Job Openings Investment Officer

About the job Investment Officer

Our client is a venture-backed finance and analytics platform that uses advanced data analytics and machine learning to improve credit scoring capabilities for businesses, capital providers, governments, and other stakeholders in the distributed energy sector in Africa. 
The company aims to address the acute need for modern energy access on the continent by providing a sustainable infrastructure for capital delivery, offering state-of-the-art underwriting tools, and a powerful information sharing platform for stakeholders to identify high need grant recipients and credit-worthy customers.

JOB DESCRIPTION
The Investment Officer will lead the origination, structuring and execution of our client's debt financing transactions from end to end in West Africa. The candidate will be responsible for establishing and maintaining client relationships, identifying clients’ needs, developing innovative and bankable financing solutions, and building our loan portfolio across West Africa. The successful candidate will have strong relationship management and problem-solving skills, an ability to translate complex problems into clear frameworks, and an entrepreneurial mindset. As a lean, entrepreneurial company, flexibility and willingness to pitch in wherever needed is critical. This position will perform a range of duties including, but not limited to, the following: 
  • Take end to end ownership of transactions: developing and maintaining client relationships, origination, due diligence and credit analysis of existing and/or new borrowers; structuring the appropriate financing solution; preparing financial projections; negotiating legal documents with counterparties alongside legal counsel. Presenting analysis to internal credit committees.
  • Portfolio Management; Maintain close business relationships with existing (and potential) borrowers with regular check-ins for portfolio monitoring purposes and flagging any early warning signs, ensuring a high-quality loan portfolio in the region. Monitoring ongoing performance of facilities, tracking covenants.
  • Support senior management in performing detailed market research, due diligence, and business analysis; prepare analytical products, including presentations, reports, briefings, and other materials.
  • Performing credit analysis of the financial condition and creditworthiness of existing and prospective borrowers using analysis of historical and projected financial statements (income, cash flow, balance sheet), P&L, tax returns, biographical data, market information, credit reports and other data; manage client on-boarding, KYC/AML reviews. 
  • Support customized client engagements (e.g., investors, distributed energy companies, policymakers, and development agencies); assist in the structuring, legal documentation implementation and monitoring of commercially viable financing facilities aligned with risk standards and detailed understanding of the clients strategic and financial objectives. 
  • Maintain in-depth knowledge of company's credit risk policies and procedures in compliance with applicable local and US regulations and assist the company in achieving satisfactory risk-adjusted returns on its lending portfolio as well as strong internal and external audit results. 
  • Assist in defining the risk tolerance, by supporting the creation of the systems to measure, mitigate, manage and limit credit risk exposures.

KEY SKILLS & REQUIREMENTS
  • Bachelor’s, or Master’s in a quantitative field (Business, Finance, Mathematics, Economics, Engineering or in a related field). 
  • 5 + years work experience at either project level or in investment/commercial banking, private equity, debt funds, or corporate finance, having a broad knowledge in renewable energy business development and/or policy advisory; 
  • Experience in private sector operations, in particular with financial institutions.
  • Proven experience in renewable energy structuring and advisory (e.g. business models, financial structuring, fund-raising, technical development, community engagement) is advantageous; 
  • Experience of working across multiple institutions and ensuring collaboration across public, private, and civil society sectors; 
  • Proven ability to interact competently with, as well as to assess and provide technical advisory services to, both public and private sector stakeholders in the renewable energy space; 
  • Proven ability to lead renewable power project development and financing in the region; In-depth knowledge of power utilities operation as well the legal, policy and regulatory frameworks governing renewable energy projects, particularly in developing country context
  • Full knowledge of the principles of project cycle and project implementation;
  • Innovative thinking
  • Client orientation

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