Energy Access & Developer Support Fellow

The Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (Global Energy Alliance) The Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (Global Energy Alliance) works for a world where everyone has access to affordable, reliable, clean electricity and the means to use it to improve their lives. Our Alliance builds transformative public, private, philanthropic partnerships to end energy poverty and accelerate green economic opportunity. Founded in 2021 by The Rockefeller Foundation, IKEA Foundation, and Bezos Earth Fund, we design innovative projects/programs, unlock finance, strengthen institutions and transform markets, delivering progress anchored in deep community engagement. By uniting actors across the value chain, from households to heads of state, we go beyond individual projects to drive lasting systems change. With work in more than 30 countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, our Alliance aims to reach 1 billion people with clean electricity, prevent 4 billion tons of carbon emissions and create or improve 150 million jobs.
Energy Access & Developer Support Fellow
Job Title: Fellow, Energy Access & Developer Support
Department: Country Delivery Africa
Location: Nairobi, Kenya, with travel across Africa as required by the programme
Contract Type: One-year fixed-term contract
About Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet
The Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (Global Energy Alliance) is is seeking a high-performing professional to support its work to strengthen private-sector delivery and accelerate energy access across Africa.
Achieving ambitious energy-access targets, including under Mission 300, will depend on the ability of energy access companies and other market actors to translate opportunities into scalable, investible and executable solutions. Global Energy Alliance is therefore advancing approaches to address the technical, commercial, financial and operational barriers that can constrain private-sector execution and sustainable electricity-access outcomes, while strengthening coordination across the energy-access ecosystem. This includes efforts to strengthen the capacity and investment readiness of companies operating across distributed renewable energy and related grid-adjacent solutions.
The Fellow will provide analytical and execution support to this body of work, with an initial focus on supporting the development and operationalization of a program designed to strengthen private sector-led energy access delivery across sub-Saharan Africa in support of Mission 300. Working closely with the Director leading this work, the Fellow will help build and manage a pipeline of opportunities; conduct outreach and support engagement with prospective companies and partners; support opportunity assessment, development and due diligence, help drive promising opportunities through internal review and approval processes; and track implementation and portfolio performance. The role will also support research, analysis, stakeholder coordination and reporting across internal teams and external partners.
The role combines rigorous analysis with hands-on execution and external engagement. It offers the opportunity to work closely with energy access companies, investors, funders, technical assistance providers and senior colleagues across Global Energy Alliance - a springboard to build deep expertise in catalytic finance and private-sector energy delivery, with room to grow in scope as the work scales. It is suited to a highly motivated, dependable and resourceful individual who can bring structure to multiple workstreams, exercise sound judgment and take meaningful ownership as the work evolves.
Our Mission
The Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet is a collective movement for change, working to unlock renewable energy access in emerging economies. Clean energy is development; without it, every other form of progress is impacted. Today, half the world's population, 3.6 billion people, live in energy poverty.
Formed on a spirit of radical collaboration, Global Energy Alliance brings together philanthropy, including our founder partners the IKEA Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation and the Bezos Earth Fund, governments, development partners, and the private sector. Together we seek to open green energy access and a just transition, unlocking a new era of inclusive economic growth while enabling the global community to meet critical climate goals within the next decade. Our mission is to accelerate a renewable energy tipping point that powers progress for people and planet.
Scope of Work
Key Responsibilities:
Pipeline management, screening & progression: Support development and day-to-day intake of opportunities, conduct initial screening and assessment against relevant strategic and eligibility criteria; and maintain clear visibility across the pipeline and portfolio. Help drive promising opportunities forward through Global Energy Alliance)’s internal review and approval processes, coordinating information, materials, actions and follow-up across relevant teams.
Research, analysis & opportunity development: Conduct company, market and sector research, market-intelligence scanning and commercial, operational and financial analysis to assess business models, identify key constraints and support needs, and inform prioritization and decision-making. Prepare high-quality briefs, company profiles, concept notes, review materials, presentations and other decision-ready outputs.
Ecosystem coordination & convenings: Support engagement and partnership coordination across developers, technical assistance providers, investors, funders, associations, Mission 300 partners/aligned initiatives, and other relevant stakeholders; coordinate convenings, follow-up and joint workstreams; and map relevant partners, facilities and initiatives to identify opportunities for collaboration and complementary support. Collaborate across Global Energy Alliance 's Grids of the Future, Powering Opportunity, country and regional teams to connect this work with related initiatives.
Delivery support and monitoring: Track approved engagements through implementation, including key milestones, deliverables, budgets, reporting requirements and dependencies; follow up across internal teams, companies and service providers to maintain momentum; and identify and escalate emerging delivery risks, bottlenecks or issues requiring attention.
Knowledge, insight & learning: Maintain program documentation, templates, stakeholder maps, trackers and knowledge repositories; support management and partner reporting; contribute to knowledge products and market-facing materials, including case studies, playbooks, insight pieces and, where relevant, regulatory or policy engagement materials; and analyze information across the pipeline and portfolio to surface recurring needs, market trends, execution bottlenecks and lessons that can inform future program design, partner engagement and strategic priorities.
Qualifications and Experience:
Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Economics, Business, Finance, International Development, or a related discipline; Master's degree is an added advantage.
Approximately 2-5 years of relevant experience, ideally spanning one or more of: energy / energy access, consulting, finance or investment, development finance, private-sector development, venture or enterprise support, program delivery or programme management.
Working knowledge of distributed renewable energy and energy-access models, including mini-grids, standalone solar systems and productive-use technologies, and familiarity with grid-adjacent distributed energy solutions such as battery storage, interconnected/grid-connected mini-grids, and metering or digital utility systems.
Experience with energy-access companies, donor-funded programmes and climate-tech ecosystems; exposure to investors, catalytic or blended finance and African energy markets is strongly preferred.
Demonstrated stakeholder-engagement skills, with experience working across developers, regulators, technology providers, donors, technical assistance providers, investors, or other ecosystem actors.
Strong analytical and problem-solving ability, including the ability to quickly understand companies, business models and unfamiliar market contexts; interrogate incomplete information; and translate findings into clear, decision-ready briefs, concept notes, analyses and presentations.
Excellent research and writing skills, with the ability to synthesize complex information clearly for senior and external audiences.
Exceptional organisation and reliability, with demonstrated ability to manage multiple workstreams and deadlines and follow through with limited supervision.
Proficiency with Microsoft PowerPoint and Excel, with comfort using trackers, data and other program -management tools; experience with dashboards or data-visualization tools is an advantage.
Comfortable in fast-paced, mission-driven, matrixed environments; genuine interest in energy access, development finance and private-sector development.
Experience in technical assistance, company assessment, impact investing, grant-making, portfolio management or other emerging-market pri