Senior Manager, Impact Ventures

Company Overview

The Conduit serves as a home for people passionate about achieving positive social, environmental and economic change. Our community shares our belief that the world’s most pressing problems are better understood as opportunities waiting for entrepreneurial solutions. The Conduit’s mission is to convene a collaborative community that scales and accelerates solutions to the world’s greatest challenges and provide its community with a physical home, with industry leading sustainable and ethical hospitality, where creativity and innovation can flourish. Our members are from all over the world, from all sectors and industries and are representative of the world we live in.

The Impact Team

The Impact team is the engine that turns the intelligence of our community into funded, real-world action. We work across six thematic pillars – Regenerating Climate & Nature, Inclusive Economies, Health & Food Futures, Future of Impact Leadership, Reimagining Democracy & Justice, and AI for Good – and move ideas through a clear Framework for Impact:

·      Solutions Agenda – sets our thematic priorities, so everything we scout and incubate is aimed at where collective action can deliver the greatest impact.

·      Solutions Scouting – always-on intelligence that spots emerging solutions, unmet needs and promising ideas across our global network of changemakers, innovators and leaders.

·      Solutions Lab – where the most promising opportunities are incubated, tested and accelerated – from idea to funded initiative.

·      Scale – we convene coalitions, pilots and system-level programmes, acting as convenor, incubator or delivery partner.

The next frontier for the team is building new impact ventures. Some of the boldest solutions emerging from our Solutions Lab will need a dedicated, investable vehicle with its own commercial model, partners and capital. We are now laying the foundations for the first of these purpose-led spin-out businesses – and this role is central to that work.

Role Summary

The Senior Manager, Impact Ventures will lead the due diligence that takes our most promising solutions from compelling concept to investable proposition. You will own the numbers – the financial models, scenarios, budgets, capital costs, paybacks and returns – and the relationships that make them real: the asset owners, contractors, implementers, co-funders and investors whose input and commitment turn a costed hypothesis into a venture ready to take to institutional capital.

Initially you will lead diligence on a confidential, infrastructure-linked impact venture in our Inclusive Economies and Climate portfolio, preparing it for conversations with leading investors, banks and asset managers. You will also apply the same rigour to an emerging coalition concept in urban climate adaptation – costing interventions, mapping energy and technology economics and building the financial case. This is a rare role for someone who is equally at home in a spreadsheet and in a room full of decision-makers.

Key Responsibilities

1. Own the Financial Case

·      Build, own and continuously refine robust financial models for new ventures and coalitions, across both environmental and social interventions, with clear scenario and sensitivity analysis.

·      Turn the data, quotations and insight gathered through partner and site engagement into robust, evidence-based inputs.

·      Design the capital stack and commercial model for each venture – combining investor capital, performance-based or as-a-service structures, and philanthropic, public and corporate co-funding.

2. Build the Pipeline and Partnerships

·      Lead outreach to asset owners and operators to understand their realities, constraints and needs, and build a qualified pipeline of pilot sites and early partners.

·      Identify, qualify and build relationships with delivery partners, testing pricing, capacity and appetite and shaping the partner model.

·      Build relationships with philanthropic, public and corporate co-funders and with local and regional government.

·      Join the dots across The Conduit’s community of members, partners and investors, proactively spotting and pursuing opportunities that accelerate the work.

3. Make it Investable

·      Lead the development of investor-ready materials for institutional investors, lenders, asset managers, development finance institutions and foundations.

·      Engage early with capital providers to understand what they need to see, and shape the proposition, evidence base and structure around it.

·      Design measurement and verification approaches aligned with recognised standards, so that financial returns and social and environmental outcomes can be evidenced.

·      Monitor market, policy and investor trends to keep each proposition sharp, relevant and competitive.

4. Shape New Ventures and Coalitions

·      Help design the operating and governance model for new spin-out ventures, including legal structure and partner model.

·      Work closely with the Senior Director, Impact Programmes, the Chief Executive Officer, the Chief Development Officer, the Chief Financial Officer, our Experts in Residence and the wider Impact team to integrate this work with the Solutions Agenda, coalition-building activity and The Conduit’s programming and partnerships.

·      Develop a repeatable due diligence playbook that future Solutions Lab ventures can follow.

·      Handle commercially sensitive information with discretion.

Skills & Experience

Essential:

·      Financial Modelling and Commercial Analysis

o  Advanced, hands-on financial modelling skills, with experience building models from scratch and owning scenario, sensitivity and returns analysis.

o  Strong understanding of capital budgeting, unit economics and how investors and lenders assess risk and return.

o  Significant experience (typically 6+ years) in a relevant field such as infrastructure or project finance, energy or renewables development, transaction advisory, corporate finance, impact investing, strategy consulting or venture building.

·      Business Development and Relationship Building

o  A proven track record of originating opportunities and building trusted relationships with senior stakeholders across asset owners, suppliers, funders and investors.

o  A natural connector who spots opportunities and joins the dots across sectors and networks.

·      Strategic Thinking and Execution

o  Ability to turn ambiguous, early-stage ideas into structured plans and investable propositions.

o  Highly organised and self-directed, able to manage multiple complex workstreams with autonomy in a fast-moving environment.

·      Communication and Influence

o  Excellent written and verbal communication, able to translate complex analysis into clear, compelling investment narratives for senior and non-specialist audiences.

o  Experience producing investor-ready materials, and the credibility to present and defend them.

o  Sound judgement and discretion when handling confidential information.

·      Cross-sector Understanding

o  Knowledge of the impact, blended and sustainable finance landscape, including the roles of philanthropic, public and private capital.

o  Understanding of inclusive economy and social value approaches, and how community programmes create value alongside commercial returns.

o  A genuine commitment to social and environmental impact.

Desirable:

·      Experience in energy, particularly solar, storage, energy efficiency, energy markets or power purchase and energy performance contracting.

·      Experience in the built environment, real estate or infrastructure, including construction cost planning or retrofit programmes.

·      Experience designing, delivering or financing social and economic inclusion programmes, such as entrepreneur training and incubation or skills and employment pathways.

·      Experience in a start-up, spin-out, venture builder or founding team.

·      Familiarity with impact and ESG measurement, verification and reporting frameworks.

·      Knowledge of climate adaptation and urban resilience.