Acumen Careers

Principal Areas Of Accountability

• Deal Documentation & Coordination: The Legal Counsel will work closely with the AEA investing team (and other teams that invest into East Africa) to drive Acumen’s early stage equity, quasi-debt, and other investments. To the extent capacity is available, the Legal Counsel will also support investments for Acumen’s portfolio teams in other regions. The role will assist the teams from end-to-end of an investment lifecycle: from structuring deal instruments, developing term sheets, conducting due diligence, negotiating and finalizing investment documentation, managing outside counsel, to coordinating stakeholders to closing. The role will also provide legal advice to the teams as needed during the pre- and post-investment stages, including on corporate governance and board matters, and provide learning sessions to the team from time to time.
• Contract Review and Management: The role will involve grant and commercial contract drafting and review for AEA teams and, to the extent capacity is available, Acumen’s Global teams. The scope may range across charitable and commercial issues, including general contract, intellectual property, data privacy, employment, governance and formation matters. Familiarity with legal issues specific to Kenya is required; familiarity with legal issues specific to 501(c)(3) organizations (a U.S. designation) is a plus. Responsibilities may include providing learning sessions to the relevant teams from time to time.
• Global Legal Operational Support: The role will involve spearheading and/or managing operational initiatives relating to legal matters, cross-functionally and cross-regionally throughout Acumen. Support may range from developing and communicating internal legal guidance, updating processes to reflect best practices under applicable laws, supporting teams with proper recordkeeping, and collaborating with the Director of Legal to create efficiency and scale within the Global Legal Team.
• Compliance: The Legal Counsel, in collaboration with Acumen’s Risk and Compliance Manager, will ensure that AEA activities are in compliance with local laws and best practices, especially in regards to maintaining the legal status of Acumen’s local entities. Other responsibilities may include: navigating relevant local laws across multiple jurisdictions, keeping abreast of regulatory developments, liaising with outside counsel and memorializing guidance, rolling out compliance recommendations and advising programmatic teams accordingly, and providing learning sessions to the AEA team from time to time on regulatory and compliance matters.
• Project Management: The role requires developing and implementing various projects on behalf of the AEA and Global teams, including working with colleagues across functions, self-discipline and problem solving to progress in the face of uncertainty, and creating milestones toward timely execution. An example may include strategizing on efficient investment processes, including developing templates and resources as needed in collaboration with the programmatic teams.

Qualifications And Skills

• Minimum of 5 years experience practicing transactional law, in particular: (1) strong commercial/corporate law background with experience in transaction advisory work covering equity and quasi equity financing structures and (2) experience working directly with investor clients.
• Fluency in English.
• Familiarity with venture capital investing is a plus, as is experience in the developing world or with an impact-oriented investor.
• Ability to navigate ambiguity, distill complicated ideas in a clear and straightforward way, think strategically, and develop innovative solutions.
• Ability to work proactively and under pressure, as well as deliver projects independently with minimal oversight required.
• Ability to stay organized and keep stakeholders in the loop. Good project management and stakeholder management skills.
• Familiarity with financial concepts and instruments, investment vehicles, investments, acquisitions, and similar transactions.
• Strong organizational and diplomacy skills, including excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Commitment to accuracy, attention to detail and follow-through.
• Amenable to working with different time zones in an efficient manner.
• Commitment to, and enthusiasm for, the organization’s mission and business model.
• Ability to remain cool-headed in unexpected or emotionally charged situations, using pragmatism to stay focused on the greater goal, and withstanding the tests of a rapidly changing environment with resilience, resolve, empathy and humor.
• Experience with non-profit and/or investment regulations and compliance a plus.
• Self reflective and aligned with Acumen values.
• Permanently authorized to work in Kenya, with a license to practice law.

About The Role

• The Legal Counsel will provide support to Acumen’s East Africa and Global operations, ranging from investment transactions, compliance matters, contract review, and operational support.
• The Legal Counsel will be joining a currently 6-person Global Legal Team and 21-person AEA team, and will work closely with the AEA and Global programmatic teams to implement their activities. A successful candidate will be expected to provide timely and relevant legal advice, collaborate with teams to effect their programs efficiently while managing overall risk to the organization, coordinate with outside counsel as applicable, and support and maintain cohesion within the Global Legal Team and AEA team.

