Uganda Country Lead

The Opportunity

• Location: Kampala, Uganda
• Reports to: Africa Director
• Direct reports: Uganda-based project team across HSW, GEN, and Refugees Uganda; team size and reporting lines to be confirmed as the portfolio grows
• Contract type: Full-time; one-year contract, renewable
• Target start date: Early 2027

Role Purpose

A senior leader to lead Instiglio's operations, delivery, and partnership development in Uganda. The objective is a highly experienced consultant with a strong understanding of the Uganda context who can independently drive projects and partnership development in support of Instiglio's objectives in Uganda, operating at an executive level with government, partner organisations, and clients.

Context

This is a new role, created to reduce the extent to which leadership of Instiglio's Uganda portfolio is run from outside Uganda, and to prepare for continued growth of that portfolio. The role holds leadership across:

• Hilton Safe Water Funded Results Based Finance project to drive improved access to safe drinking water in rural Uganda
• Government Empowerment Network (GEN) Uganda: A government-led reform accelerator anchored by the Ministry of Public Service, coaching cohorts of civil servant "champions" to design and implement reforms
• Refugees Uganda: Strategic and technical advice to the Office of the Prime Minister's Department of Refugees (since 2023). Current phase focuses on embedding a coordination platform and performance review cycles.
• Positioning Instiglio to win new work and diversify Instiglio's Uganda portfolio
  • The portfolio is at an important point. HSW Uganda, a multi-year partnership with the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation running to 2029, is moving from design to implementation of a results-based financing pilot in the Lango sub-region, delivered through a coalition of partners in close collaboration with the Ministry of Water and Environment. GEN Uganda is designing its next cohort. Refugees Uganda is in its second phase (to end-2027), which aims for OPM to run its PCMS coordination and performance platform and review cycles without Instiglio’s support. The Country Lead will inherit established relationships and an in-country team, and will be expected to turn these into a coherent Uganda strategy rather than a set of separately managed projects.

Key Responsibilities

• Project Delivery
  • Hold overall accountability for the quality, timeliness and budget of Instiglio’s Uganda projects, setting direction with project managers and technical leads and resolving delivery risks early
  • Own workplans, priorities and deliverables independently, and lead technical and conceptual work in-country, not simply feed insights back to Nairobi
  • Lead, coach, and develop the Uganda-based team, including line management, performance reviews and staffing across projects
  • Oversee funder reporting for Uganda projects and lead regular internal reviews of performance against workplans and budgets
  • Build coherence across Uganda-based projects (HSW, GEN, and Refugees Uganda) culminating in shared relationships, learning and team capacity
• Government & Stakeholder Engagement
  
  • Serve as Instiglio’s senior representative in Uganda, engaging independently with Ministers, Permanent Secretaries, Commissioners and Heads of Agencies
  • Build and maintain relationships with funders and DFIs active in Uganda, and support funder engagement on current projects, including hosting funder visits and co-fundraising alongside government
  • Navigate politically sensitive processes, such as policy and regulatory reforms that need senior government sign-off, with judgement that protects both Instiglio’s relationships and its interests 
  • Lead government engagement to secure approvals and support the institutionalisation of the Hilton Safe Water programme
  • Lead GEN relationship management in Uganda under the Hilton Safe Water project, and convene GEN Champions around government reform priorities
  • Convene funders, UN agencies and implementing partners around government-owned agendas, including financing dialogues grounded in performance evidence
  • Lead and coordinate in-country team members and consultants on government engagement, setting clear mandates and outcomes
  • Represent Instiglio at sector forums and events in Uganda and the region
• Partnership Development 
  • Support the Uganda partnership development pipeline: identify, qualify, and pursue opportunities with government, bilateral and multilateral funders, DFIs and philanthropies
  •  Contribute to proposals, from go/no-go and positioning through technical writing, budgeting, and client presentations, drawing on Instiglio’s global practice teams
  • Build coalitions and consortia with implementing partners and local firms to position Instiglio for larger opportunities
  • Grow existing accounts, including extensions and follow-on phases of current work

Required Experience

• At least 15 years of relevant experience
• Proven experience leading projects and leading senior-level engagement with Ugandan and international stakeholders
• Proven experience operating at the executive level (Permanent Secretary, Minister) in Uganda, with established, trusted advisory relationships (not only access) and an understanding of where formal authority and informal power sit across government
• Proven experience leading and developing multi-disciplinary teams, including line management of junior and mid-level staff
• Experience designing or strengthening performance management, results frameworks or coordination systems inside government, and embedding them in mandates, review routines and leadership accountability
• Experience managing delivery in an advisory role, against workplans that shift with government priorities, while ownership stays with government
• Desirable: 
  • demonstrated partnership development experience, such as leading large opportunities and account growth, including building partnerships and coalitions to secure new work
  • a track record of personally originating and winning funded work, not only contributing to proposals 
  • experience coaching senior public servants through complex reforms, including building relationships with reform champions, understanding how reforms move through government, and influencing stakeholders to keep them on track, preferably using iterative, problem-driven approaches

Sector Experience

• Consulting sector background is essential, including public sector advisory and work with philanthropic funders
• RBF, WASH, and government capacity building sector knowledge are preferable, not required
• Knowledge of Uganda’s decentralised local government system is preferable
• Experience with data governance questions, including ownership, access and third-party systems, is preferable
• A strong candidate profile: someone who has led an OCA (or similar organisational/institutional engagement) in Uganda, combining senior institutional exposure in Uganda with commercial accountability 

Key Relationships

• Internal
  
  • Africa Director
  • Partnership Development Lead
  • Operations Lead
  • Uganda Team
  • Executive Directors
  • Project and technical leads across HSW, GEN, and Refugees Uganda, and Instiglio’s global practice teams 

• External
  • Ministry of Water and Environment (MWE): Permanent Secretary, Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Department (RWSSD) and Water Utility Regulation Department (WURD)
  • Lango Water Alliance (Sub-Regional Water Supply Services Board) and the nine Lango district local governments
  • Conrad N. Hilton Foundation
  • Lango Pilot partners: Uduma, Uptime Catalyst, CEWAS and the contracted Area Service Provider (ASP)
  • Other funders and DFIs active in Uganda, including the World Bank
  • Office of the Prime Minister (OPM): Permanent Secretary, Commissioner for Refugees and Department of Refugees leadership
  • GEN Champions within government
  • Ministry of Public Service (GEN Uganda anchor partner) and the Office of the Head of Public Service
  • UN agencies, donors and implementing partners in Uganda’s refugee response 

Working model and benefits

The role is based in our Kampala office and involves frequent travel across the continent. The successful candidate will need to be eligible to work in Uganda.

We operate a hybrid working model, with a minimum of two days per week in the office. We also offer a generous benefits package, including personal days, remote workdays, health insurance, and an end-of-year company holiday break in addition to annual leave.

Join our team!

To apply, please submit your CV in English and answer the application questions listed. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis.