Senior Manager, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), Africa

Main purpose of the role

CIFF’s WASH portfolio is central to its ambition of improving child survival, nutrition, education outcomes, and climate resilience. In Ethiopia and across Africa, CIFF increasingly complements grant-making with innovative delivery, asset-based, and systems-acceleration approaches to advance universal access to safe and affordable water.

This is a senior, high-trust leadership role combining strategic WASH grant management with stewardship of a unique water delivery and asset platform, and targeted engagement with government and continental institutions.

The role holder will lead CIFF’s WASH investment portfolio in Ethiopia, managing grants end-to-end from design to closure; Act as CIFF’s authorised senior representative for CIFF Water, an entity that holds and deploys water-related assets (including drilling rigs, support vehicles, and geophysical equipment); Oversee CIFF-funded technical assistance to the Government of Ethiopia to accelerate implementation of selected stalled or under-performing MDB financed WASH programmes; Serve as CIFF’s senior focal point for engagement with the African Union (AU) and AUDA-NEPAD on WASH during a pivotal period of continental focus.

The primary focus of the role will be to provide senior leadership of CIFF’s WASH grant portfolio in Ethiopia; Establishing strong governance, utilization, and risk management for CIFF Water assets in partnership with the Government of Ethiopia and qualified non-profit entities and driving tangible progress in unblocking and accelerating priority MDB financed WASH programmes.

The secondary and evolving focus will be to undertake targeted AU and AUDA-NEPAD engagement focused on high-value continental opportunities. Leading analytical and design work to assess a potential spin-off of CIFF Water into a standalone non-profit delivery entity.

Role’s responsibilities

Strategy & planning

• Provide senior technical and strategic leadership for CIFF’s WASH investments in Ethiopia, ensuring alignment with CIFF’s Africa WASH strategy and broader child-centred outcomes.

• Lead the design, appraisal, approval, implementation, adaptive management, and closure of WASH grants.

• Manage a substantial portfolio of active investments and pipeline opportunities, monitoring performance against agreed results frameworks, value-for-money metrics, and risk indicators.

• Prepare high-quality internal analysis, board materials, and decision papers to support executive and board-level oversight.

Programme development, delivery & performance

• Act as the senior manager responsible for CIFF Water, with delegated authority to steward CIFF’s water-related assets, including drilling rigs, support trucks and vehicles, and geophysical and related technical equipment

• Lead the development and management of leasing and partnership arrangements with the Government of Ethiopia and other qualified non-profit entities.

• Ensure robust systems are implemented and used for asset utilisation, maintenance, protection, reporting, compliance, and risk management.

• Apply agreed due diligence and risk management protocols appropriately throughout the development and delivery of proposals and programmes, to ensure the interests and reputation of the Foundation are protected.

• Track and report on outputs and outcomes enabled through asset deployment (e.g. wells drilled and associated water schemes developed, populations served, functionality and sustainability indicators).

• Work closely with CIFF’s legal, finance, and risk teams to ensure appropriate insurance, contractual safeguards, and crisis management protocols are in place.

• Escalate delivery, political, or reputational risks directly to the WASH Director and Executive Director Africa and with clear executive backing.

• Oversee CIFF-funded technical assistance to the Government of Ethiopia aimed at accelerating implementation of selected World Bank–financed WASH investments.

• Work closely with relevant ministries, implementing agencies, and World Bank teams to:

• Diagnose institutional, financial, technical, and political bottlenecks; support problem-solving and delivery acceleration; and Strengthen coordination and implementation capacity

• Ensure technical assistance is time-bound, delivery-oriented, and clearly linked to unlocking service delivery and disbursement at scale.

• Act as CIFF’s senior WASH focal point for engagement with the African Union and AUDA-NEPAD.

• Focus engagement on a small number of high-value opportunities where CIFF can materially contribute through financing, technical expertise, evidence, or convening power.

• Represent CIFF in selected regional and continental forums, contributing to thought leadership and partnership development aligned with CIFF’s strategy.

• Conduct regular reviews of the progress and performance of programmes under delivery to identify problems and delays, and work with partners to develop effective solutions (escalating to more senior colleagues for support and intervention, where required).