Principal Areas Of Accountability

• Deal Documentation & Coordination: The Legal Counsel will work closely with the AEA investing team (and other teams that invest into East Africa) to drive Acumen’s early stage equity, quasi-debt, and other investments. To the extent capacity is available, the Legal Counsel will also support investments for Acumen’s portfolio teams in other regions. The role will assist the teams from end-to-end of an investment lifecycle: from structuring deal instruments, developing term sheets, conducting due diligence, negotiating and finalizing investment documentation, managing outside counsel, to coordinating stakeholders to closing. The role will also provide legal advice to the teams as needed during the pre- and post-investment stages, including on corporate governance and board matters, and provide learning sessions to the team from time to time. 
• Contract Review and Management: The role will involve grant and commercial contract drafting and review for AEA teams and, to the extent capacity is available, Acumen’s Global teams. The scope may range across charitable and commercial issues, including general contract, intellectual property, data privacy, employment, governance and formation matters. Familiarity with legal issues specific to Kenya is required; familiarity with legal issues specific to 501(c)(3) organizations (a U.S. designation) is a plus. Responsibilities may include providing learning sessions to the relevant teams from time to time.
• Global Legal Operational Support: The role will involve spearheading and/or managing operational initiatives relating to legal matters, cross-functionally and cross-regionally throughout Acumen. Support may range from developing and communicating internal legal guidance, updating processes to reflect best practices under applicable laws, supporting teams with proper recordkeeping, and collaborating with the Director of Legal to create efficiency and scale within the Global Legal Team. 
• Compliance: The Legal Counsel, in collaboration with Acumen’s Risk and Compliance Manager, will ensure that AEA activities are in compliance with local laws and best practices, especially in regards to maintaining the legal status of Acumen’s local entities. Other responsibilities may include: navigating relevant local laws across multiple jurisdictions, keeping abreast of regulatory developments, liaising with outside counsel and memorializing guidance, rolling out compliance recommendations and advising programmatic teams accordingly, and providing learning sessions to the AEA team from time to time on regulatory and compliance matters.
• Project Management: The role requires developing and implementing various projects on behalf of the AEA and Global teams, including working with colleagues across functions, self-discipline and problem solving to progress in the face of uncertainty, and creating milestones toward timely execution. An example may include strategizing on efficient investment processes, including developing templates and resources as needed in collaboration with the programmatic teams. 

Qualifications And Skills

• Minimum of 5 years experience practicing transactional law, in particular: (1) strong commercial/corporate law background with experience in transaction advisory work covering equity and quasi equity financing structures and (2) experience working directly with investor clients.
• Fluency in English.
• Familiarity with venture capital investing is a plus, as is experience in the developing world or with an impact-oriented investor.
• Ability to navigate ambiguity, distill complicated ideas in a clear and straightforward way, think strategically, and develop innovative solutions.
• Ability to work proactively and under pressure, as well as deliver projects independently with minimal oversight required.
• Ability to stay organized and keep stakeholders in the loop. Good project management and stakeholder management skills.
• Familiarity with financial concepts and instruments, investment vehicles, investments, acquisitions, and similar transactions.
• Strong organizational and diplomacy skills, including excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Commitment to accuracy, attention to detail and follow-through.
• Amenable to working with different time zones in an efficient manner.
• Commitment to, and enthusiasm for, the organization’s mission and business model.
• Ability to remain cool-headed in unexpected or emotionally charged situations, using pragmatism to stay focused on the greater goal, and withstanding the tests of a rapidly changing environment with resilience, resolve, empathy and humor.
• Experience with non-profit and/or investment regulations and compliance a plus.
• Self reflective and aligned with Acumen values.
• Permanently authorized to work in Kenya, with a license to practice law.

