Program Manager, BFA Global

About Us

BFA Global is an impact innovation firm that combines research, advisory, venture building, and investment expertise to build a more inclusive, equitable, and resilient future for underserved people and the planet. We partner with leading public, private and philanthropic organizations, global and local, to catalyze innovation ecosystems for impact across emerging markets. 

About the Jobtech Program
The Jobtech Alliance is an ecosystem-building initiative focused on advancing the jobtech sector in Africa. In collaboration with Mercy Corps, the Alliance works with jobtech platforms, investors, funders, and ecosystem partners to unlock the potential of technology-enabled livelihoods and create more, better, and inclusive work opportunities across the continent.

Through its first phase, the Alliance has supported jobtech platforms, strengthened connections between entrepreneurs and investors, generated sector insights, and helped build a growing community of stakeholders committed to improving livelihoods through technology.

As the Alliance enters Phase 2, our ambition is to deepen our impact, scale support to jobtech platforms, strengthen investment pathways, and translate sector learning into practical solutions that improve employment and income opportunities, particularly for women, young people, and underserved communities.

About the Role

We are seeking a highly capable and entrepreneurial Program Manager to lead the day-to-day implementation of Jobtech Alliance Phase 2. The Program Manager will be responsible for translating the Alliance's strategy into actionable work plans, coordinating multiple workstreams, managing program delivery, and ensuring that activities translate into measurable results. This is a cross-functional leadership role requiring strong program management, strategic thinking, relationship management, and operational execution.

The successful candidate will be comfortable navigating a complex ecosystem of jobtech platforms, investors, funders, and implementation partners. They will bring structure to a dynamic program while maintaining the flexibility needed to respond to emerging opportunities.

Importantly, we are looking for someone who takes ownership, anticipates challenges, connects the dots across activities, and ensures that the Alliance delivers on its commitments.

Key Responsibilities

Program Planning, Coordination and Delivery (30%)

• Translate the Jobtech Alliance Phase 2 strategy into detailed annual and quarterly work plans, budgets, milestones, and deliverables.
• Coordinate implementation across the Alliance's different workstreams, including venture support, investment engagement, gender and inclusion, ecosystem development, and learning.
• Establish and maintain effective program management systems, including work plans, dashboards, risk registers, action trackers, and decision logs.
• Ensure all workstreams have clearly defined deliverables, timelines, responsibilities, and resource requirements.
• Monitor implementation progress, identify bottlenecks, and proactively resolve operational challenges.
• Track dependencies across activities and funding agreements to ensure commitments are delivered without duplication or gaps.
• Coordinate planning and review meetings, ensuring decisions are documented and followed through.
• Ensure deliverables are completed on time, within budget, and to agreed quality standards.
• Provide regular, concise updates to program leadership, highlighting progress, upcoming priorities, risks, and decisions required.
• Continuously identify opportunities to improve operational efficiency and strengthen delivery systems.

Budget and Financial Management (20%)

• Take responsibility for the day-to-day financial management of the Alliance, working closely with BFA Global's Project Management Unit and finance team.
• Develop and maintain program budgets, expenditure forecasts, and resource allocation plans.
• Monitor actual expenditure against approved budgets and identify potential over- or underspending.
• Track staff and consultant utilization to ensure effective use of program resources.
• Support financial planning across multiple funding agreements and ensure costs are appropriately allocated.
• Identify financial risks early and recommend corrective actions.
• Support the preparation of budgets and financial projections for new funding opportunities.
• Ensure program expenditures are aligned with contractual commitments, donor requirements, and BFA Global's financial policies.
• Provide leadership with clear financial information to support decision-making.

Donor Reporting, Grant Management and Compliance (15%)

• Be accountable for submission of all contractual reports, including the inception report, semi-annual and annual narrative and financial reports, quarterly status updates and any other report required.
• Coordinate donor reporting across the Alliance's different funding agreements.
• Maintain a consolidated view of donor deliverables, reporting deadlines, contractual obligations, and performance indicators.
• Work with technical leads and the monitoring, evaluation, and learning team to collect and consolidate information required for donor reporting.
• Coordinate the preparation of high-quality narrative reports, ensuring they clearly communicate progress, results, challenges, and learning.
• Work with finance and PMU teams to ensure timely and accurate financial reporting.
• Maintain organized documentation of program activities, contracts, deliverables, and donor communications.
• Identify potential compliance issues and ensure they are escalated and addressed proactively.
• Support donor reviews, audits, and other accountability processes.
• Ensure that program changes affecting contractual commitments are appropriately documented and approved.

