Job Description

Lead the execution of technical project development from early-stage preparation through to bankable feasibility, ensuring projects meet the technical, environmental, social, regulatory, and commercial requirements for investment decision-making and financial close.

Key Responsibilities

1.Project Development and Technical Execution

Provide technical inputs in the development of project development strategies to unlock infrastructure projects in South Africa, SADC and select African Countries through project preparation. Design projects that support the annual disbursement target and the division's strategic objectives. Lead the technical, engineering, and environmental components of project preparation to achieve bankable feasibility. Develop detailed project development workplans and schedules covering feasibility studies, Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA), technical designs, grid and geotechnical studies, and permitting processes. Define scope, technical specifications, quality standards, milestones, deliverables, and resource requirements for project development activities. Lead the preparation of pre-feasibility and feasibility studies, including engineering designs, cost estimates, implementation models, scheduling and risk assessments. Oversee development of preliminary and detailed design work, including capacity sizing, layout planning, technology selection, and constructability evaluations. Ensure technical solutions are aligned to appropriate technology standards, lifecycle cost considerations, operational performance requirements, and sustainability principles. Provide technical guidance to the project development team, ensuring maintenance of quality standards and a standardised approach.

2.Procurement and Management of Technical Service Providers

Draft the Terms of Reference (ToR) and technical procurement specifications for external consultants, engineers, and technical advisors. Lead the procurement process in line with DBSA procurement governance. Manage, oversee, and quality-assure outputs of technical service providers, ensuring deliverables meet technical and bankability standards.

3.Due Diligence and Regulatory Compliance

Review projects for compliance with legislation impacting infrastructure development. Coordinate with relevant specialists for Environmental and Social Impact Assessments (ESIAs) and associated management plans in accordance with IFC/World Bank standards, local regulatory requirements, and climate-resilient development principles. Engage with regulators, utilities, municipalities, and line ministries to secure required permits, licenses, environmental approvals, water use rights, grid connection approvals, etc. Validate and adhere to all legislative, sector policy, and regulatory conditions that are embedded into feasibility outputs. Maintain a risk register covering technical, environmental, commercial and execution risks and provide risk mitigation strategies.

4.Financial and Commercial Assessment Support

Liaise with a multidisciplinary team to support programme implementation, identifying funding needs for the project development. Provide technical inputs to prepare bankable feasibility data packs to enable financial modelling, investment appraisal, and structuring. Work closely with financial specialists to test project affordability, revenue models, commercial structures, and risk allocation frameworks.

5.Bankable Feasibility Report Development

Consolidate all technical, environmental, social, regulatory, commercial and cost data into a bankable feasibility report suitable for due diligence, financial modelling, structuring, and investment decision-making. Validate accuracy, completeness and technical defensibility for financial appraisal. Prepare presentations and submissions for Investment Committees and transaction preparation governance structures.

6.Relationship Management and Stakeholder Relations

Build and maintain strong relationships with clients, global and regional private businesses, banking and multilateral partners and government officials to further develop specific investment opportunities. Facilitate continuous communication with clients/ projects that the DBSA has funded to adequately support the Division's monitoring function. Network and maintain relationships with key internal and external stakeholders to develop specific investment opportunities further. Identify clients' pain points and coordinate DBSA's solution offerings to address them.

Undertake other tasks as assigned by the line manager, from time to time.

Key Measurements of Outputs

1.Value of bankable projects developed.

2.Value and number of projects approved and committed.

3.Value of infrastructure catalysed.

4.Reduction in impairments through de-risking technical and commercial risk aspects of projects.

5.Management of client relationships and key stakeholders.

6.Quality of signed agreements/mandates.

7.Clean Audit.

Expertise & Technical Competencies

a)Business Acumen

Deep understanding of commercial drivers and can make decisions based on an assessment of alternatives concerning complex business situations. Deep understanding of economic priorities of South Africa and Africa and how they can be implemented to meet an organisation's strategic objectives. Deep understanding of the need to coordinate efforts with many government entities, the private sector, community groups and individuals to ensure effective implementation of new policies and regulations. Takes actions to fit business strategy. Assesses and links short-term tasks in the context of long-term business strategies or perspectives. Reviews own actions against the organisation's strategic plan; includes the big picture when considering possible opportunities or projects, or thinks about long-term applications of current activities. Anticipates possible responses to different initiatives. Understands the projected direction of the industry and how changes might impact the organisation.

b)Project Management

Ability to plan, initiate, execute, control and close projects related to a relevant function as well as to track and manage resources, timelines, costs, deliverables and performance, and implement contingency plans if necessary, to ensure projects are successfully. Defines, plans and manages large and/or strategic projects, including those with a high degree of technical complexity, with impacts across the organisation and/or with national implications. Assembles and leads diverse and multi-disciplinary teams, ensuring maximum effective resource utilisation. Successfully manages substantial project budgets and reports directly to senior managers on the progress and results of projects. Identifies complex issues that need escalation and proposes appropriate corrective action by maintaining a respected profile with relevant external organisations and the research community in general.

