One Acre Fund is hiring for the position of Carbon Finance Manager, based in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zambia and Zomba. It is a full-time, fixed-term position. Applications go directly to the employer; see how to apply below.

Location: Flexible: Malawi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania or Zambia
Employer: One Acre Fund
Contract type: Fixed term
Contract duration: 2 years, renewable
Closing date: Rolling; applications reviewed until a hire is made

About One Acre Fund

Founded in 2006, One Acre Fund equips 5.5 million smallholder farmers to make their farms more productive. Across nine countries that together are home to two-thirds of Africa’s farmers, it provides high-quality farm supplies, tree seedlings, accessible credit, modern agronomic training and a wide range of other agricultural services. On average, this model enables a farmer to increase their income and assets on supported land by more than 35 percent, while permanently improving their resilience. The organisation has a team of more than 9,000 full-time staff from diverse backgrounds and professions.

Job overview

One Acre Fund is seeking an exceptional climate finance professional with 5+ years of experience to drive financial modelling and fundraising for its agroforestry carbon pilots.

One Acre Fund is currently implementing four agroforestry carbon programmes with close to 40,000 active farmers in total. Each programme enrols new farmers in cohorts every season and plans to generate carbon credits for sale in the next one to three years. Each programme must have a viable financial pathway, and leaders in each programme must use financial modelling to understand the benefits and trade-offs of strategic decisions.

The Carbon Finance Manager/Lead will ensure that these intensive agroforestry carbon programmes have strong, accessible and useful financial modelling. Operational financial models should be highly reliable and reflect on-the-ground realities; this role is responsible for the integrity and accessibility of these models to programme leaders so they can make informed decisions on programme performance. The postholder will also translate operational financial models into investment-grade financial statements to support the development of AMC, funding and financing partnerships, building on existing modelling to create a comprehensive picture of the entire portfolio.

The role reports to the Payments for Ecosystem Services team in the Impact and R&D Division, but is cross-functional and works often with Business Development, Finance and Program Operations. The ideal candidate will have a strong understanding of nature-based carbon financing, ideally at smallholder level, and experience using financial models to make strategic decisions: a proactive and communicative leader who can help take these programmes from pilot stage to scalable carbon financing.

Duties and responsibilities

Own financial modelling and analysis (40%)

Build, maintain and stress-test complex financial models of carbon projects, including carbon credit production, issuance volumes, operational costs, and financing structures and costs.
Maintain programme- and portfolio-level roll-ups for leadership to use in strategic decision-making.
Support or conduct analysis to identify opportunities for performance improvement and financial viability.

Improve organisation-wide fluency in carbon finance strategy (30%)

Build the fluency and usefulness of financial models with programme teams to guide operational decisions.
Align financial forecasts with country programme teams, the central Finance team and the partnerships / Business Development team.
Prepare materials for leadership calls to update senior stakeholders on fundraising progress and the financial health of the carbon projects.

Support external fundraising and partnerships (30%)

Support the partnerships team in evaluating financing options and produce three-statement financial summaries for discussion with carbon buyers and investors.
Conduct sensitivity analysis to inform pricing strategies and risk management for carbon credit generation.
Support the Business Development team with investor due diligence.

Qualifications and experience

Relevant academic background in finance, economics, PES or another relevant field.
Advanced proficiency in financial modelling and accounting standards, with a proven ability to build dynamic models from scratch for project finance or structured finance across multiple regulatory jurisdictions.
Understanding of the operational and financial realities of implementing high-integrity PES programmes, ideally shown through practical experience with the Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM).
Proven ability to build team fluency in models and to identify and summarise practical insights from complex financial models.
Experience setting complex multi-year budgets and managing performance to those targets.
Strong project management skills and experience leading complex initiatives with diverse stakeholders.
5+ years of professional experience, with 3+ years in climate finance, project finance, accounting or a related field.
1+ years of professional experience in one of One Acre Fund’s countries of operation (particular focus on Kenya, Rwanda, Zambia, Malawi and Tanzania).

Working conditions and benefits

One Acre Fund has a strong culture of constant learning and invests in developing its people. You will have weekly check-ins with your manager, access to mentorship and training programmes, and regular feedback on your performance. Career reviews are held every six months, with time set aside to discuss your aspirations and career goals.

Benefits: health insurance, housing and comprehensive benefits.
Preferred start date: as soon as possible.
Eligibility: open only to citizens or permanent residents of Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Burundi and Nigeria.

How to apply

Apply online: Apply for the Carbon Finance Manager position

No closing date is given. One Acre Fund hires on a rolling basis, so applications are reviewed continuously until a hire is made.

One Acre Fund never asks candidates to pay any money or pay for tests at any stage of the interview process. Official One Acre Fund emails always come from an @oneacrefund.org address. Report any suspicious communication to [email protected], but do not send applications or application materials to this address.

Equal opportunities and safeguarding

One Acre Fund is committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, colour, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender, gender identity or expression. It strongly encourages applications from African professionals with deep local knowledge and investment in the communities it serves.

Applications go directly to the employer, not to Malawi24.

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