Associate Engagement Director, Inclusive Finance - Busara

About Busara

Since 2014, Busara has evolved from a small behavioral science lab in Nairobi into a boutique research and advisory organization. Our diverse team of over 130 staff from 15+ countries has engaged in diverse projects across more than 50 countries in sectors like Agriculture, Health, Governance and Inclusive finance. While headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, we have expanded our footprint with offices now in India, Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria, and Latin America. 

What will you do?

In line with Busara’s mission, our inclusive finance portfolio is dedicated to developing behaviorally-informed solutions that genuinely benefit the people they are designed to help. We engage across both formal and informal financial services sectors, collaborating with partners in the private sector, philanthropy, development finance institutions, and regulatory bodies. Together, we understand contexts, design, refine, and assess financial products and interventions that prioritize financial well-being and make a tangible impact on low-income groups and marginalized communities. Central to our efforts is a commitment to gender inclusivity, ensuring that financial services are accessible and beneficial to women and the diverse sub-groups they represent.

Here's how you'll contribute:

• Strategic Interventions: Analyze value chains and market systems to identify opportunities for interventions that drive catalytic change, working in collaboration with philanthropic and private sector partners.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Independently and effectively engage with a diverse range of stakeholders—including private sector actors, philanthropic organizations, impact investors, and policymakers—to ensure successful project delivery and drive new business development.
• Sustainable Business Models: Anticipate and provide crucial information to help develop sustainable business models for private sector actors aiming to serve low-income populations.
• Product Optimization: Identify and refine core product features to align with principles of responsible and inclusive finance, ensuring they remain commercially viable and create impact at scale

About You

• Your mission is clear: to create positive change in the Global South. You’ve led teams of 5 to 10 people, thriving in diverse, multicultural environments, and you’re a mentor who shapes the next generation of leaders.
• You don’t just manage relationships—you build lasting alliances, especially within the inclusive finance sector. Your career is rooted in international development, with hands-on experience in social impact or development ecosystems. If you’ve been in client-delivery roles like management consulting or internal innovation teams, even better.
• You’ve led transformative programs, sparked change in inclusive finance-focused organizations, and you’re relentless in your pursuit of research-driven solutions. You thrive in a collaborative, dynamic environment surrounded by diverse, talented minds.

About The Role:

• Associate Engagement Directors are the primary leaders of projects at Busara, responsible for driving the planning, strategy, and trajectory of Busara’s engagements in their portfolio. They have two core responsibilities: running an active portfolio of projects, and developing partnerships for new engagements. 
• Each Associate Engagement Director leads a team of analysts and associates to execute on Busara’s projects, which entail applying rigorous research methods to identify novel, evidence-based solutions to behavioral challenges. As such, Associate Engagement Directors should have strong management skills, extensive experience in applied behavioral science, and the ability to translate academic research into practical interventions.
• Additionally, Associate Engagement Directors take a significant role in supporting the growth and sustainability of Busara globally, with guidance from their Engagement Directors or Vice Presidents. As they hone their industry and technical expertise, they will help build valuable relationships that generate business opportunities for Busara. Associate Engagement Directors have a great deal of autonomy in the partnerships they build and they help shape the strategy for the organization going forward. 
• Lastly, Associate Engagement Directors play a crucial role in the organization as members of the senior management team. They are critical to developing organizational strategy, defining expansion and growth priorities, and supporting internal processes such as hiring, recruiting, and coaching.

Key Accountabilities/Responsibilities

DELIVERY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Associate Engagement Directors will work to assemble a team of Busara advisors and researchers to structure successful projects that deliver value and knowledge to the client. Core delivery responsibilities include, but are not limited to: 
• Structure, design, and deliver our current and new external and internal engagements to client’s satisfaction, while incorporating behavioral science into research projects.
• Lead the pricing of current and future offerings and engagements from the portfolio.
• Manage and coordinate a portfolio of projects across multiple client bases. Structure successful project onboarding and offboarding exercises to support knowledge management between projects.
• Serve as the primary relationship manager for clients and partners. Understand and preempt needs of stakeholders through proactive communication and troubleshooting.
• Develop and ensure Busara’s standards for quality of project management and delivery are followed across our work, with respect to creativity, rigor, relevance, detail, and timeliness.
• Strategically assemble the portfolio’s structure and teams on projects that maximize the probability of success. Liaise with relevant divisions to understand any support requirements.

PORTFOLIO GROWTH RESPONSIBILITIES: 

• In addition to project responsibilities, Associate Engagement Directors also have the following growth responsibilities to ensure the growth and sustainability of the organization: 
• Support the development of a portfolio of projects that contributes to quarterly and annual business development targets for the division
• Engage in proactive and reactive business development by leading contracting for our reactive engagements and by designing proposals, concept notes, and pitch decks for new partnership opportunities and knowledge sharing. Present at conferences, networking events, or client meetings.
• Develop lasting relationships with clients and partners, to build long-term partnerships and promote behavioral science as a tool within their organizations. This includes serving as the primary points of contact on large, multi-year projects, and networking throughout the field at conferences and client meetings.
• Lead the portfolio with a focus on portfolio building, researcher network building, efficiency and quality of implementation. Be the voice for the portfolio internally and externally. 
• Work closely with the Engagement Director to define and drive the priority focus areas and strategy of the portfolio by setting, planning and executing on strategic and sustainable projects, annual targets, and ensuring clear vertical harmony on priorities for the organization.

ORGANIZATIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES: 

• Lastly, Associate Engagement Directors have the following organizational responsibilities to ensure a healthy and functioning organization: 
• Manage, motivate and coach Associates, Analysts, and Project team members and lead development of team building events. Facilitate the development of team members’ skills and expertise through identification and execution of capacity building initiatives.
• Serve as Direct Managers to a team of associates and/or research specialists
• Work closely with other associate EDs and EDs to identify opportunities for collaboration and development across teams. Liaise with finance, operations and people teams for any inter-divisional processes.
• Manage communications to ensure clear internal knowledge management and harmonization across the portfolio
• Contribute to the design, execution, and dissemination of Busara internal research projects and initiatives
• Perform any other duty as may be assigned by the VP, Engagement Director or equivalent.

Knowledge, Skills, and Experience

• Be an experienced leader in applied behavioral science and/or behavioral design. You should deeply understand the behavioral research literature, and know how to contextualize and practically apply it to real products, communications and services.  
• Minimum of 6 years’ previous work experience in the global south, with at least 3 years in a management role in a similar organization. 
• Be keen to develop and deliver on high impact projects that leverage behavioral science for poverty alleviation, particularly in the Global South. 
• Have led at least a moderate sized team (5 to 10) of people, especially with multicultural and multinational backgrounds, and can mentor mid-level staff and young professionals.
• Know how to build and manage relationships with external partners and funders of diverse backgrounds and interests, especially within the sector focus of their portfolio.
• Have direct experience working in one or more of the substantive areas of international development (e.g., sustainability, financial services, healthcare, gender equity, agriculture), either within development itself or in the business or non-profit sector.
• Ideally, have previous experience in a client-delivery role (e.g. management consulting, internal innovation team, etc.).
• Ideally, have previous experience running randomized controlled trials or lab experiments.
• Ability, interest, and willingness to travel to all project locations as assigned which may include in-country, regional, and international locations in the Global South. 
• Have the knowledge that comes from a Master’s degree or Ph.D. in Economics, Social Sciences, Public Policy, or related fields.
• Have the hard-won lessons and self-awareness that usually comes from at least 5 years of work experience.