c)Project Preparation

Demonstrates a sound understanding of limited recourse and balance sheet funding, the process required to prepare projects, and financing documentation required to present projects for investment decisions. Leads an internal team of sector specialists and analysts to appraise and present transactions to internal committees. Appoints and leads a team of external consultants/advisors (technical, environmental, financial and legal) to prepare and present the Project Information Memorandum (PIM) to prospective financiers. Analyses sponsors' financial statements, understands and reviews financial models. Demonstrates a sound understanding of the water, transport and energy sectors to identify potential fatal flaws generally associated with these sectors in projects presented and key risks to be mitigated.

d)Solution Focus

Identifies broad, highly complex problems based on a multitude of factors, many of which are complex and sweeping in nature, difficult to define and often contradictory. Creates procedures to articulate the nature of problems and to identify and weigh alternate solutions. Evaluates the effectiveness of solutions using approaches tailored to the situation.

e)Financial Analysis

Serves as subject matter expert. Evaluates and determines fiscal, operational, and service impacts; analyses and evaluates legislation; and implements and evaluates statistical models in their subject areas. Demonstrates in-depth technical and administrative knowledge of the rules and regulations in the subject area and to defend analyses, testimony, and recommendations relating to a variety of issues before management and commissions.

f)Risk Management

Drives integration and standardisation of risk management processes across the organisation. Advises on the application of the organisation's risk management policies, industry best practices and constructs organisation guidelines. Analyses trends in risk management and internal control, evaluates implications, defines, and implements organisation-wide response.

g)Negotiation

Has an appreciation of cultural sensitivities and differences. Effectively employs a variety of advanced behavioural/interpersonal competencies to control the negotiation situation. Can take the lead in a variety of sensitive negotiation situations requiring high levels of tact and diplomacy. Can place a discrete negotiation situation within the context of a broader long-term relationship and is not threatened by conceding ground to protect the longer-term interests of DBSA.

h)Commercial Awareness

Deep understanding of commercial drivers and can make decisions based on an assessment of alternatives concerning complex business situations. Deep understanding of DBSA economic priorities and how they can be implemented to meet DBSA's strategic objectives. Deep understanding of DBSA's core sector role in achieving DBSA's strategic objectives. Deep understanding of the need to coordinate efforts with many government entities, the private sector, community groups and individuals to ensure effective implementation of new policies and regulations.

i)Communication and Reporting

Able to communicate complex problems or concepts by making them simple and understandable for others. Adapts language to the level of the audience to ensure that the message has a positive impact and is interesting to the audience. Is articulate, demonstrates a wide range of vocabulary, and is confident when talking to large/high-level audiences. Designs / customises reports to meet user needs. Prepares complex or tailored reports, gathers information from a variety of sources, analyses and includes in a report. Keeps standard reports under review and proposes improvements to meet user needs.

j)Presentation Skills

Knows how to deliver arguments persuasively by employing a range of advanced presentation techniques (e.g., the appropriate use of body language, how to close a presentation so that the audience continues to think about the subject matter, etc.). Has knowledge of various feedback mechanisms to check levels of audience understanding.

Minimum Requirements

Bachelor's Degree in Engineering and/or in the Built Environment (Civil, Construction Management or Quantity Surveying). Registration with the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) as a professional engineer (PrEng).

Minimum Experience

Minimum 10 years' experience in infrastructure project development/preparation in the built environment, public sector management, advisory service or consulting experience. Experience in dealing with development finance institutions at the various levels of government and business. Demonstrated expertise in financial modelling and feasibility analysis. Extensive experience in structuring project finance deals. Successful track record in business development and stakeholder management. Understanding of infrastructure project development, feasibility and structuring. Understanding of financial modelling and project finance structuring. Knowledge of regulatory frameworks and industry best practices.

Desirable Requirements

Project Management professional with one of the following qualifications: Project Management Institute (PMI), Projects in Controlled Environments (PRINCE) and South African Council for the Project and Construction Management Professions (SACPCMP).

Required Personal Attributes

a)Achievement Orientation

Focuses on new or more effective ways of improving own work and meeting targets. Focuses on raising quality, customer satisfaction and revenues. Makes specific changes to systems and processes to improve efficiency and quality. Formulates own objectives and action plans to achieve a measurable improvement in the future.

b)Analytical Thinking

Identifies multiple elements of a problem and breaks down each of those elements in detail, showing causal relationships between them. Uses several analytical techniques to identify several solutions and weighs the value of each.

c)Conceptual thinking

Creates new concepts that are not obvious to others and not learned from previous education or experience to explain situations or resolve problems. Looks at things in a significantly novel way, breakthrough thinking.

d)Strategic and Innovative thinking

Recognises opportunities or problems emerging in patterns and trends, and their impact on the business and profitability drivers. Applies learning from previous situations and experiences. Sees underlying causality in the current situation. Applies business acumen to make sound decisions. Recognises opportunities or potential problems, before they become obvious, by seeing the connections in a range of sources of information, including insights from outside DBSA. Restates complex knowledge in a way that makes it easier for others to understand.

e)Commercial Business Acumen

Understands business fundamentals. Analyses and comprehends organisational goals and strategies. Understands tactical business fundamentals in the public sector environment and incorporates them into decision-making.

f)Teamwork

Acts to promote a friendly climate and good morale and resolves conflicts. Creates opportunities for cross-functional working. * Encourages others to network outside of their own team/department and learn from their experience.