Grant Strategy Manager

What You’ll Do

• Map the landscape of grants and results-based financing opportunities relevant to Solar Panda’s markets and product category (off-grid solar, energy access, rural electrification)
• Develop and maintain an active pipeline of grant opportunities, with a focus on programs relevant to off-grid solar and energy access. This must include the World Bank Ascent initiative and should extend to any similar sector supporting granting institution (ex: GIZ/EnDev, KfW, FCDO, BGFA) and other bilateral and multilateral programs
• Build and maintain relationships with program officers and advisors at key institutions, staying close enough to the ecosystem to understand strategic priorities, likely program sequencing, and funding cycles through conferences, networks, and ongoing institutional relationships
• Lead the development of high-quality grant applications end-to-end, coordinating with Solar Panda’s operations, finance, and technical teams to gather required inputs
• Work with internal Solar Panda resources to support post-award compliance, reporting obligations, and relationship continuity with funders
• Brief Solar Panda leadership regularly on pipeline status, emerging opportunities, and strategic positioning

Who You Are

• 7+ years of experience in grant strategy, development finance, or funding mobilization in Africa
• Deep knowledge of funders active in energy access or rural development
• Prior experience working at the World Bank, UN, or a major bilateral agency is a strong asset
• Track record of successfully securing competitive grants, ideally in off-grid energy, climate, or last-mile service delivery
• Strong written English; French a significant advantage given our Francophone markets (Senegal, Benin)
• Comfortable operating independently in a remote, fast-moving startup environment

Structure & Compensation

• This can be structured as a full-time position or as a consulting engagement and this will be discussed during the interview. Location can be at one of our head offices in Benin, Kenya, Senegal, Zambia or remote.
• We envision three phases to this:
  1. The onboarding phase covers the first 4–6 weeks and involves landscape mapping, building Solar Panda’s grant pipeline tracker, reviewing existing grant history, and initial strategy alignment.
  2. Following onboarding, the focus will be on continuous building and monitoring of the pipeline, relationship maintenance, opportunity flagging, and regular updates.
  3. Writing of applications for active grant opportunities.