Gender Smart Investing Specialist, CATALYZE

About Palladium:

Palladium is a global company working to design, develop and deliver positive impact on the lives and livelihoods of people around the globe; broaden access to health, water, power, and infrastructure; build enduring, sustainable, and transformative institutions and market systems to address global challenges; and conserve the natural world. We operate in over 90 countries and have a workforce of 4,000 talented, motivated, and diverse staff of all religions, races, languages, and gender identities.

This Opportunity:

The Gender-Smart Investing Specialist will oversee and contribute to success in the implementation of investor-grade deals and technical assistance opportunities identified by the project that support women’s economic empowerment and equality in target countries and sectors. The Gender-smart Investing Specialist will be an important member of the USAID-funded $250 Million CATALYZE program, which intends to utilize these U.S. government resources to mobilize $2 Billion in blended finance from mostly private sector actors over an eight-year period.

Location:

The position is based in Palladium’s Washington D.C. office.

You and Your Career:

If you are a problem-solver, collaborator, and doer, and you have expertise in gender-lens investing, we are interested in hearing from you.

We are a learning organization and provide growth opportunities from the start. We pride ourselves on giving you the freedom, resources, and guidance to chart a fulfilling career!

Reporting and Supervision:

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  The role reports to the Chief of Party/Project Director, CATALYZE
  
• The role will be required to liaise closely, collaboratively and respectfully with members of the home office WEE Project Management Unit and WEE Activity Management Unit, field staff, home office staff, implementing partners, and clients
  
• The Gender-smart Investing Specialist also serves as a member of the Economic Growth Team of the Americas Business Partnership, Palladium International LLC

Primary Duties and Responsibilities:

Provide Technical Leadership and Support

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  Engage with entrepreneurs, USAID, Development Finance institutions, other donors and commercial actors in target countries to generate interest and action in expanding innovative and blended finance solutions benefitting women in target countries, to meet CATALYZE’s ambitious financing goals
  
• Engage with a broad network of stakeholders including businesses, international impact investors, local financial intermediaries, consultants, transaction advisors and other service providers to oversee the existing pipeline of investor-grade deals within the WEE Activity and support their success. Apply a gender lens in assessing and shaping new investment opportunities
  
• Provide direction and guidelines to CATALYZE technical teams and implementing partners in target countries to develop and execute a robust pipeline of innovative financing transactions together with financial institutions that are designed to promote WEE
  
• Identify, build, and maintain positive working relationships with staff, consultants and partners who can provide technical expertise around WEE concepts and continue to make the business case for gender lens investing for financial institutions and investors
  
• Refine approaches for delivering WEE outcomes using blended finance through networking; research; and rigorous monitoring, evaluation, adaptive management and learning. Develop and maintain relationships with USAID’s networks supporting gender investment and support information sharing across USAID mechanisms
  
• Contribute to developing reports, technical studies, and policy and program approaches in support of implementing the CATALYZE WEE Activity Monitoring Evaluation and Learning Plan (AMELP) and WEE Communications Plan
  Other duties as required

Lead and Support Project Management

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  Lead or contribute to project work planning, budgeting, progress and financial reporting internally and for our client, USAID
  
• Together with the WEE Manager, oversee the work of WEE project team staff, sub-awardees and consultants, both international and local, to ensure that their performance meets or exceed technical and financial contractual requirements. Provide technical and managerial inputs, guidance and oversight to project stakeholders as required
  
• Support appropriate utilization of U.S. Government resources in line with U.S. Government and Palladium rules and regulations. Identify project performance and contract and grant management issues and lead or support their timely resolution as appropriate
  
• Use an adaptive management approach to advise project senior management to quickly adopt and scale cost-effective strategies and activities related to WEE Activity management

Key Competencies Required:

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  Proven expertise in Gender Smart Investing, investing with a gender lens, or similar frameworks
  
• Extensive experience in the inclusive finance, blended finance, and impact investing fields
  
• Existing relationships with local, regional, and/or international investors
  
• Demonstrated familiarity with relevant ecosystem actors including fund managers, impact investors, DFIs, technical specialists in gender sector assessments, transaction advisors, USAID and other donors
  
• Development project management skills (e.g. home office and field staff/partner oversight, financial/budget management, internal and external reporting, contract and compliance understanding)
  
• Experience in conducting gender analysis on the impacts of programming and executing projects with a gender component
  
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
  
• Sound client relationship management skills
  
• Demonstrated people management skills
  
• Demonstrated high level of professionalism, respect and integrity operating within a multi-cultural, values-based organization
  
• Ability to work collaboratively and independently with minimal supervision
  
• Financial acumen and the ability to interpret and analyze financial reports
  
• Sound problem solving, conflict-resolution and decision-making skills
  
• Willingness to travel to conduct activity monitoring and technical assistance support as needed

Professional Expertise/Competencies Preferred:

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  Working proficiency in Spanish or French
  
  

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion - Palladium is committed to embedding equity, diversity, and inclusion into everything we do. We welcome applications from all sections of society and actively encourage diversity to drive innovation, creativity, success and good practice. We positively welcome and seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce; and that all job applicants and employees receive equal and fair treatment regardless of their background or personal characteristics. These include: (but are not limited to) socio-economic background, age, race, gender identity and expression, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, nationality, veteran, marital or Indigenous status.

Should you require any adjustments or accommodations to be made due to a disability or you are a neurodivergent individual or for any other circumstance, please email our team at accessibility@thepalladiumgroup.com and we will be in touch to discuss.

Safeguarding - We define Safeguarding as “the preventative action taken by Palladium to protect our people, clients and the communities we work with from harm”. We are committed to ensuring that all children and adults who come into contact with Palladium are treated with respect and are free from abuse. All successful candidates will be subject to an enhanced selection process including safeguarding-focused interviews and a rigorous due diligence process.