Senior Associate, Product Design at Aceli Africa

Aceli is seeking a Senior Associate, Product, who is passionate about data — someone who “nerds out” on spreadsheets, dashboards, and data models and who also knows how to translate technical findings into compelling narratives that drive decisions. The ideal candidate has a sharp analytical mind and a storyteller’s instinct—someone who begins by asking "What is the data saying?" and follows through to define scenarios for "What does this mean for what we should do next?"

Reporting to the Product Manager, this role focuses on the Product Design function and supports agricultural finance market research, incentive modeling, and strategic adjustments that align with lender and market needs. Through a blend of analytical rigor, stakeholder engagement, and project management, the Senior Associate will contribute to the design and evolution of financial incentives that catalyze lending to high-potential agricultural SMEs across East Africa.

Qualifications

• Annual benchmarking: Oversee data collection and cleaning for Aceli’s benchmarking process with lenders. Analyse data collected and produce high quality insights that inform our understanding of market dynamics and partner performance.
• Annual budgeting: Conduct the analysis and modeling required for Aceli’s annual financial incentives budget (~$20M for 2026), including modeling multi-year projections and providing insights for decision-making.
• Product Design and Adjustments: Support the design, testing, and refinement of financial incentive adjustments based on evidence from market research and internal analysis.
• Independent Analysis Projects: Take ownership of ad-hoc analytical deep-dives, such as examining incentive program performance with subsets of lenders, to generate insights and support continuous program improvement.
• Dashboard creation and maintenance: Build and maintain Power BI dashboards that help the team monitor performance and communicate results clearly and effectively.
• Innovation and learning support: Work closely with internal teams—including, Impact & Learning, and Innovation—as well as partner lending institutions and data and learning partners, to identify opportunities to enhance the impact of Aceli’s offering and contribute to a robust evidence base that supports organizational learning and strategic decision-making.

Required qualifications and experience:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Finance, Economics, Statistics, or a related quantitative discipline.
• At least 4 years of professional experience in East Africa within the agricultural sector, financial services, or management consulting, with demonstrated growth in responsibilities.
• Advanced analytical skills, including financial modeling and data manipulation. Strong command of Excel and experience with Power BI or other visualization tools.
• Track record of drawing strategic insights from complex data sets and presenting them in a way that influences business or policy decisions.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills—able to tell a powerful story with data.
• Highly organized, independent, and proactive with a strong sense of ownership.
• Collaborative and team-oriented, with a demonstrated ability to work effectively across functions and with diverse stakeholders.
• Track record of professional integrity and ethical conduct in all aspects of work.
• Strong interest and understanding of agricultural finance within the East African market; experience with agri-SME lending is a plus.
• Genuine passion for leveraging financial and business expertise to drive positive impact on farmer livelihoods, food security, and economic development in the region.