About The Role

• The Investments Analyst will support the team in sourcing and evaluating new investment opportunities, conduct due diligence on high potential opportunities, and assist with structuring deal terms and presenting to the Investment Committee. The Investments Analyst will use their analytical skills to evaluate the growth and return potential of companies from both a financial and social impact perspective.
• The Investments Analyst will support data collection, analysis and reporting related to Acumen East Africa’s investment portfolio and its performance, fundraising and strategic partnership initiatives, and management of portfolio operations. They will contribute to actively building and cultivating Acumen East Africa networks in the impact investing communities and will contribute to developing insight and communication pieces for external audiences.
• The Investments Analyst will support the coordination of Acumen East Africa’s impact assessments, liaising with portfolio companies, the Insights and Strategy team, and external impact vendors.
• The role reports to the Associate Director for Investing in East Africa.

Specific Responsibilities 

• Source and identify exceptional investment opportunities providing critical services to the poor
• Deal evaluation and analysis. Conduct market research to identify potential opportunities, analyze trends and build relationships to cultivate deal flow.
• Qualitative and quantitative analysis on potential investment companies including financial modeling, valuation analysis and risk assessments.
• Evaluate and identify quality investment opportunities from a large deal pipeline utilizing your analytical and critical thinking skills to find unique business models. Articulate your understanding of the value proposition, risks, competition, industry, and impact to your peers in a collaborative investment evaluating culture.
• Prepare and present compelling investment memos for Acumen’s Investment Committee.
• Perform thorough due diligence and structure transactions reflecting appropriate risk/return factors. Work closely with legal counsel to document and close investments.

Qualifications & Characteristics

• Bachelor's degree; finance, business, or related field preferred
• Must have authorization to work in Kenya on a permanent basis
• 2-3 years of investing underwriting experience, including financial and operational due diligence of private companies. Understanding of early-stage businesses and entrepreneurs is a plus
• Strong understanding of financial statements and an ability to analyze historical results and model future periods including running sensitivities of key input assumptions
• Ability to present your investment track record of both good and bad historical investments
• Curious – always questioning, always probing, and never blindly accepting
• Ability to thrive when there is ambiguity, remain cool-headed when there are curve balls, and withstand the tests of a rapidly changing environment with resilience and resolve
• Solid professional skills including ability to work and deliver projects independently, proactively and under pressure
• Strong communication skills and ability to be a "storyteller" of our work
• Effectively collaborate with and across teams, seeks and provides constructive feedback
• Ideally be familiar with the social enterprise sector with a significant commitment, desire, or experience serving the poor

Additional characteristics we’re looking for in all roles at Acumen

• Commitment to, and enthusiasm for, the organization’s mission and business model, 
• Moral Imagination: The humility to see the world as it is, and the audacity to imagine the world as it could be. It also includes but is not limited to the following:
• Displaying high level of empathy in all relationships and encounters
• Possessing deep self-awareness and ability to identify own strengths and weaknesses, “coachable”
• Actively listening and focusing on hearing what others are saying
• Exceptional relationship and interpersonal skills: courtesy, tact, patience and strong team orientation
• Self-reflective and aligned with Acumen values: generosity, accountability, humility, audacity, listening, leadership, integrity, respect
• Permanent work authorization for Kenya.

About The Role

• The East Africa Senior Investment Associate will play a key role in sourcing investments and enabling the companies to make a discernable impact for the poor on a sustainable basis. As part of it's core functions, this role serves to enhance and grow our portfolio by identifying quality investment opportunities from the large pipeline of companies seeking capital in Sub-Saharan Africa. The East Africa Senior Investment Associate is responsible for assisting the Associate Director for Investing and the Investment team in formulating the overall portfolio construction strategy including analysis of key industries to focus on including detailed analysis of the players in the entire vertical, work with appropriate Acumen professionals in developing fundraising presentations and meeting with potential and existing funding sources. The East Africa Senior Investment Associate reports to the Associate Director for Investing, continuously building skills to progress at Acumen.

Responsibilities Include

• Evaluate and identify quality investment opportunities from a large deal pipeline utilizing your analytical and critical thinking skills to find unique business models. Articulate your understanding of the value proposition, risks, competition, industry, and impact to your peers in a collaborative investment evaluating culture.
• Prepare and present compelling investment memos for Acumen’s Investment Committee. Periodically update the Board of Directors and Investment Committee with portfolio presentations demonstrating the successful performance delivery of impact to the poor.
• Perform thorough due diligence and structure transactions reflecting appropriate risk/return factors. Work closely with legal counsel to document and close investments.
• Develop, teach, and mentor Investment Associates working on investments you source and lead. Assist the Investment Associates grow their abilities to identify business model attributes to migrate to Senior Investment Associates.
• Deliver operational insight to the entrepreneurs and leadership team post-investment to enable the companies to achieve economic sustainability. Develop and evaluate key metrics to measure the social and financial returns on investments.
• Build and enhance your existing network with external stakeholders including funders, advisors, thought leaders, sector and functional experts to enhance the investment opportunities pipeline for evaluation by attending industry conferences, events, and one-on-one meetings.

