Engagement Manager and/or Senior Engagement Manager for Advisory Services

Value for Women is looking for an Engagement Manager and/or Senior Engagement Manager for Advisory Services who will work with the best talent in the industry, and learn from a diverse mix of critical thinkers and problem solvers who work across a variety of fields including impact investing, sustainable energy, sustainable agriculture, financial inclusion, gender lens investing, inclusive entrepreneurship; by way of offering training, advisory, research, evaluation and technical assistance. You will sit at the forefront of generating innovative ideas and solutions related to gender inclusion that drive new and inclusive ways of doing business and investment.

Value for Women is a global social enterprise that is growing in leaps and bounds. Since forming in 2012, Value for Women has grown from a team of 3 to a team of over 32+ consultants operating from 14 countries across 5 continents. Our global team’s diverse experience allows us to engage on issues of gender through a regional and/or cultural lens, collaborating on projects that deliver the highest quality standards, and move the broader market forward on gender and social inclusion. In sum, our team is golden; our secret weapon, and our proudest resource. Joining this team will offer the chance for your collaborative, innovative and team-building skills to shine. You will be able to work remotely from home, managing your own time across time zones with a results-driven mindset. This is often optimal for parents and for working toward a work-life balance.

What does an Engagement Manager/ Senior Engagement Manager do at Value for Women?

They oversee, manage and deliver a portfolio of global projects across practice areas at VfW. They lead project delivery and client relationship management with utmost excellence, ensuring and driving high-quality and on-time deadlines and deliverables. Engagement Managers/Senior Engagement Managers have advanced levels of knowledge and expertise across VfW practice areas and they oversee complex projects with little supervision from the senior management team.

Engagement Managers and/or Senior Engagement Managers also line-manage consultants and lead the team in determining clear roles and responsibilities.

Where does this role fit into the organisation?

Engagement Managers report to Sr. Engagement Manager, who ensures efficient delivery of advisory services to our clients. 

How much does this role pay?

Value for Women exclusively hires self-employed individuals, and fees are based on a daily rate. The daily fee range for this role is US$249-574 and the expected days of work per month is 16-20 days. The exact daily fee varies based on skills and experience.

More about the Engagement Manager and/or Sr. Engagement Manager responsibilities

They will support the work of the organisation and our partners to ultimately:

• Understand and tackle barriers women face in business and entrepreneurship

• Reach more women and women-led businesses with financial and non-financial products or services

• Implement and participate in the design of gender lens investment strategies, plans and approaches

• Mainstream gender across business strategy, decision-making, operations and value chains

• Identify ways to achieve greater women’s participation within employment, among enterprise staff and leadership

Specific responsibilities will also include:

• Building and managing a portfolio of global projects with excellence

• Ensuring quality control of client and partner deliverables and external facing materials

• Proactively building and driving client relationship management and ensuring the project team is surpassing client expectations

• Conceptualising, developing and leading research/studies on applying a gender lens across core practice areas, including thought leadership

• Contributing toward driving the business forward, sustainability and to creating an inclusive organisation

• Supporting internal initiatives related to knowledge-sharing, and team-building

• Lead and build special initiatives in one or more key technical practice areas and in one or more topic areas

What are the requirements for this role?

The ideal candidate is an expert problem solver who is quick to adapt to changing realities, is client-oriented, works efficiently against client and deliverable deadlines, and is focused on quality and timeliness. They are able to work in a fast-paced, dynamic team and consultancy environment, working independently as part of a remote international team.

They are a solid written and spoken communicator in English, an innovative thinker and can work effectively with diverse stakeholders. They have a demonstrated ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously delivering high-quality client deliverables. Our team works best with people who interact positively, and who are results-based, entrepreneurial and client-centred.

We also seek these attributes:

• Demonstrated depth of expertise in providing gender lens advisory whilst working in the energy, agriculture and/or financial services sectors, specifically providing consulting services to businesses, investment funds, accelerators/incubators, and/or development finance institutions (DFIs) in these industries is an asset

• Ability to conceptualise, develop and write VfW proposals with little supervision

• Ability to conceptualise develop and deliver training and workshops to clients

• Ability to lead and develop research/studies on applying a gender lens in specific technical areas with little guidance

• Client-centric orientation and understanding of how to manage diverse client relationships in a consulting setting

• The ability to thrive in a matrix-based organisational structure; operating internationally as a distributed team across the globe together with the ability to line manage

• Demonstrated alignment with Value for Women’s mission, vision and ways of working

• Learning, adapting, and demonstrating their excitement for contributing to the growth of a small and growing business with a social mission

• Uphold the principles of trust, equality of opportunities, transparency and collaboration

• Positive attitude and optimism about the role of small and growing businesses in generating positive social impact

Additionally, we require the following background and experience:

• 10+ years of professional experience, with 3+ years ideally in gender lens advisory services within impact investing entrepreneurship, and/ or financial inclusion space

• Relevant experience working in an emerging market context

• 3+ years of providing advisory or management consulting experience with high competency in advisory consulting services skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving, project management, written and verbal communications and conceptualising and developing proposals

• Demonstrated knowledge and practical expertise in promoting gender equality, women’s economic empowerment, women’s entrepreneurship and/or working within the entrepreneurship ecosystem, financial inclusion, agriculture, sustainable energy space in emerging markets

• Higher level education in business, economics, finance, gender and women’s studies or international relations or development is desired

• International experience working in your own region, and across borders

• Ability to work a minimum of 16+ days per month for project-related deliverables

Diversity & Inclusion

It’s our mission to unleash potential and we know teams perform best when they are diverse and every team member feels they belong. It’s the unique contributions of all at Value for Women that drives our success and the meaningful work we do.

We are a diverse group of individuals with a wide range of backgrounds including gender, race, ethnicity, geography, cultures and beliefs, as well as experience and education, and our hiring practices aim to deepen that. Application success is based upon individual capabilities and qualifications without regard to gender, race, ethnicity, religion, pregnancy, sexual orientation/affectional preference, age, national origin, marital status, citizenship or disability.

We encourage applications from emerging market professionals who are from and live in the countries we work in (primarily Africa and Asia,) as well as individuals identifying as Black, Afro-descendant, and/ or Indigenous. However, we do not ask applicants to disclose this. We aim for the composition of our team to reflect the diverse nature of both the work we carry out and the world we live in and are striving to change.

Application process - our internal steps

Step 1: Submit your online application here by September 20, 2024, including your CV and Cover Letter. If you encounter any problems when filling out your online application, please get in touch with us at valueforwomen@v4w.org

Step 2: Shortlist. Our recruiting team reaches out if your profile is a match, and you will be invited to Interview #1, a video call interview with our HR Manager

Step 3: Interview #2. Successful candidates are asked for a 45-minute video call interview. This is a chance for you to ask us questions too.

Step 4: Interview #3.Written Interview. We invite you to participate in a written interview. You are asked to upload your responses or send them back to us within 3 days. You can ask for more time if you have other commitments already scheduled.

Step 5: Final Interview! This is the really short- shortlist, and you are a finalist.

While we do our best to make this 5-step process quick, it can take up to 2 months to get to Step 5, depending on how many amazing applicants we receive. We appreciate your interest and patience. You can always reach out to ask about the status of your application at valueforwomen@v4w.org. While we do our best to offer feedback to unsuccessful candidates, this is not always possible due to the volume of applications we receive.