the application questions listed. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis.