Financial Inclusion Research Manager at Cenfri

Role Summary

• We are looking for a Financial Inclusion Research Manager to manage research in the areas of financial innovation and financial sector development. They will work with multilateral organisations and companies to unlock pathways for inclusive digital transformation, leveraging high quality evidence and ideas. Technology and data can play a powerful role to address development challenges, however they also pose new risks to consumers. This role needs to work across our thematic areas to help policymakers, private sector and development partners chart this path to innovate in a way that contributes to positive systemic change and improved development outcomes for households and communities.
• Responsibilities include research and policy advisory work, informing our impact agenda, fund raising and network building to engage stakeholders with insights generated. You would work closely with thematic specialists across our team, will take ownership of client engagement, project design and will inspire and manage teams to effectively deliver on key goals. Cenfri’s Engagement Managers travel domestically and globally to explore the challenges we address for our partners. As senior team members, they actively contribute to and shape Cenfri’s independent research objectives, operations and strategy – in pursuit of impact.

Requirements
Who you are

• You are a curious and creative thinker, interested in achieving impact beyond yourself, and you have a sustained interest in solving real world problems.
• You have the patience to pursue impact over time by generating, sharing and applying insights.
• You aspire to be wise rather than clever, and you enjoy an adventurous and entrepreneurial environment where you can balance work and life.
• You bring inspiration and inspired points of view from diverse sources to help your teams and clients imagine new opportunities.
• Having a curious mind, you naturally make connections between diverse fields and industries.
• As a strategic thinker, you can synthesise specific insights and stories into impactful, well-articulated outputs.
• You enjoy managing complex projects that deliver on objectives.
• Being highly collaborative, you appreciate and learn from the perspectives of those who have different backgrounds and skills.
• You are excited by the opportunity to develop the skills of junior team members and to build a strong organisation that can deliver on its vision.

Qualifications

You have:

• A minimum of five to eight years’ experience working in financial services, financial inclusion, digital transformation or a related field
• Excellent strategic thinking and superlative verbal and written communication skills, along with fluency and confidence in inspiring teammates and clients
• Experience in research and project design to solve problems while developing and empowering junior team members, including proposal development, budgeting, resource management and talent management
• Demonstrated ability to work flexibly and efficiently, exercising a balance between research rigor and nimble project management
• An ability to meet the demands of multiple clients simultaneously, balancing efficiency with quality and accuracy
• A high comfort level in working within a self-directed culture and navigating ambiguity
• A proven appetite for experimentation (while you have facility in a range of research methods, you are inventive and you value great inspiration over dogmatic adherence to process)
• A Master’s degree or similar qualification in economics, law, policy, development or related areas
• Fluency in French will be an advantage, but not a requirement

Location

• Cenfri is based in Cape Town, South Africa. Given the extent of teamwork it is ideal to be based locally although virtual and flexible work is feasible. We are open to discussing remote working or flexible hours and will be happy to speak to you about this.

Application instructions

If you identify with our values, are excited about impactful research and would like to contribute to our mission and vision, we would love to hear from you.