About this role
About BFA Global
BFA Global is an impact innovation firm combining research, advisory, venture building and investment expertise to build a more inclusive, equitable and resilient future for underserved people and the planet. We partner with public, private and philanthropic organizations to catalyze innovation ecosystems across emerging markets.
About the Role
BFA Global is seeking a Project Finance & Delivery Manager to strengthen the financial, contractual and project-management discipline of our project portfolio.
This hybrid role sits at the intersection of Finance and project delivery, supporting donor-funded programs, grants, consulting engagements and other client projects.
The role will ensure projects are financially healthy, contractually compliant and delivered within approved budgets, timelines and resource plans. The successful candidate will provide strong project controls, portfolio visibility, risk management and constructive challenge to Project Leads (PLs), Project Managers (PMs), Finance and management.
Key Responsibilities
Project Financial Management
• Work with Finance, PLs and PMs to establish and maintain project budgets, financial plans and forecasts.
• Understand project financial models, including fixed-fee, milestone-based, cost-plus and grant-funded arrangements.
• Monitor budgets, actual expenditure, commitments, burn rates, remaining budgets and forecast-to-completion.
• Track staff costs, levels of effort, consultant expenditure and other project costs against approved budgets.
• Identify overspends, underspends, funding gaps and financial risks early.
• Monitor project revenue, costs and financial performance, including profitability/margin where applicable.
• Ensure changes to staffing, consultant days or expenditure outside approved plans are appropriately reviewed and approved.
• Support accurate invoicing, revenue recognition, financial reporting and project close-out.
• Provide clear financial information to support project and management decisions.
Contract, Grant & Client Compliance
• Review contracts and grant agreements and translate requirements into practical project controls.
• Track contractual obligations including deliverables, reporting deadlines, invoicing milestones, budget restrictions, levels of effort and approval requirements.
• Monitor compliance with client/donor requirements, including allowable costs, cost allocation, documentation and financial reporting.
• Identify changes requiring client approval, budget reallocation or contract amendments.
• Coordinate project financial reporting and maintain appropriate supporting documentation.
• Support client reviews and audits and monitor corrective actions.
• Escalate significant or recurring compliance issues.
Project Planning & Delivery
• Lead the operational and financial set-up of new projects with PLs, PMs and Finance.
• Translate contractual commitments into practical implementation plans, budgets and resource plans.
• Ensure projects have clear workplans, budgets, staffing assumptions, consultant allocations, milestones, reporting calendars and governance arrangements.
• Monitor delivery against milestones, timelines and budgets and conduct regular project-health reviews.
• Identify bottlenecks, risks and unrealistic delivery, budget or resource assumptions and agree corrective actions with project teams.
• Support PMs in strengthening project planning and execution.
Portfolio, Resource & Utilization Management
• Maintain a consolidated view of BFA's active project portfolio and project health.
• Maintain dashboards covering financial performance, delivery, utilization, contractual commitments, risks and management actions.
• Work with People & Culture on project staffing, workforce capacity, utilization, recruitment/consultant requirements and staffing changes.
• Monitor planned versus actual staff allocation, utilization and timesheet accuracy.
• Track consultant contracted days, utilization and remaining budgets.
• Identify resource gaps, over-allocation, under-utilization and competing demands.
• Coordinate forward resource planning with PLs, PMs, Finance and Capability Leads.
Risk, Controls & Management Reporting
• Maintain project risk, issue, decision and action registers.
• Ensure significant financial, operational, contractual, resource and delivery risks have clear owners and mitigation actions.
• Prepare regular project and portfolio reporting for the Finance Director and Management Team.
• Provide visibility of budget versus actuals, forecasts, financial performance, milestones, utilization, consultant expenditure, contractual obligations and key risks.
• Provide early warning when projects are at risk of missing financial, contractual or delivery commitments.
• Recommend corrective actions and escalate issues where necessary.
PMU Systems & Processes
• Develop and maintain standard PMU tools, including project budgets, workplans, resource plans, contract trackers, risk registers, dashboards and close-out checklists.
• Strengthen integration between project planning, budgeting, timesheets, forecasting and financial reporting.
• Establish consistent minimum project-management and financial-control standards.
• Improve project data quality and identify recurring process or control issues.
• Provide practical guidance and coaching to PLs and PMs.
Project Close-out
• Coordinate financial and operational project close-out with PLs, PMs and Finance.
• Confirm completion of contractual deliverables and reporting requirements.
• Resolve outstanding consultant commitments, invoices, expenses and timesheets.
• Ensure final invoices, financial reports and required documentation are completed.
• Review final financial performance against budget.
• Support donor/client audits and close-out requirements.
• Capture lessons learned for future projects.
Qualifications & Experience
• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Business, Economics or related field; Master's or professional qualification (CPA/ACCA/CIMA) is an advantage.
• 7+ years' relevant experience across project finance, financial management and project/program management.
• Strong experience managing budgets, forecasts, reporting, controls, resources and project risks across multiple projects.
• Experience interpreting client/donor contracts and grant requirements and translating them into financial and operational controls.
• Experience in donor-funded, international development, consulting or professional-services environments preferred.
• Strong Excel, financial analysis and project/time-tracking systems skills; PMP/PRINCE2 is an advantage.
Skills & Competencies
• Strong financial acumen, budgeting, forecasting and financial-control skills.
• Strong project-management, analytical and problem-solving capabilities.
• Ability to identify financial and delivery risks early and propose practical solutions.
• Confidence to challenge unrealistic budgets, forecasts, resource plans and delivery assumptions.
• Strong stakeholder management, communication and cross-functional collaboration.
• High attention to detail, sound judgement and willingness to escalate issues when necessary.
• Ability to manage multiple projects and priorities while maintaining a strong service and controls mindset.
Anticipated Start Date: November 2026
Preferred location: Nairobi, Kenya Candidates must have local work permits. Compensation will be commensurate with experience.
Only shortlisted candidates who provide the required information will be contacted for follow-up.
At BFA, we are committed to providing an environment of mutual respect where equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants and teammates without regard to race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy (including childbirth, lactation, and related medical conditions), national origin, age, physical and mental disability, marital status, sexual orientation, military, and veteran status, and any other characteristic protected by applicable law.
BFA believes that diversity and inclusion among our teammates are critical to our success as a global company. We seek to recruit, develop and retain the most talented people from a diverse candidate pool and to carry out the best inclusion work we undertake.
*BFA will not sponsor work permits.
**BFA will not pay for relocation expenses.