Qualifications And Experience

• Bachelor's Degree is required, Master’s degree preferable
• Must have authorization to work in Kenya on a permanent basis.
• A minimum of 5 years of principal investing experience, including financial and operational due diligence of private companies. Understanding of early-stage businesses and entrepreneurs is a plus.
• Strong understanding of financial statements and an ability to analyze historical results and model future periods including running sensitivities of key input assumptions.
• Ability to present your investment track record of both good and bad historical investments.
• Curious – always questioning, always probing, and never blindly accepting.
• Ability to thrive when there is ambiguity, remain cool-headed when there are curve balls, and withstand the tests of a rapidly changing environment with resilience and resolve.
• Solid professional skills including ability to work and deliver projects independently, proactively and under pressure.
• Strong communication skills and ability to be a "storyteller" of our work.
• Effectively collaborate with and across teams, seek and provide constructive feedback.
• Ideally be familiar with the social enterprise sector with a significant commitment, desire, or experience serving the poor
• Self-reflective and aligned with Acumen values

About The Role

• The Foundry Associate will be responsible for executing the East Africa Foundry Strategy, including events, communication and programs. They will play a critical role in “animating” a community of 326 Foundry Members in the region, connecting them to each other and opportunities to amplify their impact. We want to take the number of scaled organizations in the Foundry (defined as those serving 1 million people/year) from 50 to 150 over the next 3 years and to build a connected community of leaders with a shared commitment to each other and Acumen’s mission.

Key Accountabilities Include

• Design and Execute East Africa Foundry Plan. Adapt and execute a local Foundry Strategy based on the pillars and shared success metrics of the Global Foundry Strategy.
• Drive Local Community Engagement. Lead engagement of the EA Foundry, including fostering breadth and depth of connections across the Foundry Members through regular communications, events and touchpoints.
• Manage local connection connection to Global Opportunities. Facilitate the connection of Global Foundry Offerings to the EA Community, including support and coaching for programs like Acumen Angels.
• Communities of Practice. Lead the delivery of the pilot ‘Forcibly Displaced Community of Practice’.
• Data collection and Reporting. Work closely with the global team to improve systems for Foundry data and reporting, including supporting with data collection for existing grant requirements (Global Affairds Canada, FDP).

Qualifications And Skills

• 5+ years of program or community management
• Analytical mindset to understand data, insights and impact
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Willingness to take risks and ability to address complex issues creatively and effectively
• Detailed, timely, and communicative project manager
• Familiarity with tools such as Slack, Google Doc/Sheet/Slide, Microsoft Excel
• Ability to collaborate effectively with different personalities, styles, and cultures across levels, functions, and geographies, both internally and externally
• Self reflective and aligned with Acumen values

About the job

• Acumen is looking for a Regional Director to lead our East African team and operations. We're looking for someone with at least 15+ years of experience in general management, investing, partnerships, and fundraising with a commitment to tackling poverty. This role is based in Nairobi and reports directly to the President of Acumen. Although we inviest philanthropic capital, Acumen comes from the non-profit sector and our compensation reflects that.

About The Role

• This role will lead our efforts in East Africa and report directly to the President in New York City. This role will collaborate with the West African Director, and coordinate with the leaders of "Hardest to Reach", Kawasafi, and ARAF. Success in the role depends upon it. It's not about "territories", it's about working together to grow our shared impact.

Oversee Acumen's Portfolio of Investments and Fellows Program

• Execute the investment strategy for EA
• Lead the effective implementation of Acumen's global investment structures and processes, in collaboration with the Associate Directors of investing.
• Oversee EA Portfolio team's regular investment reports and reviews, including quantitative and qualitative portfolio and social impact studies.
• Continually direct focus toward social returns, ethical, legal, and financial diligence.
• Oversee the Fellows Program team
• Lead all operations

Partnerships and fundraising

• Developing partnerships, funding relationships, and closing funds to support our both our investing work and our African Fellows Program.

