Strategy Consultant or Engagement Manager

Location: Flexible (US, Europe, or African time zones preferred)

ISF Advisors is the leading strategic and financial advisory group committed to mobilizing capital for a more sustainable, equitable, and productive global food system.

Building on a decade of industry research, the ISF Advisors team combines experience from top-tier strategy, investment banking, and corporate finance firms to help the public and private sector develop more practical, profitable, and sustainable financial solutions. This combination of expertise allows us to analyze problems with a systems lens and structure investment solutions that mobilize different forms of investment and philanthropic capital.

Our sector leading research on agriculture and food systems generates ideas and insights to inform investment strategy for public and private funders. In addition to issues affecting smallholder farmers and rural enterprise, we have deep experience working in adjacent areas including technology, youth, gender, nutrition, climate change, forestry, and land use.

ISF Advisors has become a trusted advisor and partner to leading institutions involved in food systems, including many of the world’s largest investors, donors, companies, NGOs, and foundations. For more information, visit our website: www.isfadvisors.org

About You

You are a self-motivated leader, passionate about leveraging finance to address social and environmental issues in the global food system. You thrive in a client-facing team environment and you are comfortable traveling and navigating diverse cultures. You have an analytical mind, and you want to leverage your creative problem solving skills to support clients in developing practical solutions. 

Recent ISF Consultants have developed investment tools for food fortification, assessed emerging digital agriculture platforms, analyzed a range of climate information services for banks, and backstopped transactional advisory support for agro-industrialization opportunities in East Africa.

• Collaborate with the ISF team on research, design, and development of business models or financial structures focused on agriculture and food systems. Specific projects will depend on the ISF pipeline, but sample projects may include:
  • Conduct market landscape analyses, feasibility assessment, and option prioritization for new food and agriculture finance opportunities with ISF clients;
  • Support the design and development of new projects and business models focused on rural financial inclusion, working with agro-enterprises, investment companies, and/or financial service providers;
  • Develop strategies on financial market interventions for donors and foundations in the food and agriculture sector.
• Conduct complex economic, market, and stakeholder analyses while problem-solving around specific issues; creatively find and draw upon sources of data from ISF research, clients, and external organizations.
• Support in-depth due diligence, including financial, market, legal and stakeholder analyses related to corporate advisory and specific problem-solving mandates
• Support direct intellectual input and analysis for original ISF research efforts, engage with key stakeholders to further the team’s understanding, and support the production and creation of publishable content, in collaboration with ISF’s communications team.
• Manage individual work plan, including tasks and milestones.
• Travel as needed to support analysis and implementation.

• Bachelors degree in business, finance, public affairs, or other relevant field, with excellent academic record.
• At least two (2) years as a top performer at a leading firm in strategy consulting, corporate advisory, or comparable experience working in a client-facing team involving deep analytical approaches. For Engagement Managers, at least one (1) year of client-facing project management experience.
• Strong analytical and conceptual skills applied towards understanding and interpreting business operations, management capabilities, and practices.
• Experience in multi-stakeholder facilitation through workshops, working groups, and relationship management.
• Exceptional communication skills and ability to present information in an insightful and structured manner, both written and oral.
• Professionalism and demonstrated experience working with senior officials in the public and/or private sector.
• Passion for application of innovative financial structures and business models to address food system sustainability.
• Demonstrated experience getting things done independently under ambiguous circumstances, particularly in developing countries.

This role is structured as a contracting opportunity. Work will be assigned on a project by project basis, with contract terms and time commitments defined for each engagement.

If you are interested in this position and meet the qualifications above, please submit a one-page cover letter and resume when applying.

ISF provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. Individuals from all backgrounds are strongly encouraged to apply.