Associate Director, Funds & Programs

Organization
Caribou
Location
Remote (Preference for candidates within +/-3 hours GMT)
Job Type
Full-time, with possibility of part-time work if desired
Where to Apply
https://caribou.bamboohr.com/careers/37?source=aWQ9OA%3D%3D
Tags
Full-time, Part-time

Start Date: July 1, 2026

About the role

Caribou is a global, remote-first consultancy working at the intersection of technology, inclusion, and impact. With a team of 50+ people across 20+ countries, we partner with foundations, companies, and governments to reimagine and deliver impact in a digital age.

We design strategies, manage funds, uncover insights, and measure impact to help organisations mobilise technology for inclusive and sustainable growth. Core to our culture is supporting staff autonomy over where, how, and when they work, with our annual in-person retreat bringing the full-time team together (recent locations include Kenya, Rwanda and Cape Town).

This Associate Director is a key position within the Funds & Programs area, combining deep expertise in catalytic grant capital with direct responsibility for designing, managing, and delivering complex global funding vehicles.

The role plays a leading part in shaping how Caribou designs, runs and evolves our catalytic grantmaking programs to support early-stage innovators, entrepreneurs, small businesses and their end-users across diverse global contexts. It sits at the intersection of impact, innovation finance, and delivery, bringing in-depth understanding of inclusive and innovative grantmaking within the wider private sector development and impact investment ecosystem, and a strong point of view on how grants interact with other forms of concessional and commercial finance. We are looking for someone who is fluent in how innovative instruments— particularly returnable grants, first-loss guarantees and zero-interest loans— sit within commercial and blended finance ecosystems, and is  comfortable designing funding vehicles that go beyond traditional non-returnable grants.

This individual will be personally involved in the operational realities of running funds: pipeline development, funding decisions, contracting, portfolio problem-solving, risk management, and the practical challenges that arise in live global programs. They will also act as a trusted advisor to clients and internal teams, helping to design new funds, navigate ambiguity, and ensure Caribou’s grantmaking practice is rigorous, founder-friendly, and fit for purpose across different donor and market contexts.

This is a senior role for someone who combines strategic thinking with deep operational credibility, who enjoys rolling up their sleeves as much as setting direction, and who stays close enough to delivery to ensure what is designed actually works in practice.

Key Responsibilities

Portfolio & fund management

  • Own and manage a portfolio of digital impact programming, global innovation funds and concessional finance programs with accountability for delivery quality, outcomes, risk and client relationships.
  • Remain directly involved in core funding processes, including selection, due diligence, contracting, implementation, portfolio monitoring, and course correction.
  • Act as a trusted advisor to selected grantees, supporting business model thinking, sustainability planning, and pathways beyond grant funding.
  • Contribute to other programs and funds across the practice area as required.

Funding practice & methodology

  • Contribute to and evolve Caribou’s funding methodologies, standards, and operating practices, grounded in a strong understanding of funding within the wider private sector development and impact investment landscapes.
  • Actively explore and develop approaches that go beyond traditional philanthropic grant models, such as the potential for Caribou to deploy returnable capital instruments and to manage revolving funds where appropriate for the context and client.
  • Set clear guidance on fund design, selection, portfolio construction, and founder support that help early-stage innovators and entrepreneurs strengthen business models, governance, and sustainability.
  • Lead decisions on tools, platforms, and operating models for open calls and grant operations.
  • Act as a senior internal point of reference on complex or ambiguous grantmaking judgements, informed by delivery experience and ecosystem awareness.

Program operations

  • Personally engage in funding contracts, amendments, and restructures where senior attention is required, particularly in complex, ambiguous, or high-risk delivery contexts.
  • Ensure disciplined, audit-ready operational practice across portfolios, while remaining pragmatic and delivery-focused.
  • Strengthen systems and workflows to raise consistency, visibility, and delivery standards across Caribou’s grant and funding based initiatives.

Commercial & organizational contributions

  • Shape and cost new funds and delivery models, including contributing to or writing budgets where required.
  • Identify opportunities to deepen existing client work or extend Caribou’s funds & programs offer where it adds genuine value.
  • Support business development activities by identifying new clients and fostering relationships, promoting Caribou’s capabilities within senior client conversations, and bringing delivery-grounded credibility to proposal development.
  • Represent Caribou as a trusted delivery partner in client-facing and other external conversations on grantmaking and fund management.

People, values & ways of working

  • Coach and develop Managers working on funds and grant portfolios while managing upwards and downwards with clarity and consistency.
  • Improve others’ effectiveness through people leadership, technical leadership, and shared judgement.
  • Actively improve how teams work together by giving clear feedback, unblocking issues, and strengthening shared ways of working.

This role may also be asked to carry out tasks or to take on responsibilities not set out here but which it would be reasonable to expect of someone in this position.

About You

You must be someone that:

  • Has deep, hands-on experience running complex funds and programs for business model innovation, and is happy getting stuck into decisions, contracts, and delivery challenges, especially when things get messy.
  • Has a solid understanding of innovative (concessional and returnable) funding instruments, such as returnable grants, first-loss guarantees, and zero-interest loans, and how these interact with commercial ecosystems.
  • Has spent time working with early-stage entrepreneurs, startups, or innovators and understands what it actually takes to build, test, and sustain new solutions.
  • Has solid experience in international development, particularly in digital or tech-enabled programming, and is comfortable navigating the donor, partner, and delivery environments that come with it, including a genuine understanding of the inclusion challenges facing the communities and enterprises this work is designed to serve.
  • Has strong judgement and is comfortable moving between big-picture thinking and hands-on messy delivery, owning tough calls on risk, scope, and trade-offs without losing sight of what works in practice.
  • Is financially and operationally disciplined, with solid experience managing program budgets, scoping delivery models, and keeping complex initiatives on track.
  • Communicates clearly and confidently with senior clients, partners, and teams, and can turn complex delivery realities into clear advice and direction.
  • Enjoys developing others, sharing context and judgement, and making teams stronger rather than just reworking their outputs.
  • Shows up with professionalism, generosity, and calm, and is someone colleagues and clients trust to lead through complexity.
  • Has an existing network of relevant relationships within the global donor, philanthropic and corporate landscape that might support future business development activities.

Preferred experience:

  • Has worked within or alongside the private sector or impact investment sectors, such as with investors, accelerators, incubators, or within blended finance environments.
  • Sectoral experience in at least two of the following thematics; agriculture, climate mitigation, resilience and adaptation, circular economy, inclusive livelihoods, micro-entrepreneurship, digital inclusion, AI, cybersecurity or other tech-enabled sectors relevant to Caribou’s work.
  • Experience working across globally distributed portfolios and within at least one of Latin America, South and South-East Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

What We Offer

  • A front-row seat to the inner workings of a mission-driven, global consultancy.
  • Opportunities to learn and grow across collaborative functions.
  • A supportive international team that values flexibility, inclusion, and collaboration.
  • Fully remote work, with occasional in-person opportunities and team retreats.