Manager: JET Portfolios

Background
The African Climate Foundation (ACF) is the first and only African-led climate change re-granting organisation on the continent. Through a combination of grant making, fellowships, transformational research, technical assistance, coalition building and advocacy the ACF seeks to support interventions at the nexus of climate change, and development that have the greatest potential to deliver long-term socio-economic transformation and inclusive development.

The JET PMU

The JET PMU is South Africa's high-impact delivery unit for the Just Energy Transition, driving implementation of the JET Investment Plan (JET IP) through strategic coordination, resource mobilisation, and support across six JET Portfolios: Electricity, New Energy Vehicles, Green Hydrogen, Skills, Municipalities, and Mpumalanga.

About the role

As part of the MOU signed between the African Climate Foundation (ACF) and the Just Energy Transition Projects Management Unit (JET PMU); the ACF agreed to provide resources to the JET PMU to enable the JET PMU to fulfil its mandate pursuant to the JET PMU’s terms of reference. This includes the secondment of technical experts across all relevant disciplines to support the agenda of the JET PMU.

The Manager: JET Portfolios provides strategic oversight, leadership, and operational direction across all six JET Portfolios. The role manages a team of Portfolio Leads — primarily Independent Contractors — ensuring that each Lead Institution is properly aligned, adequately capacitated, and delivering on its JET mandate.

This is not a role where you do the work of the Portfolios — it is a role where you ensure the Portfolio Leads and Lead Institutions can do that work effectively, with appropriate direction, accountability, and support. The incumbent must be comfortable leading through influence rather than hierarchy, and building institutional capacity in organisations that retain their own mandates and governance structures.

The role also carries responsibility for timely, accurate monitoring, reporting, and evaluation of progress across all six Portfolios, and for financial oversight of JET PMU resources deployed across the programme.

This role will be seconded to the JET PMU and will work under the direction of the Manager: Operations.

Key Deliverables:

Strategic Leadership & Portfolio Management

• Provide strategic oversight across all six JET Portfolios, ensuring alignment with the JET IP and national energy policies.
• Guide Portfolio Leads in the planning, execution, monitoring, and evaluation of JET initiatives.
• Develop integrated strategies that drive genuine cross-sectoral collaboration among the Portfolios.
• Develop plans and resources to capacitate Lead Institutions for their long-term JET responsibilities.
• Lead efforts to scale up key JET programmes and projects, ensuring alignment with government and private sector initiatives.

Stakeholder Engagement & Coordination

• Act as the primary liaison between JET PMU leadership, government departments, industry bodies, and international partners across the six Portfolios.
• Support the establishment of partnerships with funding institutions, investors, and research organisations.
• Work with the Manager: JET Financing to mobilise financing aligned to Portfolio project pipelines.
• Represent the JET PMU in high-level forums, policy discussions, and global climate platforms when required.

Financial & Resource Management

• Work with the Manager: Operations to oversee the allocation and utilisation of JET PMU funds across Portfolios.
• Support efforts to secure additional operational funding from public and private sector sources for the JET PMU and Lead Institutions.
• Monitor financial performance and ensure compliance with donor requirements and regulatory frameworks

Performance Monitoring & Reporting

• Develop and implement KPIs to track progress, impact, and sustainability across the JET Portfolios.
• Provide data-driven insights to optimise Portfolio implementation.
• Provide regular reports to the Manager: Operations and suggest improvements based on performance evidence.

Risk Management & Compliance

• Support Portfolio Leads to develop risk mitigation strategies for technical, financial, and social risks associated with the energy transition.
• Ensure compliance and reporting with relevant national and international resourcing agreements.

Functional Leadership and Portfolio Coordination

• Act as the primary coordination point for the JET Portfolios, directing the tasks and deliverables of Independent Contractors to maintain alignment with JET PMU objectives.
• Proactively identify delivery risks and implement remediation strategies to ensure Portfolio continuity.

Who we are looking for

This is a role for a proven senior leader who has operated at the intersection of energy or development programme delivery, government engagement, and investment mobilisation — and who can provide strategic direction.

Cross-sectoral programme leadership

• You have at least 10 years of senior experience managing complex, multi-stakeholder programmes — ideally spanning more than one sector of the energy transition or economic development landscape. You have led through others, managed people without direct authority, and held a portfolio of workstreams accountable simultaneously.

Government and institutional relationships

• You have worked closely with South African government departments, state-owned entities, and development finance institutions. You understand how these institutions work from the inside — their governance, their decision-making rhythms, and what it takes to build durable working relationships across institutional boundaries.

Investment and financing experience

• You have experience mobilising financing for large-scale programmes or projects — including working with DFIs, donors, and private sector partners. You understand how financing structures work and can support Portfolio Leads in navigating funding opportunities.

Institutional capacity building

• You have experience supporting institutions — government agencies, SOEs, provincial bodies — to build their own long-term capability to execute complex mandates. You understand the difference between providing support and creating dependency.

Monitoring, evaluation and reporting rigour

• You have designed and implemented performance monitoring frameworks for complex programmes, and you use data to make decisions and recommendations — not just to produce reports.

Qualifications

• A Master's degree in Public Policy, Economics, Engineering, Business Administration, or a related field. Equivalent professional experience at senior level will be considered.

Start date: Position available immediately

Location: South Africa.

Contract duration: 12 months, consisting of 2 x 6-month renewable contracts

Closing date: 20 March 2026

For further information about the ACF, visit www.africanclimatefoundation.org.

Should you not hear back from us by 30 April 2026, please consider your application to be unsuccessful.

The ACF strives to be an equitable organisation with a team which reflects the diversity of Africa.

In compliance with the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), The ACF assures all applicants that any personal information provided during the recruitment process will be treated with the utmost confidentiality and used solely for recruitment purposes. Your privacy and data security are of paramount importance to us. By applying for this position, you consent to the collection, processing, and storage of your personal information for recruitment-related activities only. The ACF is committed to safeguarding your privacy and maintaining the trust you place in us.