Team, Resource and Consultant Management (20%)

• Coordinate resource planning across the Alliance's workstreams to ensure the right people and expertise are available at the right time.
• Work with the Program Lead, Portfolio Engagement Lead, and other workstream leads to identify staffing and consultant requirements.
• Develop and maintain forward-looking resource plans aligned with program activities and deliverables.
• Monitor staff and consultant allocations, utilization, and availability.
• Coordinate consultant onboarding, contracting, extensions, and close-out in collaboration with relevant BFA Global teams.
• Track consultant scopes of work, deliverables, budgets, and timelines.
• Identify resource gaps, competing priorities, and potential capacity constraints early.
• Support effective coordination between internal teams, external consultants, and implementing partners.
• Establish clear ways of working, accountability mechanisms, and regular team coordination processes.
• Promote a collaborative and results-oriented team culture.

Partnerships and Ecosystem Coordination (10%)

• Support the operational coordination of relationships with funding partners, implementing organizations, investors, and other ecosystem stakeholders.
• Coordinate planning and delivery of key Alliance activities, including investor roundtables, and the Jobtech Summit.
• Work with the Program Lead and relevant workstream leads to ensure effective follow-through on partner commitments.
• Maintain visibility of partnership activities, upcoming engagements, and important deadlines.
• Identify opportunities for collaboration and alignment across different Alliance initiatives.
• Represent the Alliance in selected operational and partner meetings, as appropriate.
• Escalate strategic partnership issues to the Program Lead while independently resolving routine coordination challenges.

Learning, Adaptive Management and Strategic Support (5%)

• Work with the Program Lead and technical teams to ensure program learning informs implementation and future planning.
• Coordinate periodic program reviews to assess progress, challenges, and emerging opportunities.
• Support the development and maintenance of program performance dashboards.
• Ensure insights from venture support, investment engagement, gender and inclusion, and ecosystem activities are consolidated and shared across the team.
• Help translate learning into practical adjustments to work plans, budgets, and implementation approaches.
• Contribute to strategic discussions by providing evidence and analysis on program performance, resource allocation, and implementation challenges.
• Support the development of new program concepts, proposals, and partnership opportunities.
• Identify opportunities to strengthen the Alliance's operational model as the program grows.
• Gradually take on increased responsibility for program planning and strategic decision-making.

Qualifications & Experience

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Project Management, Economics, International Development, Finance, or a related field. A Master’s degree or relevant professional certification (PMP, PRINCE2, or equivalent) is an advantage.
• Minimum 7 years of relevant professional experience, including at least 3 years managing complex, multi-stakeholder programs or projects, preferably in international development, entrepreneurship, innovation, or impact-driven organizations.
• Demonstrated experience managing donor-funded programs, including work planning, budgeting, financial monitoring, grant compliance, and donor reporting.
• Proven ability to coordinate multiple workstreams, manage competing priorities, and deliver results within agreed timelines and budgets.
• Strong financial management experience, including budget development, expenditure tracking, forecasting, resource allocation, and financial risk management.
• Experience managing cross-functional teams, external consultants, implementing partners, and other stakeholders across different locations.
• Demonstrated ability to establish and maintain effective program management systems, performance dashboards, risk registers, and reporting mechanisms.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English, including experience preparing donor reports, management updates, and stakeholder presentations.
• Strong proficiency in project management, financial tracking, and collaboration tools.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working in Africa's jobtech, digital employment, entrepreneurship, venture-building, or technology-enabled livelihoods ecosystem.
• Familiarity with investment ecosystems, startup acceleration, venture support, and partnerships involving investors, funders, and entrepreneurs.
• Experience managing programs funded by multiple donors or implemented through consortium arrangements.
• Understanding of gender equality, youth employment, inclusive economic development, and impact measurement.
• Experience working in fast-paced, entrepreneurial environments requiring adaptive management and independent decision-making.

Anticipated Start Date: January 2027

Location: Nairobi, Kenya

This is a fixed-term contract starting January 2027 to December 2028
Candidates must have local work authorization. Compensation will be commensurate with experience. 

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for further steps. Applications that do not meet the required qualifications and criteria will be automatically rejected.

At BFA, we are committed to providing an environment of mutual respect where equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants and teammates without regard to race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy (including childbirth, lactation, and related medical conditions), national origin, age, physical and mental disability, marital status, sexual orientation, military, and veteran status, and any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

BFA believes that diversity and inclusion among our teammates are critical to our success as a global company. We seek to recruit, develop and retain the most talented people from a diverse candidate pool and to carry out the best inclusion work we undertake. 

*BFA will not sponsor work permits. 

**BFA will not pay for relocation expenses.