Ecosystem Lead - Jobtech Alliance (based in Kenya or Nigeria) at Mercycorps, Nairobi

Ecosystem Lead - Jobtech Alliance (based in Kenya or Nigeria) at Mercycorps in Nairobi. Full-time. Apply with swipeandhired.

or Lagos, Nigeria. Candidates must have the right to work in the country in which they are based.
Position Status: Full-Time (project-based funding)
Salary Level: National
Risk Level : ☐ Level 3 ☐ Level 2 ☐ Level 1

• (Level 3: Frequent contact with participants, direct contact with children, access to sensitive data, and/or high level of accountability.

• Level 2: Some contact with participants; unplanned non-direct contact with children .

• Level 1: Likely to have no contact with participants or sensitive data)

About Prosper Global
Barely enough is not enough for anyone. Prosper Global is a humanitarian organization working alongside communities facing conflict, climate change, and economic hardship to meet urgent needs and create the conditions for lasting progress. Today's challenges demand new solutions, so we pair local knowledge with global resources to help communities build what's needed, test what's possible, and scale what's proven so that people everywhere can pursue a full life on their own terms. In 2026, we changed our name from Mercy Corps to Prosper Global, to reflect our belief that when every community can prosper, all of humanity moves forward.
Jobtech Alliance and DAWN
In late 2021, Prosper Global launched the Jobtech Alliance , a Pan-African ecosystem-building initiative around inclusive jobtech in Africa. The Jobtech Alliance has a portfolio of grants for acceleration activities with jobtech startups, and wider ecosystem-building . We learn by doing, conduct research to better understand what makes these innovations work (or not), and explore emerging themes to help define and guide the sector. Digital Advancement for Women Now (DAWN) is a four-year project in Nigeria, funded by the Mastercard Foundation and implemented within the Jobtech Alliance. It enables underserved young people, with a particular focus on young women, alongside refugees and displaced people and persons with disabilities, to access safe, inclusive and dignified work through jobtech startups.
The Position (General Position Summary)
The Jobtech Alliance Ecosystem Lead plays a key role in the leadership of the Jobtech Alliance; leading the organization's work to strengthen and shape the inclusive jobtech ecosystem in Africa. You own the ecosystem strategy, aligned with the Jobtech Alliance’s systems change model, and lead the partnerships, community, events and campaigns that turn learning into collective action. You will listen to startup founders and ecosystem actors systematically, keep your finger on the pulse of what is being built across the continent, and weave a network in which people know who needs what and who can help. You will manage the Community & Events Manager and the Communications Manager, work with the Product Lead to evolve our ecosystem intelligence platform. DAWN is a key part of this work: you will lead DAWN’s ecosystem outcome in Nigeria, working with startups, skilling providers, funders, policymakers and worker communities to build an inclusive and coordinated jobtech ecosystem.
You will be able to build within and on top of the Jobtech Alliance’s strong foundations:

• A network of thousands of key stakeholders, including operators from over 600 jobtech startups across Africa

• 150 learning products produced and over 100 events delivered, that have engaged more than 150,000 people

• A community stack build to drive an automated and user-centric community experience

• Ongoing acceleration activities with 50+ of the highest potential jobtech startups in Africa

After your first year, success looks like:

• A clear ecosystem strategy and team structure across our markets.

• We use what we know about our communities to fill the gaps that matter, bringing in the people and partners we need to drive systems change.

• We can measure and show the impact of our ecosystem work, from community and partnerships to campaigns, against our systems change domains.

• We are actively running campaigns that we can show changed how ecosystem actors behave.

• DAWN’s ecosystem work in Nigeria is running and informing our other markets

Essential Responsibilities
ECOSYSTEM STRATEGY - 15%

• Constantly evolve the strategy for how the Jobtech Alliance is useful to, and impacts, the ecosystem across all our operating countries, starting from what startup founders, users and other ecosystem actors tell us they need, and aligned with the Jobtech Alliance’s systems change model, identifying the leverage points, actors and behaviours that matter most.

• Translate the strategy into annual priorities, KPIs and plans with the Program Director, and make sure the ecosystem work of the team and partners is coherent, measured and adapted as we learn, and integrated across different teams within the Jobtech Alliance.

• Lead DAWN’s ecosystem outcome in Nigeria, making sure its ecosystem activities, convenings and collaborations are aligned with the project’s workplan and results framework and with the Jobtech Alliance’s wider strategy.

• Use research, community data and the ecosystem intelligence platform to identify emerging ecosystem needs and opportunities, working with the Research & Insights Director and other teams.

• Connect the ecosystem team’s work to the Jobtech Alliance’s Objectives and Workplan and six systems change domains, so every campaign, partnership and community activity is clear about which change it is driving.

ECOSYSTEM LISTENING, PARTNERSHIPS, COMMUNITY AND EVENTS - 30%

• Build and run a consistent system for listening to founders and ecosystem actors, speaking with hundreds of operators each year across our markets, including those not yet in our programs, through regular 1:1 conversations, roundtables and surveys. Record and share what we hear (including in the ecosystem intelligence platform) so that it shapes our strategy, services, research and partnerships.

• Keep your finger on the pulse of jobtech on the continent: track what is being built, worker feedback, new business models, emerging players and shifts in the sector, and turn what you see into regular ecosystem insights for the community and the wider sector.

• Continue evolve offering of the community to its members.

• Grow the community, including through targeted geographic expansion, focusing on onboarding agents of change.

• Be our lead network weaver: know who needs what and who can help, and make high-quality, well-timed connections between startup founders, investors, funders, service providers, policymakers and other partners.

