Senior Impact Officer

Job Description

Posting Date: May 11, 2022, 5:20:57 PM

Primary Location: Quebec-Montreal

Job Type: Permanent

Schedule: Full-time

Overview

FinDev Canada, established in January 2018 as a subsidiary of Export Development Canada (“EDC”), Canada’s export credit agency, is Canada’s new development finance institution (“DFI”). Headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, FinDev Canada’s mandate is to contribute to the economic and social development of developing countries by providing financial solutions to local private sector companies.

The private sector has a key role to play in development as it is a fundamental driver of economic growth, and DFIs are critical instruments to facilitate and optimize the contribution of private investment to development. They respond to the specific challenges faced by companies in developing countries in getting access to the finance necessary to grow their business and they do so while remaining financially self-sustaining.

FinDev Canada aspires to contribute to the field of development finance with an innovative, collaborative and business-minded approach. Through its action it will seek to generate positive impacts in terms of women’s economic empowerment, job creation, and climate change mitigation, in a manner consistent with Canada’s international development mandate.

FinDev Canada is currently looking for a Senior Impact Officer, to support the implementation of FinDev Canada’s Development Impact Framework and support the work of the Investment team, fulfilling a variety of tasks critical to the success of the organization. The role reports to the Manager, Impact and Climate.

This is a unique opportunity to join a growing team of highly talented and committed professionals whose mission is build a successful, ground-breaking organization whose activities will contribute to changing people’s lives in developing countries by supporting successful and impactful businesses.

Team Overview

Our purpose is to help entrepreneurs build a sustainable future for their businesses, which in turn will better support their communities. Our development impact goals focus on market development, women’s economic empowerment, and climate mitigation and adaptation, and FinDev Canada’s Development Impact Framework, Gender Equality Strategy and Climate Change Strategy outline how the organization plans to effectively assess, monitor, and report on projected and actual development impacts throughout the lifecycle of our investments.

Discipline Summary
Working closely with other team members, including from the Investment team, Risk Management team, and Strategy team and our clients, the role ensures that FinDev Canada’s transaction processes and portfolio management are aligned with our corporate development impact objectives. The successful candidate will contribute to the implementation and continuous improvement of FinDev Canada’s tools, practices and processes in the area of development impact to optimize the organization’s performance in these areas.

Key Responsibilities
As a member of the Impact Enablement team, the Senior Impact Officer implements FinDev Canada’s Development Impact Framework and is responsible for the optimization and application of FinDev Canada’s approach and practices related to development impact. This may include, inter alia:

• Conduct transaction screening, due diligence and annual review using our impact assessment tools to provide clear and compelling development impact analyses for transaction documentation.
• Engage with FinDev Canada clients, in collaboration with the Investment team, to understand clients’ impact objectives and the support they require to maximize developmental impacts and their business success.
• Support investment portfolio management by conducting advanced analyses on our impact at both client and portfolio levels.
• Conduct research on strategic development impact topics using advanced quantitative and qualitative methods and use the results to produce compelling reports, briefing notes and presentations for various audiences.
• Support the technical assistance facility in providing capacity building and advisory services to FinDev Canada clients, particularly as it relates to gender equality and women’s economic empowerment, impactful data, and climate mitigation and adaptation.
• Be a lead contributor to the continuous improvement of our impact assessment, management and reporting strategies, tools, practices and processes, ensuring there are in line with leading approaches and latest evidence in the field.
• Develop and deliver trainings on development impact for other staff members, clients and other stakeholders.
• Provide advice on development impact to senior management and the Board of Directors.
• Manage relationships with leading industry organizations and professionals working in development impact management to ensure continued relevance of approaches.
• Contribute to communications and thought leadership including the annual report, social media content, and blog on topics related to development impacts of FinDev Canada clients / portfolio, particularly as it relates to development impact.

Screening Criteria

• Undergraduate degree in a relevant field, with a specialization in economics, development studies, international affairs or other relevant disciplines; postgraduate studies (e.g. master) would be a strong asset.
• Minimum of 7 years of relevant practical experience working on development impact issues in development finance, impact or responsible investment, private sector development in emerging markets or another relevant sector.
• English proficiency: bilingual in both official languages (French and English) preferred.
• Strong communication skills in Spanish is strongly preferred.

Assets

• Being a solution-orientated self-starter, with the ability to work collaboratively across multi-disciplinary teams.
• Experience engaging directly with private companies in developing countries, preferably in Latin America, the Caribbean, and/or Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Experience in one or more of the following sectors: Sustainable infrastructure (e.g. renewable energy), agri-business value chains, financial intermediaries in developing markets.
• Strong understanding of FinDev Canada’s three development impact goals, i.e. women’s economic empowerment, climate mitigation and adaptation and local market development.
• Knowledge of impact measurement, monitoring & evaluation practices.
• Knowledge of specialized technologies, data systems that relate to management information systems of financial sector entities.
• Capacity in macro-economic modelling.
• Strong business communications skills, including writing, presentation and facilitation skills; ability to convey complex concepts simply.
• Demonstrated innovation skills and personal agility, acquired in such contexts as: direct involvement in new product development and launch, leadership responsibilities in a startup or high growth organization.

Salary ranges

• Sr. Impact Officer, Level 4: $89,000 - $133,000, plus performance based incentive.

Location

• The position is based in Montreal and will involve travel within Canada and internationally (approximately 20%).

Please note that EDC will be following a mandatory vaccination policy.

How to apply

Only candidates selected for an interview will be contacted. Application deadline on www.edc.ca/careers : May 27, 2022, 11:59:00 PM EDC is committed to employment equity and actively encourages applications from women, Aboriginal people, persons with disabilities and visible minorities. If selected for an interview, please advise us if you require special accommodation. Candidates must meet the requisite government security screening requirements.