Senior Director, Clean Energy Access

Nairobi, Kenya | Full Time

CLASP is the leading global authority on efficient appliances’ role in fighting climate change and improving people’s lives. With 25 years of expertise, CLASP collaborates with policymakers, industry leaders, and other experts to deliver clear pathways to a more sustainable world for people and the planet.

CLASP is a global nonprofit with offices in Brazil, Europe, India, Indonesia, Kenya, and the United States. We have worked in over 90 countries since our inception in 1999. We are mission driven to a culture of inclusion, transparency, collaboration, and impactful work.

CLASP seeks an experienced professional as Senior Director to lead a global team working to secure universal energy access through energy-efficient appliances & equipment.

The successful candidate will have a strong understanding of the energy access sector, with demonstrated thought leadership, team management, business development, and program implementation skills along with a deep professional network in the sector and related sectors (e.g. finance and agriculture).

The Senior Director will be deeply immersed and fully conversant with the issues and complexity of global efforts to drive universal energy access. They will demonstrate the ability to understand and interpret emerging contexts, establish strategic courses, build coalitions, forge relationships, work with global teams, implement programs, raise funding, and manage motivated, high-expertise teams to secure challenging goals.

The ideal candidate will be dynamic, entrepreneurial, motivated and keen to work with diverse colleagues located in many different countries to build collaborative programs that drive systemic change and accelerate energy access. The Senior Director will motivate teams to pursue ambitious and challenging goals, be a strong communicator with the ability to build consensus, show willingness to explore new possibilities, recognize opportunities and constraints, build high-impact program pathways, and forge broad-based stakeholder coalitions to secure those goals.

This position is an exciting opportunity to helm a highly committed and dynamic team in strengthening, enhancing and implementing a comprehensive portfolio of programs. CLASP’s energy-efficient appliance access programs focus on two interlinked objectives: reducing climate vulnerability and improving economic development for energy-constrained communities. The Senior Director will work in partnership with CLASP’s other regional teams to design, develop and implement energy access programs. The position is based in our Nairobi office because most of our energy access program activities are centered in Africa. Nevertheless, a key goal for the position is to build collaborative global efforts to drive universal access through initiatives in other geographies as well. The position will require extensive international travel and schedule flexibility to accommodate working with other time zones. An important aspect of the role will be in building cohesive team support for and alignment with the clean energy access strategy.

Our programs are helping to develop strong policies, strengthen market eco-systems, increase financial flows and improve consumer confidence in off-and-weak appliances. Our activities drive innovation, improve sales of high-quality appliances and surface data and evidence on product performance, market trends, and consumer preferences to influence change and enable data driven decision making. We partner with governments, market actors, financial institutions, technology providers, and consumers to drive the changes that are needed.

The Senior Director will have accountability over all aspects of CLASP’s energy access strategy, including its evolution, implementation, monitoring, business development and external representation. The person will manage a diverse team currently located in our offices in Nairobi, New Delhi, and Washington DC, with the potential for growth to other geographies.

The position will report to the Chief Strategy and Impacts Officer and serve on CLASP’s senior leadership council contributing to organization-wide initiatives. They will collaborate closely with the other key leaders across the organization, including the Senior Director – Africa, Chief of Programs, Regional Leads, and others across CLASP’s senior leadership and program teams.

Strategy

• Evolve our strategy: Interpret context, identify new approaches and partnerships, steer the goal setting process, seek alignment with CLASP’s climate strategies, and implement engagement strategies to guide the continued evolution of CLASP’s Clean Energy Access strategy.
• Strategic alignment: Collaborate with program teams in developing a shared understanding of the strategy, goals and implementation approaches.

Program Design & Implementation

• Develop programs, guide implementation, provide oversight: Facilitate the delivery of impact-oriented programs. Develop team structures, methods, staffing plans, balance priorities, and optimize resources to ensure effective program management, delivery, partnerships, business development and communications. Provide overall program oversight with accountability of the energy access program portfolio.
• Track impacts and progress: Contribute to the development and implementation of program impact metrics. Work with the MEL team to monitor and evaluate the progress of project activities, identify opportunities for improvement, and communicate progress

Business Development

• Identify and pursue opportunities: In collaboration with senior leadership, fundraising, and program teams, identify new opportunities for funding. Working collaboratively with relevant team members, explore and pursue opportunities, including establishing new relationships, strengthening existing ones and leading the business development process.
• Proposals: In collaboration with senior management, fundraising, and relevant team members, develop concept papers, funding proposals and present to prospective funders.

Thought Leadership & Communications

• External representation: In collaboration with senior management, communications and programs teams, serve as the key spokesperson and strategic voice on our energy access strategy, portfolio of work and impacts to internal and external stakeholders.
• Research and communications: Help define gaps in data and evidence on energy access, prioritize research needs and guide research development. Contribute, or lead, on development of new research products. Present CLASP’s research in relevant internal and external global forums.

Team management

• Lead and grow a high-performing team: Support the Regional Directors build and manage clean energy access teams that are based in their offices. In partnership with the regional directors, support the energy access team’s continued growth, facilitate training and professional development, and identify recruiting needs.
• Backstop: In partnership with the Regional Directors, provide the overall technical and managerial backstop to ensure high quality, consistent and impactful delivery across the energy access programs.

Representation & Senior Leadership

• Enhance CLASP’s global brand: Provide strategic oversight to and identify opportunities to drive brand awareness, partnerships, and impacts.
• Organization leadership: As a member of the senior leadership team, contribute towards organization wide issues and serve as leadership ambassador across the organization.

• Entrepreneurial approach to design, development, and execution of long-term initiatives, and a proactive, nimble, and strategic approach to problem-solving.
• 15+ years of experience in international program implementation; business- and partnership-development experience preferred.
• Bachelor’s degree required. Graduate degree in a relevant field (e.g., engineering, international relations, development, economics, environmental science) preferred.
• Experience in clean energy access, off-grid or weak grid in Africa is required, with global engagement preferred; broader energy sector, energy technology, financing or policy experiences are a plus.
• Demonstrated ability to raise funding for program development and implementation.
• Persuasive communication skills, both verbal and written; exceptional written and spoken English a must. Additional language skills a plus.
• Demonstrated experience developing high-impact partnerships.
• Demonstrated experience in growing and developing team members.
• Ability to work from the big picture to the small details.
• Ability to maintain composure, flexibility, and a sense of humor under tight deadlines.
• Strong interpersonal and listening skills.