• Work with the Community & Events Manager to evolve the community model and events to maximize learning, community engagement, networking and action, including the Africa-wide Jobtech Summit and, for DAWN, convenings and networking events in Nigeria. Working with the Community & Events Manager, oversee sub-communities and identify opportunities to launch new sub-communities, and help them become community-led and able to run on their own rather than depending on the Jobtech Alliance to run them.

• Develop strategic partnerships for the Jobtech Alliance with key stakeholders including policymakers, investors, startups associations and other ecosystem builders, and make sure each partnership advances the strategy rather than simply growing the network.

• Represent the Jobtech Alliance in key ecosystem forums, acting as a connector between startup founders, investors, funders, policymakers, and other partners.

LEARNING TO ACTION AND CAMPAIGN-DRIVEN BEHAVIOUR CHANGE - 30%

• Identify opportunities to drive behaviour change within the ecosystem through effective collective action campaigns, and decide which are worth the team’s time and partners’ attention.

• Design and lead campaigns end to end: define the behaviour to change, the actors involved, the coalition, the ask, the channels and the measures of success, working with the Community & Events Manager, Communications Manager and partners.

• Work with the Research & Insights Director to turn research findings and DAWN learning into campaigns, convenings and advocacy that lead to action.

• Track the results of campaigns, and share what worked and what did not, so the approach improves over time.

ECOSYSTEM INTELLIGENCE PLATFORM - 10%

• Work with the Product Lead to evolve the ecosystem intelligence platform, making sure the team continues to be driven by the needs, interests and engagement of the community, and can deliver high quality and personalized services.

• Use community and engagement data to prioritize services, content and 1:1 support to community members, and feed what we learn back into the ecosystem strategy.

TEAM MANAGEMENT - 15%

• Manage and develop the Community & Events Manager and the Communications Manager, setting clear priorities and goals, providing coaching and performance feedback, and building a high-performing, collaborative team.

• Oversee the ecosystem team’s workplan, budget and results, and make sure community, events and communications outputs are high quality and consistent with Jobtech Alliance and donor requirements, including the Mastercard Foundation’s communications approval requirements for DAWN.

• Contribute the ecosystem sections of DAWN’s reports to the Mastercard Foundation, working with the DAWN Project Director, and contribute to Jobtech Alliance leadership planning and reporting.

Supervisory Responsibility
Community & Events Manager; Communications Manager. If the role is based outside Nigeria, a Nigeria-based ecosystem officer may be recruited to support DAWN’s ecosystem work in Nigeria.
Accountability

• Report directly to : Jobtech Alliance Program Director

Works directly with : Start-ups , External partners (funders, investors, policymakers, ecosystem builders), Product Lead, Research & Insights Director, Results Measurement & Learning Lead, Venture Building Managers, BFA Communications team, Finance team, and, for DAWN, the DAWN Project Director and the Mastercard Foundation.
Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders
Prosper Global team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our program participants, community partners, other stakeholders, and to international standards guiding international relief and development work. We are committed to actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.
Minimum Qualification and Transferable Skills

• A minimum of 10 years of experience in ecosystem building, partnerships, community engagement, venture building and/or leadership roles in the start-up space in Africa, including experience managing teams.

• Experience as a founder or senior entrepreneur in a start-up is strongly preferred. Within a jobtech or platform businesses are further advantages.

• Experience designing and running campaigns or collective action initiatives that changed the behavior of other actors.

• Experience building communities and events in the start-up space in Africa, and/or diverse stakeholder management.

• Demonstrated capacity to come up with ideas and build things from scratch that are rolled out with multiple stakeholders.

• Bachelor’s degree in business, social science, international development, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

• Excellent communication skills, with flawless written English and an evidenced track record of developing compelling content and messages.

• Must be a strong self-starter, able to complete tasks in a timely manner while balancing several workstreams with inputs from multiple team members.

Success Factors
You are a creative, strategic leader with phenomenal EQ, and are deeply passionate about start-ups and employment in Africa. You are sectorally multilingual; able to both deeply understand the needs of startup founders and the wider youth employment sector. You think in systems and can turn evidence into campaigns that change how others behave. You can build things from scratch, and know the difference between a good and a dud partnership. You are a skilled facilitator and a natural connector, and you build and develop teams who share your energy. You are highly organized, and can keep the day-to-day ticking while working on ambitious new projects. You care about inclusion, including of young women, and about making ecosystem work lead to real action.
Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions
The position is based in Kenya or Nigeria and it requires up to 40% travel to support country programs, which may include travel to insecure locations where freedom of movement is limited and areas where amenities are limited.
Ongoing Learning
In support of our belief that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities we serve, we empower all team members to dedicate 5% of their time to learning activities that further their personal and/or professional growth and development
Team Engagement and Effectiveness
Achieving our mission starts with how we build our team and collaborate. By bringing together individuals with a variety of experiences, backgrounds, and perspectives, we strengthen our ability to solve complex challenges and drive innovation. We foster a culture of trust and respect, where every team member is valued for their contributions, empowered to reach their full potential, and motivated to do their best work.
We recognize that building a strong and effective team is an ongoing process, and we remain committed to learning, improving, and growing together.
Equal Employment Opportunity
Prosper Global is an equal opportunity employer committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, religion or belief, national origin, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, or any other characteristics protected under applicable law.
Safeguarding and Ethics
Prosper Global is committed to ensuring that all individuals we come into contact with through our work, whether team members, community members, program participants or others, are treated with respect and dignity. We are committed to the core principles regarding prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse laid out by the UN Secretary General and IASC and have signed on to the Interagency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme . We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of our team members. As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive work environment, team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner, respect local laws and customs, and to adhere to Prosper Global Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct elearning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.
As an applicant, if you witness or experience any form of sexual misconduct during the recruitment process, please report this to Prosper Global Integrity Hotline ( [email protected] ).