Lead Risk Specialist

• Grade : PL2 
• Position No. : 50093519 
• Posting Date: 01/09/2025 
• Closing Date : 02/08/2025 

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THE BANK:

Established in 1964, the African Development Bank is the premier pan African development institution, promoting economic growth and social progress across the continent. There are 81 member states, including 54 in Africa (Regional Member Countries). The Bank’s development agenda is delivering the financial and technical support for transformative projects that will significantly reduce poverty through inclusive and sustainable economic growth. In order to sharply focus the objectives of the Bank’s Ten-Year Strategy (2024-2033) or its successor, and ensure greater developmental impact, five major areas (High 5s), all of which will accelerate our delivery for Africa, have been identified for scaling up, namely, Light up and Power Africa, Feed Africa, Industrialize Africa, Integrate Africa and Improve the Quality of Life for the People of Africa. The Bank is seeking to build a management team that will lead the successful implementation of this vision.

THE COMPLEX:

The Vice Presidency for ‘Private Sector Infrastructure and Industrialization’ is a Sector Complex focusing on the Bank’s TYS H5s priorities of “Industrialize Africa” and “Integrate Africa”. The objectives of the Complex are to: (i) drive the implementation of the ‘Industrialize Africa Strategy’; (ii) provide deep sector expertise to the Regions by leveraging on experienced individuals who can be consulted on complex transactions; (iii) develop new financing instruments; (iv) act as the Bank’s Spoke person on “Industrialize Africa” and “Integrate Africa”. The Complex’s main functions are to: strengthen the enabling environment for private sector development, which is conducive to inclusive growth and sustainable development; support the development of reliable and sustainable infrastructure, including urban development; place renewed emphasis on industrial and trade development in order to boost structural transformation across Africa; and       drive the Bank’s financial sector development by formulating tools and instruments to facilitate access to finance, including for small- and medium-sized enterprises, while also working closely with regional financial institutions. The Complex also leads the Bank’s Transport infrastructure (Road, Rails, Ports, Airports, Waterways, etc.) agenda across the continent, working closely with the Bank’s country and regional offices. The complex also leads the development and implementation of Transport development policy, Aviation framework, Public Private Partnership Framework, development of infrastructure partnership working with all other arms of the Bank.

THE HIRING DEPARTMENT/DIVISION:

The Private Sector Development Department (PISD), in collaboration with other Departments in the Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialization Complex, and with departments in other complexes handling NSO operations (PEVP, AHVP), contributes to the implementation of the Bank Group’s Private Sector Development Strategy (PSDS), as well as the implementation of the new TYS where private sector will be at the heart of the Bank Group’s operations going-forward. The PISD department is also specifically tasked with coordinating the work of the Vice Presidency, with the support of all Sector Vice Presidents and Non-Sovereign Operation (NSO) Origination Directors and Managers, as well as the PINS Director and Managers, in leading the Bank's efforts for rapid, systematic, and strategic engagement with the private sector, particularly with strategic clients, to drive investment and economic growth in Africa. It also supervises the Regional NSO Leads and NSO Industry Specialists, oversees the SME division, while ensuring compliance with relevant Bank policies and initiatives. The Front Office of the Private Sector Development Department provides strategic guidance to the overall functioning of the Department through its support to the Director. The Front Office is responsible for the coordination of the overall work consolidating outputs of the NSO Leads and the SME Business Development Division.

THE POSITION:

The AfDB is looking to recruit a Lead Risk Specialist. The Lead Risk Specialist is a key member of the Private Sector Development Department.  He/She is responsible for ensuring that AfDB’s risk appetite is clearly understood, achieving an appropriate risk-reward balance in transactions, and maintaining the quality of AfDB's portfolio. This includes identifying risks and opportunities early, ensuring they are fully disclosed and understood throughout the approval process, and participating in reviews and discussions of credit and equity standards, pricing, deal acceptance criteria, and business process improvements. The Lead Risk Specialist is jointly responsible with the NSO Origination Directors and Managers for meeting our NSO lending and investment targets, including asset quality and client responsiveness.  Additionally, the Lead Risk Specialist advises the VP, Director, and Senior Management on transaction or portfolio developments that could adversely affect AfDB’s asset quality, developmental impact, or future performance.

The Lead Risk Specialist will also play a pivotal role during the upstream stages of strategic and transformational transactions originated by NSO Leads (or staffed by NSO Chief Investment Specialists) by identifying and pre-empting potential risk issues to ensure better structuring from the onset. This includes preparing the team to address concerns that may arise during Credit Risk Committee (CRC) reviews and devising robust mitigation measures to ensure alignment with credit risk requirements.  The Lead Risk Specialist is being embedded in Operations to serve as a bridge between Operations and the 2nd line of defense (CRC/PGRF), to ensure that credit risk considerations are considered early, constructively, and in a client responsive manner so that the Bank Group makes good NSO investments in terms of asset quality and development impact, financial sustainability, and in a client responsive manner. The Lead Risk Specialist therefore advises Operations, and this includes also providing advice on when to terminate some project discussions as the credit risk considerations cannot be adequately mitigated or that there are significant breaches of the current suite of policies governing NSO operations, amongst others.

