Senior Associate, Strategy & Build at GDI Africa

Responsibilities:

Strategy Development

• Support Strategy & Build Managing Directors to execute successful “Discover” phase work, in which GDI sources, evaluates, and shapes potential opportunities and concepts for incubation.
• Lead research, quantitative and qualitative analysis, stakeholder mapping, and market landscaping.
• Lead interviews with senior professionals, experts, and other stakeholders.
• Ultimately make recommendations for the fit of an initiative to GDI’s objectives and services, and support and inform early “blueprint” development for new initiatives.
• Support Strategy & Build Managing Directors and our partners to develop strategies for systems-change.
• Develop materials that convey the strategy to align stakeholders and mobilize resources for implementation.

Research + Communication

• Conduct complex market, and policy analyses.
• Track risks, issues, stakeholders, and potential funders.
• Support the development and delivery of structured communications, especially reports and presentations.

Project Management + Implementation

• Support the translation of strategy blueprint into actionable plans, for example by developing, managing, and directly contributing to work plans and budget management.
• Support founding teams to deliver key components of “Design” and “Build” plans, ranging from early program design and piloting to developing organizational infrastructure.
• Coordinate consultants and/or service providers, including assisting supervisors in preparation, processing, and administration of consultant and technical services contracts/agreements.
• Track risks, issues, stakeholders, and potential funders.
• Coordinate support from other GDI teams.
• Travel as needed to support implementation, including internationally.

Donor Engagement

• Support the development of concept notes and other fundraising materials.
• Review and analyze financial expenditure reports against budgets and donor agreements.
• Collect, organize, and prepare program and financial information for donor progress and internal grant management reports, as well as routine queries.

Support to GDI 

• Brief leadership on a weekly basis as to progress, risks, and issues.
• Participate in bi-weekly and quarterly reviews with the GDI leadership team, initiative management team, and advisors.
• Contribute to the refinement of incubation methodologies based on your hands-on experiences.
• Support broader knowledge management and dissemination.

Desired Qualifications:

• Undergraduate college degree with 2–5 years of related professional work experience (especially strategy consulting and/or human-centered design).
• Demonstrated ability to break down large, complex problems into smaller pieces, develop hypotheses, structure analysis to test these hypotheses, and generate clear insights and actionable recommendations.
• Outstanding analytical skills with a demonstrated ability to synthesize quantitative and qualitative data and surface clear, actionable insights for leadership.
• Collaborative team contributor; excellent listening skills; effective influencer; strong interpersonal skills.
• Exceptional verbal and written communication skills; good attention to detail.
• Ability to self-manage work streams and tasks; self-directed and resourceful with high standards for quality output.
• A curious and creative intellect and a style that includes flexibility, levelness, and a sense of humor and humility.