About The Position
The Head of Impact Measurement, Verification, and Learning (IMVL) leads the generation, verification, and use of high-quality impact intelligence to support investment decisions, portfolio performance management, stakeholder accountability, and organizational learning, particularly in fragile, climate-vulnerable, and underserved markets in least developed countries and small island developing states. Working under the guidance and supervision of the UNCDF Executive Secretary, the role coordinates the IMVL Unit in the UNCDF front office, which includes Strategic Intelligence, Impact Measurement, and Evaluation. The unit assesses whether UNCDF’s programming in digital finance, SME finance, and sub-national and municipal support achieves intended development impacts, and provides evidence-based recommendations to improve performance and enable replication, scale, investment crowd-in, and market transformation. As a member of the senior management team, the Head leads impact management and assessment and contributes to transaction structuring, pipeline development, risk analysis, and knowledge sharing. The role is based in New York, United States, and requires occasional travel. UNCDF personnel may be periodically redeployed to regional hubs or headquarters as needed, subject to capability, consent, and due process. Personnel are expected to work across units, functions, teams, and projects in multidisciplinary teams to support horizontal collaboration. The Head leads strategic impact intelligence, portfolio insight, knowledge management, thought leadership, and IMVL data systems and digital tools; oversees impact verification, measurement, and assurance; leads evaluation and learning; and manages governance, reporting, and stakeholder engagement. The role also leads and develops the IMVL team, including staff, consultants, and technical experts, and manages the unit’s work plans, deliverables, performance, and capacity development.
Requirements
- Advanced university degree (master’s degree or equivalent) in Finance, Economics, International Development, or a related field; alternatively, a first-level university degree in these areas with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced degree.
- At least 10 years of progressively responsible international finance and development experience, including at a senior level, with a master’s degree; or at least 12 years with a bachelor’s degree.
- At least 5 years of experience in impact investing, blended finance, private equity, or sustainable finance.
- Experience partnering with the private sector to deliver measurable development outcomes.
- Experience designing and implementing impact management frameworks, strategic selectivity approaches, and portfolio management tools within development finance institutions.
- Fluency in English.
Nice To Haves
- Proven experience with financial modelling and transaction structuring, including loans and guarantees.
- Knowledge and experience of underwriting, due diligence, and structuring processes for bankable projects in developing countries.
- Experience working with UN organizations and multilateral or bilateral financial institutions.
- Experience with multilateral development banks, particularly designing private-sector operations and engaging with MDB trust funds and concessional financing windows.
- Demonstrated experience engaging senior-level strategic donors.
- Experience representing organizations at high-level international fora on sustainability issues, such as the G20 or OECD.
- Fluency in other official UN languages.
Responsibilities
- Lead development and provision of forward-looking impact intelligence to inform investment strategy, pipeline development, and portfolio performance.
- Develop impact intelligence products, analyze relevant sectoral, geographic, and thematic trends, and develop impact theories aligned with UNCDF priorities.
- Produce portfolio-level impact insights to inform resource allocation and risk management, and integrate contextual intelligence such as fragility, climate vulnerability, and market gaps into decision frameworks.
- Institutionalize learning, contribute to sector-wide knowledge, develop guidance and technical notes, maintain repositories of lessons and best practices, and produce thematic briefs, research outputs, and case studies.
- Promote innovation in impact methodologies and ensure reliable impact-data infrastructure, system requirements, interoperability, visualization tools, dashboards, and data governance standards, coordinating with Corporate IT as needed.
- Ensure robust, standardized, and practical measurement of impact across UNCDF investments and programs, including support for due diligence on theory-of-change coherence, safeguards, and expected development outcomes.
- Safeguard the credibility, integrity, and reliability of reported impact results; verify data reported by investees and partners; oversee data-quality audits, spot checks, and validation; and implement impact-assurance protocols.
- Manage relationships with external verification partners, identify risks of impact overstatement or data gaps, and ensure traceability from reported outcomes to source evidence.
- Oversee UNCDF’s evaluation function; develop evaluation frameworks suited to blended finance; oversee midterm, final, and ex post evaluations; commission and supervise external evaluators; and integrate learning into program and investment design.
- Translate evaluation findings into practical recommendations and disseminate actionable learning.
- Prepare accurate impact reports for senior leadership, donors, investors, and other stakeholders; support reporting against development and Strategic Framework commitments; and ensure reported results align with verified evidence.
- Contribute to UNCDF annual reports, impact disclosures, and strategic reviews, and prepare impact briefings for the Executive Secretary, Managing Director, and Executive Board.
- Build productive relationships with internal and external partners; coordinate with investment teams to integrate impact into decisions, including through participation in the UNCDF Investment and Disbursement Impact Committee; and liaise with investees to strengthen measurement capacity.
- Engage donors, development partners, and co-investors on impact matters and represent UNCDF in technical working groups.
- Lead a small team of staff and consultants; develop and manage annual work plans; supervise and mentor staff; assign workloads; set performance expectations and development plans; build capacity in evaluation methods and data analytics; and maintain a collaborative, results-oriented team culture.
- Perform other duties within the functional profile as needed for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