General Management

• Ensure audit-ready controls, processes, and documentation for all East Africa grant funding pools are in place, and team is aware and in compliance (Acumen has received different kinds of capital to fund different kinds of work. This role needs to make sure our team can track and deliver against our commitments and track and document our spend and pass high-scrutiny audits from global funders).
• Operational self reliance (e.g., an understanding of local payroll and benefits, systems of compliance). A Finance and HR team are already in place.
• Develop goals and budget YOY
• Develop the Acumen East Africa team
• Ensure compliance with Kenyan law and Acumen policy

Skills and Qualifications:

• +15 years of experience in general management, investing for process oversight, such as financial services and or legal advisory related to investment transactions, any type of fund administration or investment administration. Graduate degree preferred.
• Experience developing, closing, and maintaining funders and partnerships that deliver mutual value, including capital, preferably for mission-driven organizations
• An ability to grasp the entirety of our activities in Africa, including Acumen East Africa, Acumen West Africa, Kawisafi, ARAF, and our newly emerging initiative, "Hardest to Reach". An ability to coordinate and collaborate with the leaders of these ventures toward a common goal: serving people living below, at, or slightly above the poverty level.
• Mission driven: interested in products, services, and education for people living in poverty.
• Ability to deliver on commitments and all they entail (results, their measurement, their reporting, and shifts in subsequent interventions based on learning)
• An understanding of the numbers and their implications (toplines, bottom lines, ratios, flows… and the implications).
• An understanding of the "impact" field, an understanding of ESG, and why it's essential to our funders.
• An ability to "take the lead", rather than waiting to receive the lead, and still collaborate. An ability to speak up when disagreeing. We hire knowledge workers. If you don't share your knowledge and perspective, what is the point?
• Enjoys managing teams toward outcomes that matter. Enjoys developing a team. Leads with clarity and trust.
• Self-reflective, aligned with Acumen values, leads with values
• Authorized to work in Kenya

About the Role

The Associate Director will evaluate new investment opportunities, conduct due diligence on high potential opportunities as they arise, and structure deal terms as well as manage our existing portfolio and actively drive and deliver exits from investments that have served their purpose. The role will model the principles of investing as detailed by Acumen.

Responsibilities include:

Identifying investment opportunities and due diligence

• Identify, cultivate, and review a pipeline of companies working to solve an important problem for low-income learners. Evaluate their model and market opportunity.
• Conducting due diligence and investment analysis, including financial modeling, valuation review, and structuring.
• Prepare and present investment documentation for Acumen East Africa’s Investment Committee
• Lead the closing of transactions including negotiations of investment conditions (i.e., price, shareholders rights) along with the investees and Acumen legal team
• Actively work to simplify terms while holding principles.

Post Investment and Metric Evaluation

• Assess portfolio company needs related to post investment support, assess how to add value to the companies (Is it strategy? Cash flow? Operations? Talent? Where should they focus and why? How can you help?)
• Build a network of potential impact funders/investors for the technical assistance or other funding requirements of investees to scale their businesses.
• Execute on Performance Based Financing goals for our Education portfolio
• Identify Acumen community members who could represent Acumen at the board level and potentially serve on a board. 
• Actively support and lead the scheduled exit roadmap for a few portfolio companies.
• Represent Acumen on the board of Acumen’s legacy portfolio company.
• Actively support select companies on governance, finance asset management and leadership

Knowledge Management and Thought Leadership:

• Lead the insights generation work on existing portfolio and also document it in a well formatted and succinct manner for future reference.
• Lead the Acumen East Africa team to analyze and document data-driven explanations for portfolio decisions; to extract and document investment-specific and general insights; to analyze metrics data to identify patterns; and to channel that data to outputs for marketing and fundraising efforts.
• Produce discrete knowledge and research materials based on lessons from Acumen’s portfolio 
• Manage the Education Advisory Committee and prepare the Annual Education Report
• Contribute to fundraising strategy, proposals and budgets to facilitate growth. 
• Represent Acumen East Africa’s Portfolio work at all global portfolio forums.
• Participate in development and implementation of other Acumen initiatives and projects.

