Senior Banking and Inclusive Finance Advisor

About NIRAS

NIRAS is a global interdisciplinary engineering and consulting company with Headquarters in Denmark and over 2,400 permanent staff based in offices around Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America. The overseas development work is carried out by the NIRAS International Consulting business unit (NIC). NIRAS is currently looking for a Senior Expert/Project and Bid Manager/Director to strengthen our capacity in banking and inclusive finance, which represent key and growing sectors for NIRAS.

We offer interesting work in a dynamic, multinational, and interdisciplinary team and in strong collaboration with colleagues across our EU, Africa, Asia, and Latin America-based offices. The main responsibilities related to the position are project management/direction, technical Quality Assurance and backstopping of projects awarded to NIRAS as well as the building of an opportunity pipeline and the acquisition of new projects. There will also be opportunities for consulting assignments and short-term missions.

We have a flat structure and all staff have the opportunity to contribute to the development of our business, to share ideas and to make rapid progression in their own careers. Our team spirit is extremely important to us – we seek to support and develop each other and have a generous professional development allowance.

About the Finance and Fund Management unit

The NIRAS Fund Management and Finance unit is a dedicated team of specialists working across offices to drive impact and effective projects in grant fund management, financial inclusion, capacity building of financial institutions (retail and DFI), and support to impact investment initiatives. Our distributed team, with a core presence in Copenhagen, Denmark and working in several of our other European offices, manages projects across sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia. The area represents a growth sector for NIRAS International Consulting and we see the opportunity to apply both existing expertise and new competences to the areas of banking and inclusive finance.

Specific services offered by the Fund Management and Finance team include:

Fund Management, including selection and administration as well as monitoring and reporting for multiple multilateral and bilateral donors, including trust funds.
Advisory services in planning, design, review and evaluation of fund management set up/design for development partners, ministries or international organisations.
Capacity building of financial institutions through training programmes and consultancy services built to maximise sustainable long-term lending in the target value chains.
Advise, innovate and promote ideas on financial inclusion through capacity building, market engagement and promoting partnerships.
Support to impact investment across the lifecycle of an investment fund, including pre-fund activities like research and pipeline development, through to the execution of investments, and finally into dissolution and reinvestment.

About the job

The job will have three main elements:

Business development – building and growing a pipeline of opportunities in the fields of commercial banking and inclusive finance and promoting the NIRAS brand among key clients based on achievements. The successful applicant is expected to manage and lead tender processes as well as ultimately carry those projects into implementation
Project Management and Quality Assurance – as a senior project manager, you will provide guidance, technical backstopping and strategic direction to project teams and project managers within the finance and fund management team.
Technical Inputs – engage directly with clients or projects in consultancy or Quality Assurance missions during projects’ implementation. It is expected that this will entail either specific assignments with deliverables or more general support to project implementation at either the strategic level or at the practical level.

Assignments can focus on the development and inclusive finance strategies, supporting FIs in the development of products and services (such as credit lines), appraisal and structuring of SDG-aligned funding, lending and investments, channelling public and private capital to support sustainable and social development objectives and integrate gender equality, ESG, and climate considerations into funding, lending and investment decisions, financial products and services, and policies.

About you

Technical experience

10 years of experience in the commercial banking and/or financial advisory sectors, including in the development of financial and non-financial products for women led SMEs.
5 years of experience in project/programme management and business development in the following fields: commercial banking, inclusive finance, MSMEs financing, women access to finance development finance.
Knowledge of the development cooperation sector and the donors requirements (including IFC, WB, EBRD, EIB, KFW, etc.).
Experience withing a development finance institution (DFI) is a plus
Knowledge of gender equality frameworks is an asset.

Management experience

5 years of experience in managing projects (including HR, Finance, M&E and reporting).
Very good communication skills, intercultural competence, ability to work in a team, flexibility to work on a broad range of topics.
Excellent analytical and writing skills.
Strong personal networks (e.g. with donors, partner organisations, experts) in the area of gender and inclusive finance

Geographical experience

Working experience in developing countries.
Willingness to travel to project countries.

Education

Master degree in development economics / banking / development finance or a similar degree is required.
Excellent English language skills. Fluency in French or Spanish is a strong asset.