Senior Innovation Associate at Spark… · Rwanda

Senior Innovation Associate

Location: Rwanda, Ghana, Uganda, Malawi (Elsewhere in East Africa)

ABOUT SPARK MICROGRANTS

Spark MicroGrants believes in a world where everyone lives with dignity and determines their own positive future. Spark has worked in 1000+ villages in 6 countries and has pioneered a community-driven development model in sub-Saharan Africa. Spark works with NGO and Government partners to scale the model’s adoption and impact on rural communities - on their own terms. Our model combines facilitated community meetings with a small, discretionary grant to catalyze local action and institution building. Read more about our Approach, Impact and Values on our website.

ABOUT THE INNOVATION TEAM

The Innovation team works to channel more resources and decision-making to the village level by partnering with the World Bank and other multilateral institutions. Community-driven development (CDD) has a proven track record of delivering lasting change with communities in the lead and momentum for it is building. Our work focuses on three mutually reinforcing areas: building a community of senior CDD champions across governments, development finance institutions, and major donors; partnering with the World Bank to support the effective design of community-led programs and the tools and standards behind them; and exploring new financing pathways, including a dedicated CDD fund.

OVERVIEW

Spark seeks a Senior Innovation Associate to partner closely with the Chief Innovation Officer and the Innovation team as we work to bring more resources and decision-making to the village level through partnerships with the World Bank and other multilateral institutions.

The Senior Innovation Associate is a trusted, senior individual contributor to the Innovation team who owns significant areas of work and drives them independently. Think of the role as a Chief-of-Staff-style partner focused on sector building: framing new opportunities, owning the systems and relationships that keep the team ahead, and taking projects from idea to done with minimal oversight. The role blends research, project management, and communication to increase the pace and quality of Spark’s work to bring more resources to the village level.

WHO YOU ARE

You are a self-starter who owns outcomes and doesn’t wait for direction to figure out how to make a project or process better. You bring the rare combination of being highly organized, i.e. nothing drops, and genuinely curious: you like chasing down a question, learning something new, and turning it into something useful. You are a strong writer and a clear thinker who exercises sound judgment on ambiguous, high-stakes work, and you are comfortable representing the team’s thinking to senior partners. You do not want to do development as usual, and you care about expanding high-impact work through new modalities. You are motivated to join at a crucial juncture in our growth, as we build the coalitions, evidence, and financing needed to make CDD the default approach in contexts where it works.

RESPONSIBILITIES

The Senior Innovation Associate helps the Innovation team operate with clarity, focus, and execution excellence across a globally distributed team, advancing the future-facing work of the Chief Innovation Officer and owning key workstreams that turn strategy into action.

1. Research and Opportunity Development

Lead research and analysis to inform decisions on emerging opportunities, independently framing the questions and surfacing the data, evidence, and context the team needs to move quickly and well. This includes exploring new financing pathways and partners, such as the design of a dedicated CDD fund, pooled funds, and collaborations with other multilaterals.

• Lead research on new opportunities, partners, funding mechanisms, and multilateral institutions, and recommend which are worth pursuing.
• Draft concept notes and briefs, selecting the most relevant data, evidence, and figures and framing the options for possible pathways and growth scenarios.
• Synthesize findings into clear, decision-ready recommendations that make it easy for decision-makers to act.
  
  

2. Network Mapping and Relationship Tracking

Own the systems and strategy for keeping Spark’s relationships with World Bank teams, multilateral institutions, their clients, and other sector actors organized, current, and easy to draw on at strategic moments. This directly supports building and sustaining a senior community of CDD champions across governments, development finance institutions, and major donors.

• Design, build, and own the systems for mapping and tracking champions, contacts, and engagement history across partner institutions and sector actors.
• Establish the baseline for the champion network and track how it grows over time, including through the Africa CLD forum, curated learning exchanges, and 1:1 follow-up with high-potential contacts.
• Prepare background and engagement strategy on stakeholders ahead of meetings, forums, learning trips, and strategic moments, and drive follow-ups for timely, coordinated outreach.
  
  

3. Project Management

Own projects from initiation to close on behalf of the Chief Innovation Officer and the Innovation team, taking full accountability for the quality and timely completion of deliverables. This spans efforts such as convening the annual practitioner forum, coordinating design support to World Bank programs, and developing practical tools — financial frameworks, facilitation guides, national planning templates, and community-facing technology.

• Take ownership of priority and ad hoc projects, driving them from initiation to close as needed by the Innovation team.
• Establish and own trackers, timelines, and implementation calendars that keep engagements, forums, and tool development moving.
• Identify bottlenecks and proactively unblock or escalate them.
  
  

4. Communications and Research Dissemination

Lead internal and external communications on behalf of the Chief Innovation Officer and the Innovation team, keeping partners, champions, and staff aligned and informed. This includes packaging research and results into accessible, high-quality products and supporting the thought leadership and evidence sharing (e.g., evidence briefs, policy briefs, research roundtables) that builds the case for CDD among decision-makers.

• Produce and own communications, including evidence briefs, policy briefs, partner updates, annual reports, and internal messages.
• Lead the preparation of materials for forums, learning exchanges, roundtables, and stakeholder engagements.
• Help keep the team and wider organization informed about priorities and progress.
  
  

WHAT TO BRING

• 5+ years of relevant experience, ideally in a global, mission-driven organization, with a track record of owning workstreams independently
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with sound judgment and discretion
• Strong research and synthesis skills, with the judgment to frame questions and draw conclusions with limited direction
• Highly organized, with a track record of keeping projects and details on track
• A strong bias toward action and full ownership of outcomes; comfortable operating with autonomy
• Self-driven and professional, with an entrepreneurial spirit’
• A genuine interest in community-driven development and sector-building work, ideally with exposure to multilaterals, development finance, or the World Bank
• Proven ability to drive cross-time zone collaboration and to engage credibly with senior external partners

OTHER INFORMATION

Job Location: Based in one of Spark’s countries of operation: Ghana, Uganda, Rwanda, or Malawi. (Elsewhere in Africa may also be considered for very strong candidates, if candidates already possess valid, legal work authorization for other requested job locations.)

Reporting to: Chief Innovation Officer - under Innovation Team

Start Date: As soon as possible

Salary: Salary is based on geographic location and commensurate with experience

Probation period: Three months probation period with learning and performance objectives

Time commitment: Full time. We are also open to part-time arrangements, at a minimum of three days per week.

How to Apply: Follow the link to apply: https://sparkmicrogrants.bamboohr.com/careers/179

SAFEGUARDING

Our safeguarding follows a do no harm principle. All Spark staff are expected to respect and uphold the safeguarding procedures and principles to minimize harm to stakeholders, program participants, and the environment, in compliance with the World Bank Environmental and Social Framework and national legislation in the countries where we operate.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

Spark Microgrants provides equal employment and advancement opportunities to all individuals. Employment decisions at Spark are based on merit, qualifications, and abilities. Spark does not discriminate in employment opportunities or practices on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, gender identity, age, disability, marital status, or any other characteristic protected by the law. Spark will make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with known disabilities unless doing so would result in undue hardship to daily operations.