About the job

Agency Information: Become part of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC)! DFC is America's development bank. DFC partners with the private sector to finance solutions to the most critical challenges facing the developing world today. We invest across sectors including energy, healthcare, critical infrastructure, and technology. DFC also provides financing for small businesses and women entrepreneurs in order to create jobs in emerging markets. DFC investments adhere to high standards and respect the environment, human rights, and worker rights.

Notably, DFC is one of the best places to work! In 2022, DFC was ranked No. 9 among small agencies in the Best Places to Work in the Federal Government® Rankings. To learn more, visit dfc.gov.

SUMMARY: As the Director, Innovative Finance, you will coordinate closely with the interagency, industry and other external stakeholders to map, prioritize, and engage on innovative finance structures; work closely with investment lines to identify and address DFC needs, including addressing barriers to conducting innovative transactions; and provide subject matter expertise to investment officers and other DFC employees.

The incumbent will focus 50% of their time on market mapping and supporting internal stakeholders, 25% of their time engaging with external stakeholders, and 25% of their time attending conferences, and otherwise ensuring their subject matter knowledge on key nascent sectors is current. The incumbent will also work with other DFC teams, in particular the Office of the Chief Operating Officer (OCOO) and the Office of Structured Finance and Insurance (OSFI) in order to maintain coordination across the agency’s priorities and engagements.

DUTIES: As the Director, Innovative Finance, you will:

• Identify the principal existing or emerging blended climate finance platforms initiated by the private sector, philanthropies, and governments. Map their relevance and appropriateness for DFC participation or partnership.
• Identify other high-value, high-difficulty climate transactions for DFC, such as coal plant retirements or adaptation investments, and work to map innovative financing mechanisms to enable those transactions, such as partnerships with insurers or use of carbon credits.
• Identify DFC financing practices that could be improved to drive further climate action, such as local currency lending or more flexible terms, i.e., sustainable landscapes debt funds that are converted into equity investments, effectively increasing their cost of capital.
• Develop, pitch, and execute DFC-originated blended finance platforms.
• Develop, pitch, and execute other innovative financing mechanisms and partnerships as described above.
• Work closely with lines to identify and address barriers to making innovative investments.
• Support upstream pipeline development team in the identification of leads which would be strong candidates for catalytic capital platforms in conjunction with OCCO, Policy Coordination Group (PCG), OCOO, and relevant investment officers.
• Monitor and analyze important sectoral trends and events, keeping OCCO informed of significant trends relevant to DFC.
• Attend and represent DFC at interagency policy committee (IPC) meetings related to blended finance mechanisms. Coordinate and provide timely responses to the interagency based on organizationally directed tasks in meetings.
• Foster collaborative relationships with offices in adjacent U.S. government agencies, such as Treasury and State. Act as the DFC point of contact for those agencies working up blended finance proposals.
• Foster collaborative relationships with other DFIs, philanthropies, and suppliers of concessional capital.

The ideal candidate will possess the following knowledge, skills, and abilities:

• Extensive knowledge of blended and concessional finance.
• Experience working with development finance institutions and/or philanthropies.
• Understanding of climate finance, with a robust network of key players in the climate space.
• Basic knowledge of DFC’s programs, policies, goals, regulations, and interests; basic knowledge of relationships between DFC and other government and private sector investment programs, and the ability to apply this knowledge resourcefully to solve unprecedented problems and to adapt the development investment services programs to changing U.S. Government objectives/policies.
• Some knowledge of U.S. foreign policy and development initiatives.

Conditions of Employment:

• The position is in the excepted service.
• Must be a U.S. Citizen, Nationals or those who owe allegiance to the U.S. is required
• Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service
• Suitability for Federal employment, as determined by a background investigation
• The incumbent will be required to file an Executive Branch Personnel Public Financial Disclosure Report (OGE-278)
• This position may require foreign travel to developing countries

Qualifications:

Applicants must meet all eligibility and qualification requirements at the time of submitting your application.

Specialized Experience: You may qualify if you have one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-14 level in the Federal Service. Specialized experience is defined as experience in all of the following:

• Experience with blended and concessional finance.
• Experience working with development finance institutions and/or philanthropies.
• Experience applying a knowledge of climate finance.

Specialized experience is experience advising on legal and policy matters impacting federal agencies, including statutory and case law, executive orders, rules, regulations, and policies in various areas of administrative law. Experience working in international relations, international development, private sector finance or investments, and/or experience living or working in emerging markets are strong advantages.

Additional Information:

• The incumbent will be expected to report to DFC Headquarters, Washington, D.C., and follow the agency's telework policy.
• This is not a Bargaining unit position.
• Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered or exempt from Selective Service.
• Telework Suitability: The duty of this position is suitable for telework. The selectee may be allowed to telework with supervisor approval and if they meet the eligibility criterion in the 2010 Telework Act.
• Work Schedule: This position allows for a flexible work schedule.
• Miscellaneous: DFC uses E-Verify to confirm the employment eligibility of all newly hired employees. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, please visit http://www.uscis.gov/e-verify.This vacancy announcement may be used to fill similar positions within 90 days.
• This is an open continuous announcement and applications will be extracted as vacancies occur. This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional similar vacancies at DFC.
• This is not a Bargaining unit position.
• To ensure compliance with an applicable preliminary nationwide injunction, which may be supplemented, modified, or vacated, depending on the course of ongoing litigation, the Federal Government will take no action to implement or enforce the COVID-19 vaccination requirement pursuant to Executive Order 14043 onRequiring Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccination for Federal Employees. Therefore, to the extent a federal job announcement includes the requirement that applicants must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 pursuant to E.O. 14043, that requirement does not currently apply. Federal agencies may request information regarding the vaccination status of selected applicants for the purposes of implementing other workplace safety protocols, such as protocols related to masking, physical distancing, testing, travel, and quarantine.
• Recruitment and relocation incentives may be authorized for this position.
• This announcement may be used to fill similar positions if additional vacancies occur.
• The incumbent will earn 8 hours of annual leave per pay period (80 hours) and 4 hours of sick leave per pay period (80 hours).

How You Will Be Evaluated:

1. Minimum Requirements: Your application must show that you meet all requirements, including the education and/or experience required for this position. You will be found "not qualified" if you do not possess the minimum competencies required for the position. If your application is incomplete, we will rate you as ineligible.

2. Referral: Since this is an Excepted Service position, a non-rated method of evaluation will be used. We will evaluate your application by comparing your description of your work experience, level of responsibility, and accomplishments with the requirements of the position to determine whether you meet all the qualification requirements. Although competitive examining rules for rating and ranking and veterans' preference do not apply, veteran's preference will be considered as a positive factor. Candidates who meet all the qualification and other eligibility requirements will be referred to the selecting official for consideration and possible interview.

Required Documents:

1. Your resume showing work schedule, hours worked per week, dates of employment and duties performed.

Do not submit photographs with your application package. Documents with photographs may not be seen by hiring officials - you must remove your image from any badges, licenses, etc. If your resume includes a photograph or other inappropriate material or content (e.g. SSN or DOB), your resume will not be used to make eligibility and qualification determinations and you will not be considered for this vacancy.