Job Description

• Pipeline Strategy & Intelligence
  • Own and continuously develop BURN's grant pipeline, covering bilateral, multilateral, foundation, and climate finance grant windows
  • Conduct systematic horizon-scanning to identify new funding opportunities aligned to BURN's strategic priorities and programme portfolio.
  • Assess funder fit, eligibility, and strategic alignment before committing proposal development resources.
  • Maintain a structured capture process, tracking opportunities from identification through submission and award
• Proposal Development
  • Lead the writing, structuring, and quality assurance of grant proposals and concept notes across all programme areas.
  • Translate BURN's technical operations, impact data, and strategic priorities into compelling, funder-appropriate narratives.
  • Develop programme logframes, theories of change, results frameworks, and budgets in close collaboration with technical and finance teams.
  • Manage proposal timelines and internal review processes to CEO sign-off, ensuring deadlines are met without compromising quality

• Funder Relationship Management
  • Build and maintain relationships with programme officers and key contacts at priority funders
  • Represent BURN at donor engagements, pre-proposal meetings, and sector convenings as appropriate
  • Identify and leverage warm introduction pathways through BURN's partner network.
  • Position BURN proactively with funders ahead of open windows, including through targeted expressions of interest and strategic communications

• Team & Process Development
  • Contribute to building BURN's internal grants capability, including documentation, templates, and institutional knowledge.
  • Coordinate with technical leads across operations, impact, carbon, and programmes to gather inputs efficiently for proposals.
  • Help define and refine the grants team's processes, cadences, and tools as the function scales

• 7+ years of institutional funding experience, with a demonstrable track record of securing grants of $5M+ from bilateral, multilateral, or major foundation sources
• Experience working 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 in or alongside private sector organisations operating in development contexts.
• Comfortable using AI tools to accelerate opportunity scanning, proposal drafting, and research synthesis and able to apply them critically, knowing where human judgement remains essential.
• Exceptional written communication, ability to write with precision, clarity, and persuasion for sophisticated institutional audiences.
• Strong analytical capability, comfortable working with programme data, impact metrics, logframes, and budgets.
• Strategic thinker who can distinguish high-value opportunities from noise and build a coherent portfolio thesis.
• Organised and self-directed, able to manage multiple proposals in parallel without sacrificing quality.
• Relationship-oriented, understands that grant success is built over time, not just at submission
• Exposure to climate finance grant windows (GCF, GEF, 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 with manufacturing, hardware, or technology companies in an impact context.
• Prior experience building or improving a grants function, not just executing within an established one .