Team Lead, Investments

HDX Hub Overview

The European Commission (EC), the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) announced a new financing partnership to address critical global health challenges. The partnership marks a significant increase in funding for global health and human development under the European Commission’s European Fund for Sustainable Development Plus (EFSD+) and is expected to include a match of new complementary funding for global health by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Under EFSD+, the European Commission has allocated more than €750m of guarantees for innovation in and access in health systems in low- and middle-income countries, as well as €40m of grants for Technical Assistance (TA), of which €290m will be matched by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The partnership is creating a Human Development Accelerator (HDX) Hub, to develop and manage pipeline of at least €1bn of investment into global health and human development in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. The HDX Hub is responsible for identifying scoping and overseeing concessional investment opportunities and for ensuring close alignment between the EC, the EIB, and BMGF on global health financing investment decisions.

The HDX Hub will develop a pipeline of investment opportunities and will report on the overall portfolio of investments to a Joint Steering Committee and support the EIB investment and management processes. The HDX Hub will also identify new opportunities to partner between the EC, EIB, and BMGF, as well as with other Development Finance Institutions (DFIs). This will help promote the EC, EIB, and BMGF as innovators in development finance, ultimately leveraging greater funding volumes for human development. In addition, the HDX Hub will explore ways to develop and adapt financial instruments to better address issues faced in LMIC human development. The team will also look for opportunities to shape partner investments to maximize collective impact and to further expand the partnership.

Governance

The HDX Hub will be overseen by a Working Group and answerable to a Joint Steering Committee of the EC, EIB and BMGF. The HDX Hub will be contracted to Value for Good for human resources and logistical support, and sit within the EIB, providing consulting support to the EIB investment processes. The team at the HDX Hub will be based in Brussels to ensure engagement with all relevant stakeholders.

Objectives

The HDX Hub will have the following objectives:

• Develop pipeline of investment opportunity proposals: Identify, scope, develop, and assess investments in global health and wider human development sectors (including nutrition, gender, and education) in collaboration with partners to maximize impact.
• Actively support EIB to manage the portfolio of investments: Support reporting on investment KPIs and progress, as well as support in actively managing the risk of the portfolio.
• Provide support to the Joint Steering Committee and Working Group: Develop materials, understand partner priorities, and ensure alignment to enable the partnership to efficiently identify and approve appropriate opportunities. The HDX Hub will also help identify and propose additional opportunities for collaboration between the EC, EIB, and BMGF.
• Support to enhance development finance capability to invest in human capital: Provide development finance expertise in areas relevant to human development and innovative finance in LMICs. Support the partners in shaping their instruments, funding windows, and processes to maximize their impact and alignment with human development investments.
• Develop long term vision for HDX Hub: The HDX Hub initially has a 4-year mandate, with an ambition to develop into a long-term team focused on human development investments and cross partner collaboration.

Overall Approach

• Outcome-oriented: Continually keeps an eye on performance, focusing on improving it, showing drive and determination to meet short and long-term goals.
• Agile: Adapts to differences and changes in the environment; takes a flexible approach to reach outcomes.
• Collaborative: Works cooperatively as part of a team and works collaboratively with peers across organizational boundaries based on a genuine interest in and an accurate understanding of others and their individual perspectives and concerns.
• Integrity: Willing to align her/his own behavior with organization-specific needs and intrinsic values, acting with integrity in ways that promote organization-specific missions, policies, and rules.
• Inclusion: We are dedicated to the belief that all lives have equal value. We’re committed to creating a workplace where employees thrive both personally and professionally. We also believe employees should reflect the rich diversity of the global populations we aim to serve—in race, gender, age, cultures and beliefs—and we support this diversity through all of our employment practices. Applicants and employees will enjoy equality of opportunity and fair treatment without regard to race, color, age, religion, pregnancy, sex, sexual orientation, disability, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, genetic information, veteran status, marital status, and prior protected activity.

Role Description

The Team Lead will bring strong leadership experience, expertise in finance, and experience in development, global health and / or life science to identify and manage the HDX Hub investment portfolio, optimize innovative financing mechanisms for investment, and build partnerships to grow the HDX Hub.

The Team Lead will lead a multidisciplinary team and will be responsible for ensuring effective collaboration across the team and for optimizing both team and portfolio performance. They will leverage extensive leadership and project management experience to oversee the portfolio, ensuring effective resource allocation, budgeting, and reporting. They will be responsible for identifying and prioritising pipeline opportunities, for dynamically managing the portfolio, and for leading the HDX Hub.

They will also be responsible for building and maintaining relationships with senior internal and external stakeholders, reporting on portfolio performance, and negotiating and building partnerships with external entities. The Team Lead will leverage a strong background in development finance and / or in banking, as well as experience in the global health and / or life science spaces, to manage end-to-end deal structuring and execution and advise to partners on investments.

Accountabilities

• Lead and motivate the team, set clear objectives, ensure knowledge-sharing, oversee expertise across functional areas, and promote professional growth for team members
• Work across sectors to identify, assess, and scope relevant investment opportunities with a focus on global health and / or life sciences
• Work with HDX Hub and the EIB to advise on, and shape potential projects to utilize the most appropriate financial instruments to address specific development needs
• Foster collaboration between the EIB, EC, and BMGF, identifying aligned projects, concisely presenting proposals in a clear and structured manner, and facilitating decision-making between organizations with diverse priorities
• Support the active management and monitoring of the portfolio, dynamically assessing portfolio risk and reclassifying risks over time to free up provisioning for investment
• Identify and build new partnerships with external stakeholders (e.g. WHO, Gavi, CEPI, Global Fund, DFIs, etc.) to leverage additional finance into strategic development areas and projects
• Ensure the ongoing development of innovative and effective financing mechanisms to better address human development issues faced in LMICs
• Leverage finance expertise, as well as relevant development, global health and / or life science expertise, to inform and prioritize investment decisions
• Provide technical expertise in finance, as well as in development, global health and / or life science, to guide and provide technical oversight for project team and colleagues

Key Skills

• Banking/investment management expertise, with experience identifying investment pipelines, dynamically assessing risk, and actively managing a portfolio (ideally managed by a consortium of stakeholders)
• Ability to establish and maintain relationships with diverse stakeholders, including development finance institutions, global health institutions, governments, civil society, and the private sector
• Strong leadership and managerial skills, including experience leading cross-functional teams and handling multiple deadlines simultaneously
• Strategic thinking to analyze and structure complex problems to make clear informed decisions aligned with the objectives of multiple organizations
• Adept at identifying and addressing challenges promptly, adapting to changing circumstances, and pitching ideas to stakeholders
• Demonstrated professionalism in handing sensitive information and adhering to institutional requirements
• Excellent knowledge of written and spoken English; A good command of French preferred

Experience

• Bachelor’s and / or Master’s degree in finance / economics; dual degree with life science / medicine preferred
• 12+ years of experience in banking / development finance, including experience in financial and credit risk assessment
• Investment experience in LMIC markets, development, global health and / or life science
• Run organisations, teams, or units before, preferably with full accountability for costs and impact
• Experience working with DFIs and/or EU institutions preferred

Potential Salary Band: Competitive salary, 2-year full-time contract with the expectation to extend.

Location: Based in Brussels, Belgium. Must be able to legally work in the country where this position is located without visa sponsorship.