The Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (Global Energy Alliance) The Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (Global Energy Alliance) works for a world where everyone has access to affordable, reliable, clean electricity and the means to use it to improve their lives. Our Alliance builds transformative public, private, philanthropic partnerships to end energy poverty and accelerate green economic opportunity. Founded in 2021 by The Rockefeller Foundation, IKEA Foundation, and Bezos Earth Fund, we design innovative projects/programs, unlock finance, strengthen institutions and transform markets, delivering progress anchored in deep community engagement. By uniting actors across the value chain, from households to heads of state, we go beyond individual projects to drive lasting systems change. With work in more than 30 countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, our Alliance aims to reach 1 billion people with clean electricity, prevent 4 billion tons of carbon emissions and create or improve 150 million jobs.
Job Title: Innovation Fellow, Grids of the Future, Africa
Department: Grids of the Future (GOTF)
Location: Nairobi, Kenya, with travel across GOTF anchor markets
Contract Type: One-year fixed-term contract
Travel: Across Africa as required by the programme
The Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (Global Energy Alliance) is advancing the Grids of the Future (GOTF) programme across Africa, working with anchor distribution utilities to modernise operations, build investible pipelines, and unlock the operational foundation needed for utilities to absorb capital and deliver at scale. The programme currently anchors around Kenya Power (KPLC), Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), and Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM), with a regional scale pathway through the Association of Power Utilities of Africa (APUA).
Global Energy Alliance is seeking an Innovation Fellow to support the Innovation workstream within GOTF Africa. The workstream is designed to identify, validate, and enable adoption of clean-energy grid innovations across African distribution utilities. It draws on lessons from GEA's flagship India platform (ENTICE) while adapting the model to African priorities — loss reduction, grid digitisation, distributed and utility-scale battery storage, interconnected mini-grid integration, and productive use of energy.
The Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet is a collective movement for change, working to unlock renewable energy access in emerging economies. Clean energy is development; without it, every other form of progress is impacted. Today, half the world's population, 3.6 billion people, live in energy poverty.
Formed on a spirit of radical collaboration, GEA brings together philanthropy, including our founder partners the IKEA Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation and the Bezos Earth Fund, governments, development partners, and the private sector. Together we seek to open up green energy access and a just transition, unlocking a new era of inclusive economic growth while enabling the global community to meet critical climate goals within the next decade. Our mission is to accelerate a renewable energy tipping point that powers progress for people and planet.
The annual salary for this role starts from USD 12,000 negotiable based on level of experience.
Please submit your application on or before 27th September COB. The Global Energy Alliance reserves the right to close the job advert early if we receive a high number of suitable applications.
We operate from a strong commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion in everything we do. It is not only the right thing to do – we could not make an impact without our team members' diverse perspectives and experiences. We expect all Global Energy Alliance employees to contribute by developing their unique perspectives and talent, challenging conventional wisdom through evidence and reason, and amplifying marginalized voices.
Global Energy Alliance is committed to the principles of equal employment opportunity and compliance with all federal, state, and local laws concerning employment discrimination, including the Americans with Disabilities Act. To this end, the organization ensures equal opportunity to all employees and applicants regardless of race, color, age, gender, sexual orientation, religion, marital status, national origin or ancestry, citizenship, lawful alien status, physical, mental, and medical disability, veteran status, or liability for service in the United States Armed Forces.
Global Energy Alliance is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
Electricity powers human opportunity and economic growth. Jobs, education, modern healthcare, thriving economies: In today’s world, these all depend on affordable, reliable energy. Yet nearly 700 million people live without electricity and more than a billion more live with access that is unaffordable or unreliable. Many of these people live in places that are hardest hit by climate change. In the face of growing global instability and constrained funding, we urgently need a bold new model of collaboration. The Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet builds transformative public, private, philanthropic partnerships to end energy poverty and accelerate green economic opportunity. Together with more than 50 partners, we work for a world where everyone has access to affordable, reliable, clean electricity and the means to use it to improve their lives.
