Senior Technical Advisor, Innovative Finance

Job Summary 

The Senior Technical Advisor (STA) contributes chiefly to business development of innovative finance and climate finance transactions globally, in line with CRS’ mission to deliver high-quality sustainable solutions to poor and vulnerable populations. This involves driving the full transaction process, from identification of new opportunities, partnership development, financial and capital structuring, innovative initiative design, internal stakeholder management and coordination, documentation and communication, through execution and oversight. The STA is a leader across all of CRS in this area and help lead purpose-built cross-agency teams, including country colleagues, business development leads, technical leads, legal and finance, as required and appropriate per identified transaction depending on opportunities identified, but could include debt swaps, performance payments, blended capital, buy-downs, carbon credits, first loss, impact investments and other innovative finance and climate finance structures.                                                                                                           

Roles and Key Responsibilities 

• Lead CRS resource mobilization in the areas of innovative finance and climate finance, working closely with colleagues from the Global Resource Engagement and Mobilization (G-REM), Climate Finance Support Unit (CFSU), innovative finance team, and regional and country teams.
• Identify new innovative finance and climate finance resource opportunities by understanding the needs of institutional and private donors in the space, matching their needs with potential CRS strengths in areas such as agriculture, health, emergency response, climate adaptation, education and others.
• Support Regional and Country team leads, as well as G-REM colleagues, as they identify opportunities that may benefit from blended finance or climate finance structures, acting as an internal source of expertise and advice.
• Develop new partnerships and funding opportunities using innovative finance and climate finance tools, including financial structuring, working closely with relevant colleagues and in close consultation with the Director of Innovative Finance, technical advisors, program managers, regional and country leadership, and other internal and external stakeholders
• Partner specifically with the CFSU to explore, pursue and design new structures in climate adaptation finance with institutional donors and carbon markets. Provide technical guidance in proposal development and project design with a focus on complex projects to ensure innovative programming solutions and technical excellence. Support CPs to appropriately staff project teams. 
• Liaise closely with the global resource mobilization team.
• Lead design and implementation of agency-wide strategies, standards, tools, and best practices in innovative finance that effectively engage partners, funders, and governments, particularly as it relates to resource mobilization. 
• Represent CRS at global forums, UN, Congress, and major donor forums to present CRS’ work and research in Innovative Finance and Climate Finance to influence technical partner approaches, future funding opportunities, and policies. Network with relevant organizationsto increase CRS’ profile in innovative and climate finance to amplify CRS’ impact.

Required Languages: Fluency in written and spoken English required. Knowledge of Spanish or French helpful.

Travel: Must be willing and able to travel up to 25%

Supervisory Responsibilities: None

 

Qualifications  

• Masters degree in finance, economics, business administration or related field. 
• Ten years of work experience in blended finance, climate finance or related, with progressive responsibilities, ideally with an international NGO or finance institution, with experience working overseas in multiple regions.
• Track record of resource mobilization, designing and managing innovative finance mechanisms in development contexts.
• Experience working in multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary teams. 
• Demonstrated experience and skills to represent the organization at the highest levels at meetings with donors, government, international NGOs, local partners – faith-based and civil society. Understanding of partnership principles.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities   

• Extensive knowledge of finance structures and mechanisms used in development programming.