Sector knowledge and profile-building

• Keep abreast of WASH sector development trends together with other international development sectors, for maximum efficiency and effectiveness in programme design, management and implementation. Provide timely, comprehensive and current data to inform WASH policy and programme development, planning, management and implementation.

• As required (and under the direction of the WASH Director), contribute to the development of thought leadership, PR, marketing and advocacy materials, to support CIFF’s ambitions to scale-up, mainstream and leverage additional support for its initiatives.

Stakeholder and partner management

• Conduct rigorous research and evaluation of potential partners, using agreed corporate protocols and techniques, to assess their suitability and credentials for collaborating on CIFF initiatives.

• Apply CIFF’s agreed account management disciplines and approaches in all dealings with programme partners and stakeholders, to ensure productive and professional relationships are maintained in a coordinated and strategic manner.

• Working alongside senior colleagues, help to develop strategic partnerships to support adoption, replication, co-funding or scaling-up of CIFF programmes.

• With a variety of external audiences, develop and maintain strong partnerships and act as a knowledgeable resource about CIFF’s programmes and priority areas.

• Under direction of the WASH Director, engage in strategic partnerships to support adoption, replication, co-funding or scaling-up of CIFF programmes.

Membership and leadership of the team

• Act as a senior role model within CIFF, demonstrating CIFF’s leadership behaviours, sound judgement, and delivery focus providing mentorship to aid the growth of less experienced team members.

• Adopt a coaching approach with colleagues which instils a culture of openness and trust, embraces diverse thinking and encourages continuous improvement and learning.

• Line manage and/or matrix-manage staff supporting WASH grants, CIFF Water, and technical assistance.

• Foster a culture of learning, collaboration, accountability, and adaptive management across teams.

Requirements:
Skills & Experience

Essential

• Significant senior-level experience in WASH programme design, financing, and delivery in low- and middle-income countries, with strong field exposure.

• Proven experience managing complex, high-value portfolios from design through implementation and closure.

• Strong experience working within, or closely alongside, government systems.

• Demonstrated ability to diagnose and resolve implementation bottlenecks

• Experience with infrastructure-heavy or asset-based delivery models (e.g. drilling, utilities, public works, service delivery platforms).

• Strong analytical, financial, and risk-management skills.

• Exceptional relationship-building and influencing skills with senior government, multilateral, and regional institution stakeholders.

• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills in English.

Desirable

• Experience engaging with continental or regional institutions (e.g. African Union, AUDA-NEPAD).

• Exposure to organisational design, spin-offs, or the establishment of new delivery entities.

• Familiarity with Ethiopia’s WASH sector, institutional landscape, and political economy.

Key working relationships

• WASH Director

• Executive Director Africa and Deputy Executive Director Africa

• Head of Ethiopia and Director NTDs

• CIFF CEO Office

• CIFF PIC and Board Members

• CIFF WASH Managers

• Cross-sector CIFF teams (Programme Performance and Impact, Portfolio Finance, Legal, HR)

• Government of Ethiopia (relevant ministries and agencies)

• World Bank and other development partners

• African Union and AUDA-NEPAD

• Implementing partners, NGOs, and technical service providers

Management dimensions

• Senior responsibility for a substantial WASH grant portfolio and active investment pipeline.

• Stewardship oversight of high-value physical water assets held by CIFF Water.

• Accountability for delivery results, risk management, and value for money across grants, assets, and technical assistance

Benefits:
CIFF operates a hybrid work policy across all locations, which means employees work in the office and some of the time from home. We are happy to provide more information on this as part of the recruitment process.

Alongside a competitive salary, we offer a generous benefits package here at CIFF that includes, but is not limited to the following.

• Annual leave - 25 days per annum. Increasing by 1 day after each year of service to a maximum of 30 days.
• Bonus - CIFF currently operates a discretionary bonus scheme.
• Training allowance
• Wellbeing allowance
• Life insurance
• Medical insurance

Please submit your application on or before Friday, 6 March 2026. CIFF reserves the right to close the job advert early if w