ActionAid is a global movement of people working together to achieve greater human rights for all and defeat poverty.

ActionAid Bangladesh is looking for suitable candidates for the following position:

Development Finance Specialist

Job Summary:
Innovative development finance has the potential to unite private and public funding, enabling the consolidation of smaller initiatives on a commercially viable scale, benefiting everyone involved. It comprises financial and economic instruments that are common in the business community, but not yet widely applied in or still under development in the context of development cooperation. This role will primarily lead ActionAid Bangladesh’s “Blended Finance for Just Transition: Developing a Case for Renewable Energy-based Green Growth in Rural Communities of Bangladesh” project. Working closely with the Resilience & Climate Justice and Resource Mobilisation teams, this position will support a blended finance framework and proof of concept that will have critical implications for addressing the substantial resource gap to finance green growth business ventures with economic, social and environmental benefits. The postholder will apply expertise and knowledge in catalytic capital from public or philanthropic sources to increase private sector investment in sustainable development. This role will also influence governments, public institutions, and private sector to make the renewable energy sector more attractive for financing and investment through effective design and deployment of gender-transformative and just blended finance vehicles and other de-risking tools and policies for wider adoption.

Key responsibilities include (not limited to):

Project Management and Coordination (30% Time)

• Lead the overall management and implementation of the project in accordance with approved workplans, timelines, and budgets.
  
• Coordinate the phased project approach: setup, research, stakeholder engagement, framework development, proof-of-concept, implementation, evaluation, final reporting and learning dissemination.
  
• Ensure effective collaboration with internal departments and external partners including government bodies, financial institutions, DFIs, private sector actors, thinktanks and civil society.
  
• Regularly update senior management of project progress, challenges, and areas of improvement.
  Stakeholder Engagement and Partnerships (20% Time)
  
• Facilitate MoUs and regular engagement with key institutional stakeholders (e.g., Ministry of Energy, Finance, ERD, BSEC, PPPA, BIDA, Bangladesh Bank, private chambers).
  
• Support the establishment and functioning of a Technical Advisory Council, including theme-specific working groups (e.g. Gender & Inclusion, Investment Promotion, Regulatory Reform).
  
• Build partnerships with local CSOs, CMSMEs, and members of Just Energy Transition Network BD (JETnet-BD) for community-driven advocacy and awareness raising.

Framework Development and Monitoring (40% Time)

• Coordinate research, scoping studies, and market analysis to inform the design of the blended finance framework.
  
• Technical support and contribution to the design of the outcome metrics, determine their measuring methods, as well as the potential business case for blended finance.
  
• Oversee the development of a blended finance framework and a governance, monitoring and evaluation mechanism that is inspired by human-rights and justice principles.
  
• Coordinate the scope, structure, and launch of a pilot blended finance solution for renewable energy project(s) in energy-poor areas of Bangladesh.
  
• Oversee incubation support for CMSMEs and renewable energy enterprises under the blended finance vehicle.
  
• Ensure the governance and M&E mechanisms are applied to track progress, financial viability, and community impact.

Reporting, Documentation, and Knowledge Management (10% Time)

• Prepare high-quality narrative and financial reports as per donor and organizational requirements.
  
• Document learnings, case studies, policy recommendations, and success stories from the pilot phase.
  
• Disseminate the final framework and impact findings to national stakeholders and global networks.
  
• Lead the capacity building of teams in ActionAid Bangladesh on blended finance.

Relationships
The person holding this position will be directly reportable to the Manager- Just Energy Transition of ActionAid Bangladesh. S/he will maintain a functional relationship with her/his peers and other cross-functional teams, which includes but is not limited to programme team, project teams, resource mobilisation team, and other functional priorities.

Required Educational Qualifications and Experiences

• Bachelor’s in economics, Business, Finance, or other relevant fields from reputed academic institutions
  
• Minimum 4-5 years of experience working in a banking, impact investment or capital market environment.

Required Technical Competencies

• Strong understanding of blended finance mechanisms, public-private partnerships, and regulatory environments in Bangladesh.
  
• Proven experience in managing multi-stakeholder projects involving government, private sector, and civil society.
  
• Experience in financial modelling, investment analysis, and working with CMSMEs is highly desirable.
  
• Familiarity with gender-transformative programming, inclusive governance, and just energy transition concepts.
  
• Demonstrated expertise in designing and implementing financing structures that mobilize public and/or private capital to support inclusive development desirable.
  
• Experience in the financial and energy sector and working with relevant public and private institutions that influence the functioning of the financial ecosystem is highly desirable.
  
• Ability to work effectively and build the knowledge base of both national and regional teams in the specialized field of blended finance.
  
• Knowledge of market systems development (MSD) approaches and their interaction with blended finance intervention.
  
• Knowledge of the public regulatory regimes operating at the national level to identify areas for improvement in the financial instruments and products available.
  
• Proven experience working with bilateral and multilateral donors, development finance institutions (DFIs), and philanthropic organizations to mobilize capital and align funding with development objectives.

Required Competencies

Leadership: Possesses a strong grasp of organizational objectives, effectively leads and manages teams, communicates well, thinks strategically, and implements plans to achieve goals.
Emotional Intelligence: Demonstrates a deep understanding of own emotions and their impact, effectively regulates emotions and manages stress, shows empathy and connects with others, and utilizes emotional intelligence to build relationships and teams.

Communications: Exhibits strong verbal and written communication skills, collaborates effectively with internal and external stakeholders, and possesses project management skills to deliver presentations, reports, and monitor progress.

Networking: Demonstrates strong networking skills, represents the organization effectively, identifies partnership opportunities, and mentors team members on networking best practices.
Problem Solving: Analyses complex problems, proposes solutions aligned with organizational policies, prioritizes issues, works collaboratively on implementation, and guides team members on effective problem-solving techniques.
Learning Agility: Actively seeks feedback, adapts to changing circumstances, pursues continuous learning opportunities, and encourages others to learn and adapt, including technological tools.

Planning and Organising: Considers various factors in the planning process, identifies activities for service improvement, challenges inefficiencies, removes barriers, and provides resources and encouragement to anticipate and address issues.

Decision Quality: Makes informed decisions based on analysis, considers alternative options and stakeholder perspectives, and takes accountability for decision quality and impact.
Resource Management: Anticipates risks, effectively allocates and controls resources, finds ways to optimize resource utilization, assigns roles and responsibilities for team effectiveness, and manages workload.

Application instructions
Only those who meet the above requirements are requested to apply following these instructions:

• The last date of application is Wednesday, 17 September 2025.
  
• Please Click Here to submit your application.
  

ActionAid Bangladesh aims to attract and select a diverse workforce ensuring equal opportunity to everyone, irrespective of race, age, gender, sexual orientation, HIV status, class, ethnicity, disability, location and religion. Any personal persuasion/phone-call will result in disqualification of candidature.

ActionAid Bangladesh has a non-negotiable policy of ZERO TOLERANCE towards child abuse, exploitation and child labor and expects all employees to abide by the Child Protection Policy of ActionAid Bangladesh.

N.B: There is no cost involved with applying for positions with ActionAid Bangladesh. Any solicitation of job application costs should be regarded as fraudulent.