FINANCIAL SOLUTIONS
DIRECTOR
APPOINTMENT BRIEF OCTOBER 2024
ABOUT US
SHELL FOUNDATION BELIEVES THAT ENERGY ACCESS IS CRITICAL IN PROVIDING OPPORTUNITY, EQUITY AND A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE FOR EVERY PERSON ON THE PLANET. OUR BRAND PHILOSOPHY HOLDS THIS VISION AT ITS CORE.
Shell Foundation is a charity registered in England and Wales, founded by Shell in 2000, that creates and scales business solutions that empower underserved populations to earn a living income through access to clean energy products and services.
Shell Foundation seek to deploy our resources in three ways to encourage innovation and scale:
• We support early-stage technology and business innovations that enhance income by generating greater value for customers and improving affordability.
• We work with sector actors – specialist intermediaries to facilitate growth and replication at an industry level, or large corporate partners already serving millions of our target customer groups – to maximise the scale and speed of energy access solutions reaching our target customers.
• We use our expertise and experience to present the investment case in energy access solutions, our concessional capital to de-risk opportunities and unlock commercial funding, and our understanding of markets and business to develop and scale new and appropriate financing mechanisms.
EQUITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION STATEMENT
Achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and work together. Through our commitment to enriching our organisation with people of different origins, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of thinking, we are better able to leverage the collective power of our teams and achieve our mission. We strive for a culture of trust and respect, where everyone can contribute their percpectives and authentic selves, reaches their potential as individuals and teams, and collaborates to do their best work.
WE RECOGNISE THAT DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION IS A JOURNEY, AND WE ARE COMMITTED TO LEARNING, LISTENING, AND EVOLVING TO BECOME MORE DIVERSE, EQUITABLE AND INCLUSIVE.
JOB DESCRIPTION
JOB TITLE: FINANCIAL SOLUTIONS DIRECTOR
DEPARTMENT: FINANCIAL SOLUTIONS
SALARY: LONDON - £90,000 - £100,000 P.A.
NIGERIA/KENYA - based on experience, in line with local market
REPORTING TO: HEAD OF FINANCIAL SOLUTIONS
DIRECT REPORTS: NONE
Relevant Internal and External Relationships:
• Public and private investors
• Financial intermediaries
• Strategic funding partners
• M&E team
• Portfolio team Consulted for
• Financial Solutions
• Investor Relations
• Underwriting Policy decisions Parameters for success: Metrics, Financial Targets, Focus Areas
• Directly – range and quality of financial products deployed in portfolio.
• Directly – active portfolio management and achievement of milestones.
• Indirectly – deployment of Financial Solutions budget and achievement of business plan.
Purpose:
The Financial Solutions (FS) Director will be part of a specialist unit within Shell Foundation (SF) that builds working relationships with a range of private and public investors to mobilise capital into innovative solutions created/supported by SF. The role will bring additional expertise and capacity, particularly in relation to carbon markets, to the existing Financial Solutions and wider SF team in order to support SF’s ongoing investments into vehicles that mobilise substantial capital toward solutions that benefit SF customer groups.
KEY TASKS
Given the size of the Financial Solutions team, the FS Director will be expected to work across multiple workstreams and tasks, taking on a mix of direct responsibility and support roles across functional activities.
• Lead SF carbon markets work and strategy, both in terms of overall programme development and design, new policies and screening tools, alignment and integration with SF strategy, deal/project sourcing and assessment and support integration across SF programmatic teams.
• Work across SF programme teams to assess current carbon integration into portfolio and future pipeline opportunities whereby carbon instruments/monetization can be integrated and/or explored.
• Responsibility for the origination, scoping, identification and underwriting assessment of new financial intermediary investment opportunities alongside FS team, with particular focus on climate finance solutions and innovative blended finance vehicles. Responsible for leading and managing deals through SF’s internal approval processes.
• Responsibility for Financial Solutions portfolio management, working closely with select partners to ensure management and monitoring of performance against agreed milestones and KPIs. Work with FP and M&E/Impact team on improved portfolio dashboard and management tools.
• Responsible for developing networks and building relationships with range of finance stakeholders (development finance institutions, asset managers/ owners, private equity firms and venture capital), but with strong focus on climate finance investors and firms of highest relevance to SF carbon strategy and emerging market clean energy.
• Advise FS team in ongoing development and execution of SF policies and processes to ensure programme investments are structured and/or evaluated expertly and consistently to manage risk, return and other parameters consistent with investment and portfolio level risk appetite.
• Contribute to the development of SF Financial Solutions annual business plan and strategy.
• Work with SF Programme team to support on assessment or design of complex financial products or deals aligned with thematic strategies, especially with a carbon focus.
PERSON SPECIFICATION
Skills and Experience
• Significant expertise or experience in venture capital/ impact investing/management consulting required, with strong focus on climate finance.
• Specific expertise working in climate finance/carbon markets, with practical experience working with/and or structuring instruments, vehicles, bonds etc that are climate focused and/or have significant carbon component.
• Strong experience working on the structuring and underwriting of innovative financial funds and products, including blended finance vehicles, impact monetization, credit enhancement products (guarantees etc).
• Strong experience investing in businesses/funds in Africa and/or India that serve low-income customers, with onthe-ground experience preferred.
• A proven and demonstrated interest, supported by practical experience, of sustainable development/social investment.
Qualifications
• 2.1 degree or higher in a numerical/business discipline, or equivalent, essential.
• Masters degree (MBA etc) or CFA preferred.
Competencies
• Business & Commercial Acumen
• Negotiating & Influencing
• Building relationships
• Strategic Thinking & Planning
• Creativity & Innovation
Other requirements
• Right to work in relevant jurisdiction
• Ability and willingness to travel ~20% of the time.
• Clear background check for Safeguarding purposes.
HOW TO APPLY
To apply to become Business Development Director at the Shell Foundation, please upload the following documents to our website:
• Your CV, drawing out relevant experience for the role.
• A supporting statement of up to 1,000 words that addresses the criteria set out in the person specification as well as your interest in the organisation’s work.
Please ensure that you have included a telephone number, as well as any dates when you will not be available or might have difficulty with the recruitment timetable.
If you wish to apply using an alternative format please contact Prospectus on 020 7691 1920 or email executive.admin@prospect-us.co.uk. Please also notify us if you require a postal application
Applications via the Prospectus website should be made at: https://jobs.prospect-us.co.uk/jobs/189561
At Prospectus we believe passionately that a truly inclusive workplace leads to increased social impact. We are committed to supporting our clients build more inclusive teams. To understand how we are performing, we ask that you kindly complete the brief equal opportunities questionnaire when you submit your application via our website. Please be assured that your responses are kept confidential, separate from your candidate record, are not part of any application you make, and that the consultants never see individual responses to the questionnaire.
Recruitment Timetable
Deadline for applications: Wednesday 23rd October
Interview dates: 4th - 15th November
Queries
If you wish to have an informal discussion about the opportunity, please contact our retained advisors Anna Mandl or Hayley Sheldon at Prospectus via email:
anna.mandl@prospect-us.co.uk
hayley.sheldon@prospect-us.co.uk
