The Role
Lead APLYD’s East Africa growth strategy and full institutional business-development cycle, from initial conversations through signed contracts and delivery handoff. Build relationships with governments, multilaterals, development finance institutions, bilateral agencies, and foundations; qualify opportunities; shape technical approaches; lead proposals, negotiations, budgets, and contracting; maintain pipeline accuracy; and ensure engagements launch effectively. The role carries a revenue target, requires regional market insight and technical credibility in AI and data systems, involves 40–50% travel, and includes hiring and leading the regional growth team.
Summary Generated by Built In
Position: Director, Growth (East Africa)
Team: Growth
Level and grade: L7 Director
Position type: Full time; engagement basis set by country of residence
Location: East Africa. Nairobi, Kampala, Kigali, Dar es Salaam or Addis Ababa.
Reports to: Chief Executive Officer
Travel: 40 to 50 percent across the region, occasionally beyond
Mandate: Growth Director: the East Africa pipeline from first conversation to signed contract
About Us
APLYD helps governments, multilateral institutions, development finance institutions and foundations use AI in public systems. Most public-sector AI stops at the pilot. Our work is getting it into everyday service delivery and keeping it running once we leave.
Athena Infonomics has done this work for years. In 2026 we set it up as its own company. We cover strategy and readiness, field data and last-mile reach, design and build, evaluation and audit, and scale and production.
440+ engagements · 240+ global clients · 85+ specialists · 7 countries · 5 continents
The Role
You lead APLYD’s business development in East Africa. The role covers the full cycle from the first conversation with a ministry, regional body, multilateral country office or development finance institution to a signed contract, and it carries a revenue target. It is a growth role rather than a country profit-and-loss role: delivery is staffed from APLYD’s Global disciplines, with people in the region when the work requires it. You are the first APLYD hire in the region and you build the team around you, starting with an Associate, Growth (East Africa).
You carry a revenue target, and part of your pay is linked to the revenue you originate. Origination credit starts from the first contract you close, the rate increases once you pass target, and there is no cap. In your first year, qualified opportunities you originated that have reached contracting are also credited, because East African institutional cycles often take longer than a financial year.
Core Job Responsibilities
- Represent APLYD in East Africa. For most institutions in the region you will be the first person from the firm they meet. What you commit to on our behalf, we deliver.
- Own institutional opportunities from the first conversation to a signed contract: problem definition, scoping, proposal, negotiation, contracting, and a handover that gives the delivery team everything it needs.
- Decide what we pursue and what we decline. Not every funded opportunity is one we should take.
- Set the technical expectation before anyone commits to it. Work with senior stakeholders until the problem statement is precise, and hold a credible position on solution architecture, data and AI feasibility, integration constraints, and who owns and operates the system once it is live.
- Own the proposals: scope, technical approach, timeline, risk, commercial model and budget. At this stage you write the important ones yourself; this changes as the team grows.
- Read the region for us. Ministries and agencies across several countries, regional bodies, multilaterals, bilateral agencies and philanthropies all decide and budget differently, and the answers change across borders. The regional plan is built on your reading of the market.
- Keep the pipeline accurate: what is live, what has stalled, and what will not happen. Report to the CEO.
- Make sure engagements start well. The institution and our delivery team agree on scope, success measures and operating model before work begins, and the institution owns what gets built.
- Hire and lead the Associate, Growth (East Africa), and build the regional team as revenue allows.
Qualifications and Competencies
- 20 or more years in business development, partnerships or institutional growth across government systems, development organisations or major funders, with most of that time in East Africa.
- You have taken a new institutional relationship to a signed, funded contract more than once.
- Current networks across East African governments, regional institutions, multilaterals, bilateral agencies and the philanthropies active in the region.
- You know how public systems and large development institutions work in the region: how decisions are made, how procurement runs, where budgets sit, and what makes a ministry adopt something new, and where those answers change across borders.
- Enough technical depth to hold a credible conversation about AI and data systems, digital public infrastructure, feasibility and architecture, with engineers on one side and non-technical institutional leaders on the other.
- You have been the senior person in the room when an institution decided whether to work with a firm.
- Based in East Africa, with willingness to travel 40 to 50 percent across the region.
Also useful, though we will not screen on it
- AI, digital transformation, technology-for-development or digital public infrastructure work in Africa.
- Relationships with county or sub-national governments, and with funders running significant East Africa portfolios.
- Time in an organisation working at the intersection of evidence, technology and public service delivery on the continent.
Additional Requirements
- This position requires successful completion of a reference check and employment verification.
- The successful candidate must not be subject to employment restrictions from a former employer, such as a non-compete, that would prevent performance of the responsibilities described.
- Candidates must declare any current or recent engagement with a government, multilateral or development finance institution that could present a conflict of interest.
APLYD’s Work Culture
At APLYD, we function in an outcomes-based work environment with flexible hours and a high level of autonomy. Professional development and thought leadership are key elements of our business model: we support our team members’ professional growth through on-the-job training, and we encourage the cultivation of our colleagues’ personal brands through participation in panels, events, publications, and other thought-leadership opportunities. We embrace a transparent, open work environment with meaningful leadership pathways for those with inventive ideas and initiatives.
APLYD is an Equal Opportunities Employer
APLYD, part of the Athena Infonomics group, is an equal opportunity employer with a commitment to diversity. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, protected veteran status, or disability status.
AI Proficiency and Responsible Use
Proficiency in the responsible and sophisticated use of AI is a mandatory requirement for all roles, across all levels and functions at APLYD and Athena Infonomics.
Skills Required
- 20 or more years in business development, partnerships, or institutional growth across government systems, development organizations, or major funders, with most experience in East Africa
- Repeated experience taking new institutional relationships through to signed, funded contracts
- Current networks across East African governments, regional institutions, multilaterals, bilateral agencies, and philanthropies
- Knowledge of public-sector systems, institutional decision-making, procurement, budgeting, and ministry adoption processes across East Africa
- Technical depth to discuss AI, data systems, digital public infrastructure, feasibility, and architecture with technical and nontechnical stakeholders
- Experience serving as the senior decision-maker or representative when institutions evaluated whether to work with a firm
- Based in East Africa and willing to travel 40 to 50 percent across the region
- AI, digital transformation, technology-for-development, or digital public infrastructure experience in Africa
- Relationships with county or sub-national governments and funders with significant East Africa portfolios
- Experience at an organization working across evidence, technology, and public-service delivery in Africa
- Successful completion of reference checking and employment verification
- No employment restrictions, such as a non-compete, preventing performance of the role
- Disclosure of current or recent engagements that could create conflicts of interest
- Responsible and sophisticated use of AI
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The Company
What We Do
Athena Infonomics is a data-driven global consultancy and impact solutions group. The company applies social science research, data analytics, and technology to drive innovation in policy and practice, and to plan, implement, and monitor development interventions to advance global development.
