Senior Innovation Associate

• Job TitleSenior Innovation Associate
• OrganisationSpark MicroGrants
• Reports ToChief Innovation Officer
• LocationUganda, Ghana, Rwanda or Malawi
• Experience5+ years
• Time CommitmentFull time (part-time from 3 days a week possible)
• DeadlineRolling

Spark MicroGrants believes in a world where everyone lives with dignity and determines their own positive future. It has worked in 1,000+ villages in 6 countries and pioneered a community-driven development model in sub-Saharan Africa.

Its model combines facilitated village meetings with a small discretionary grant to catalyse local action, and it works with NGO and government partners, including the World Bank, to scale the approach.

The Senior Innovation Associate is a trusted senior individual contributor who owns major workstreams independently, blending research, project management and communications to speed up Spark’s sector-building work.

Research and Opportunity Development

• Lead research on new opportunities, partners, funding mechanisms and multilateral institutions, and recommend which to pursue.
• Draft concept notes and briefs that frame options and growth scenarios.
• Synthesise findings into decision-ready recommendations.

Network Mapping and Projects

• Design and own systems for tracking champions, contacts and engagement history across partner institutions.
• Prepare stakeholder background and engagement strategy before meetings and forums, and drive follow-ups.
• Own priority projects from initiation to close, with trackers, timelines and calendars, and unblock bottlenecks.

Communications

• Produce evidence briefs, policy briefs, partner updates, annual reports and internal messages.
• Prepare materials for forums, learning exchanges and roundtables.
• Keep the wider organisation informed of priorities and progress.

What to Bring

• 5+ years of relevant experience, ideally in a global, mission-driven organisation, owning workstreams independently.
• Excellent written and verbal communication with sound judgement and discretion.
• Strong research and synthesis skills.
• Highly organised with a strong bias toward action.
• Interest in community-driven development, ideally with exposure to multilaterals, development finance or the World Bank.
• Ability to collaborate across time zones and engage senior partners.

Technical Skills

• Research and synthesis: Decision-ready briefs.
• Project management: Trackers and timelines.
• Stakeholder mapping: Relationship systems.
• Policy writing: Evidence and policy briefs.

Soft Skills

• Ownership: Drives outcomes.
• Curiosity: Chases questions.
• Judgement: Ambiguous work.
• Discretion: Senior partners.

Salary is based on geographic location and commensurate with experience. Spark offers a community of thought partners, autonomy to shape your role and respect for work-life balance.

A three-month probation applies, and part-time arrangements of at least three days a week are possible.

• Work with World Bank partners.
• Chief-of-staff-style role.
• Part-time option.
• Based from Uganda.
• Strong pick among international development jobs in Uganda.

Apply online through Spark MicroGrants’ careers portal. You will need a CV and answers to Spark’s screening questions, including your salary expectation and which countries you can work from.

Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis and Spark may close the process at any time, so apply early. See more NGO jobs in Uganda.

• Show briefs you’ve written.
• Highlight multilateral exposure.
• Give examples of projects you owned.
• State Uganda as your base.
• Apply early, it’s rolling.