• Leadership: this is a leadership role, and the incumbent is expected to take actions to build bridges between Directors/Managers of Originating departments (including the NSO Leads and NSO Industry Specialists) and the Risk team / CRC, and foster dialogue for constructive engagement and solution-orientation.
• Solution-oriented: The role is also expected to lead on initiatives aimed at bringing sustainable solutions to Transactions’ Risks. In that capacity, the role is also expected to help reduce risk barriers to investments in line with sister institutions’ best practices.
• Culture: the incumbent will lead on defining new and relevant approaches that will help find the right balance between risk aversion and risk tolerance, proactivity versus reactivity, and externally responsive versus internally-focused, to spearhead appropriate risk culture change for competitive Non-Sovereign Operations (NSOs) in Africa.

KEY FUNCTIONS

Under the overall guidance and direct supervision of the PISD Director, the Lead Risk Specialist will perform the following, but not limited to: 

1. Proactively engage with NSO Originating departments, Regional NSO Leads and relevant industry/sector specialists to review existing pipeline with a view to identifying challenging projects that require further improvement in terms of structure and financing solutions to improve bankability and quality at entry in line with the Bank’s policies and procedures for Non-Sovereign Operations (NSOs).
2. Develop solutions to complex/innovative and transformational projects to inform proactive deal structuring to address credit risk challenges/concerns.
3. Early and close engagement with the Credit Risk Management Function (PGRF) to better understand and address credit concerns to complex, innovative and transformational transactions and /or unlock deals being tentatively considered by CRC.
4. Work with origination departments to build/promote a culture that strikes a balance between taking more risk and minimizing and/or mitigating the impact thereof on the Bank’s key prudential ratios.
5. Advise the VP, PIVP on general strategic issues that may impact processing of transactions from a credit perspective.
6. Participate in high level discussions between the VP, PIVP and Senior Management of the Credit Risk Management Function (PGRF) and other complexes as may be required to discuss key considerations of select complex or transformational projects, or to have strategic discussions around risk considerations of projects based on market trends, etc.
7. Actively support the process of reviewing the Bank’s Non-Sovereign Operations policies and processes to ensure internal consistencies and where possible, propose amendments taking into account emerging trends, benchmarking with other DFIs and best practices.
8. Early engagement with FIST/PSF where credit enhancement may be required.
9. Work closely with FIRM to seek available Trust Funds/Resources that can be blended with Bank resources for co-financing.
10. Participate in high level Bank engagement and assist in designing appropriate facilities or interventions to provide bespoke support in Regional Member Countries as required.
11. Support originating departments through knowledge sharing on lessons learnt from previous transactions, coaching and mentoring to improve the overall credit risk culture.

COMPETENCIES (skills, experience and knowledge):

1. A minimum of a master’s degree in Risk Management, Finance, Business, Economics, Law, International Development, or any other discipline relevant to the position.
2. A minimum of eight (8) years of relevant professional experience in credit risk analysis and management, preferably in a development finance institution or private sector banking environment.
3. Proven experience in guiding business units and senior management in implementing risk management frameworks and initiatives.
4. Strong knowledge of risk assessment, internal capital adequacy framework and risk appetite, deal structuring, and risk management techniques in emerging and underdeveloped markets, including Africa.
5. Expertise in credit risk management products, tools and techniques, hedging, derivatives, capital adequacy standards and structured credit instruments.
6. Proven ability to enhance portfolio quality using risk tools and methodologies, syndication, collateral management, structured financial products and risk derivatives
7. Familiarity with risk strategies, policies, procedures and practices of multilateral development institutions, in particular the AfDB.
8. Strong ability to structure NSO transactions, develop innovative solutions and challenge the status quo to develop the Bank’s private sector image and business in the region and its markets.
9. Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
10. Proven track record of influencing decision-making at a senior level and fostering collaboration across multidisciplinary teams.
11. Excellent spoken and written English or French, preferably with a working knowledge of the other language.

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THIS POSITION IS CLASSIFIED AS INTERNATIONAL RECRUITMENT AND ATTRACTS INTERNATIONAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT.

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Applicants who fully meet the Bank's requirements and are considered for further assessment will be contacted. Applicants should submit a concise Curriculum Vitae (CV) and any additional documents that may be stated as required. The President of the African Development Bank reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level.  The African Development Bank is an equal opportunities employer. Female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply. http://www.afdb.org

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The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) does not ask for payments of any kind from applicants throughout the recruitment process (job application, CV review, interview meeting, and final processing of applications). In addition, the Bank does not request information on applicants’ bank accounts. The African Development Bank Group declines all responsibility for the fraudulent publications of job offers in its name or, in general, for the fraudulent use of its name in any way whatsoever . 

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“Please note that the Bank does not accept dual nationality. Therefore, you are required to declare the nationality you would like to be considered by the Bank throughout your career, if hired. Please upload supporting Government issued IDs such as passport, National Identity Card or Certificate etc.”