Grants and Partnerships Lead at BURN

Grants and Partnerships Lead at BURN – BURN Kenya Job Details

About the Role

BURN is recruiting a Grants and Partnerships Lead to oversee its institutional fundraising strategy and execution. This is a full-time, senior individual contributor position based in Nairobi, responsible for managing the complete grants lifecycle — from identifying funding opportunities through proposal submission, award negotiation, and ongoing funder stewardship. You will report directly to the Director and work across BURN’s portfolio spanning energy access, emissions reduction, energy transition, gender, climate adaptation, clean cooking, and industrial development.

The funding environment BURN operates in is complex. The grant pipeline includes opportunities from bilateral donors, multilateral development institutions, philanthropic foundations, and climate-focused programmes such as GIZ, UNCDF, World Bank, and various bilateral and multilateral windows. This role requires someone who can navigate sophisticated funder landscapes, build credible relationships, and translate organisational strategy into compelling fundable narratives.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop, maintain, and continuously evolve BURN’s grant pipeline, covering bilateral, multilateral, foundation, and climate finance windows aligned to strategic priorities.
• Conduct systematic opportunity scanning to identify new funding sources and assess funder fit, eligibility, and strategic alignment before committing resources to proposal development.
• Lead the writing, structuring, and quality assurance of grant proposals and concept notes across all programme areas, translating technical operations and impact data into funder-appropriate language.
• Develop programme logframes, theories of change, results frameworks, and budgets in close collaboration with technical, finance, and operational teams.
• Build and maintain relationships with programme officers and key contacts at priority funders, representing BURN at donor engagements, pre-proposal meetings, and sector convenings as appropriate.
• Manage proposal timelines and internal review processes through to CEO sign-off, ensuring quality and deadline adherence.
• Identify and activate warm introduction pathways through BURN’s partner network to position the organisation proactively with funders ahead of open windows.
• Contribute to documenting and refining BURN’s grants processes, templates, and institutional knowledge as the function scales.

Requirements & Qualifications

• Minimum 7 years of institutional funding experience with a demonstrable track record of securing grants of $5 million or more from bilateral, multilateral, or major foundation sources.
• Proven experience across the full funding cycle: opportunity identification, proposal development, award negotiation, and contracting.
• Familiarity with the funder landscape relevant to energy access, clean cooking, climate adaptation, gender, or manufacturing in Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Experience working in or alongside private sector organisations operating in development contexts.
• Advanced written communication skills, with the ability to write with precision, clarity, and persuasion for institutional audiences.
• Strong analytical capability, comfortable working with programme data, impact metrics, logframes, and budgets.
• Demonstrated proficiency using AI tools to accelerate opportunity scanning, proposal drafting, and research synthesis, with critical judgment about when human expertise is essential.
• Strategic mindset capable of distinguishing high-value opportunities from noise and building a coherent grant portfolio thesis.

Preferred Experience

• Exposure to climate finance grant windows, including GCF, GEF, or Green Climate Fund readiness programmes.
• Experience with EU grant frameworks or FCDO programme funding.
• Familiarity with results-based financing, programme-based approaches, or challenge fund structures.
• Experience working in or supporting manufacturing, hardware, or technology companies in an impact context.
• Proven track record building or improving a grants function from the ground up, not simply executing within an established process.

What to Expect

• You will work in a sector-focused organisation tackling energy access and climate challenges across Africa, where your work directly influences funding availability for impact programmes.
• This role offers autonomy and strategic responsibility — you will own the grants function end-to-end rather than executing tasks within a larger structure.
• You will collaborate with senior leadership, technical teams, and external stakeholders including bilateral and multilateral donor institutions.
• The Grants and Partnerships Lead at BURN position in Nairobi is open to qualified candidates. Click Apply below to submit your application.