Team Leadership

• Manage 2-4 team members, coach and support them in developing investing skills related to financial modeling, relationship management, deal negotiation and post-investment support
• Work in close partnership with the East Africa Director and across the global investment teams to support sector-specific initiatives and share learning.

This role will report to the East Africa Regional Director.

Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor's Degree is required, Master’s degree preferable
• 10-15 years of experience in venture capital, with preferred 7-10 years of investment experience with private equity, investment banking, or investment management, including experience with financial and operational due diligence of early-stage businesses
• Understand Performance Based Financing
• Experience with financial and operational due diligence of early-stage businesses.
• Superior financial, modeling and business analysis skills; demonstrated by prior experience.
• Solid operational skills including problem solving and project management skills, including ability to work and deliver projects independently, proactively and under pressure.
• Significant commitment or experience with the social enterprise sector in West Africa, demonstrated commitment to tackling challenges of poverty.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills; ability to present arguments and analysis in a clear and succinct manner to Acumen management, partners and investees
• Strong ability to take initiative with research and analysis and produce valuable results in conditions of uncertainty
• Self-reflective and aligned with Acumen values
• Must be permanently authorized to work in Kenya

Accountabilities In This Role Will Include

• Supporting ESG monitoring and reporting across various funds, including policy design and implementation
• Supporting stakeholder engagement across various funds
• Monitoring improvements to the ESG library to optimize relevance and usefulness
• Co-developing new resources for various funds including trainings and templates
• Researching and reporting on US, UK, and EU ESG and climate regulations and providing recommendations around implementation and disclosure
• Synthesizing ESG data and narrative into clear insights, supported by evidence, with recommendations for action
• Ideating and testing different systems for gathering ESG insights and impact from Acumen’s portfolio

Skills And Qualifications

• Minimum of 4 years of experience in ESG investing, impact investing, or sustainable finance.
• Bachelor's degree with a focus on social enterprise, sustainable finance, or international development.
• Strong understanding of ESMS and ESG policies, procedures, metrics, standards, and Scope 1, 2, and 3 calculations across sectors
• Strong ability to take initiative with research and analysis and produce valuable results in conditions of uncertainty
• An investigative mind and an ability to synthesize disparate data to draw conclusions and propose recommendations
• A sense of proportionality in determining practical approaches to requirements with a focus on substantive value add and beneficiaries
• Strong project management and stakeholder management skills and experience managing internal teams towards a common objective
• Strong organizational skills and an ability to set up efficient systems for managing data, processes and information
• Strong writing and presentation skills
• Ability to thrive when there is ambiguity, remain cool-headed when there are unexpected obstacles, and withstand the tests of a rapidly changing environment with resilience and resolve
• Self -reflective and aligned with Acumen values.
• Must have authorization to work in Kenya on a permanent basis

Accountabilities

• Manage team of backend and frontend engineers
• Lead daily standups
• Prioritize tasks for developers
• Provide support and guidance to developers, assist with problem-solving.
• Provide scope/schedule guidance to business stakeholders
• Be responsive to occasional customer support help desk escalations
• Be responsive to senior organizational stakeholders; align technology roadmap with organizational business goals
• Provide support and guidance to QA/Testing teams
• Partner with marketing and community stakeholders to optimize user experience

Skills and Qualifications

• 5-7 years of experience managing tech stacks and teams
• At least 3 years of experience managing DevOps and or AppSec programs
• At least 2 year of experience managing some flavor of Cloud systems, preferably Google Cloud Platform
• Expert level knowledge of 3 or more programming languages, preferable Javascript and Java
• Systems design experience and are able to speak in detail to common patterns and paradigms such as MVC, Microservice architecture, monolithic etc 
• Advance level knowledge of CICD pipelines
• Advance level knowledge of Node.js
• Working knowledge of Salesforce, certification is preferred
• Working knowledge of Hubspot CMS 
• Working knowledge of React.js or are willing to learn
• Working knowledge of PHP or are willing to learn enough to manage our SSO services
• Self reflective and aligned with Acumen values
• Permanently authorized to work in Nigeria or Kenya