Role overview
What you'll be stepping into
East African Development Bank (EADB) Job Vacancy: Director Strategy and Innovation
Organisation: East African Development Bank (EADB)
Position: Director Strategy and Innovation
Location: Kampala, Uganda
Department: Strategy and Innovation
Job Grade: E1
Reports to: Senior Director Research Strategy and Innovation
Application Deadline: 23 October 2026
Application Email: psabwa@eadb.org
Email Subject: DIRECTOR STRATEGY AND INNOVATION
About the East African Development Bank
The East African Development Bank (EADB) was established in 1967 under the treaty of the then East African Cooperation. The Bank provides financial and related assistance to enterprises in its member states to support socio-economic development across the region.
EADB is owned by Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda, alongside other development and commercial financial institutions. Through its partnership with East African Community institutions, the Bank plays a catalytic role in regional integration by providing development finance.
Job Purpose
The Director Strategy and Innovation will lead the review, alignment and delivery of EADB’s corporate strategy to support lending growth, productive use of capital and the Bank’s development mandate across its member states.
The successful candidate will translate the corporate strategy into funded annual business plans, monitor implementation against measurable targets, assess organisational performance and development impact, and strengthen the Bank’s data and analytics capabilities to support evidence-based decision-making.
Key Responsibilities
1. Strategy Review and Stewardship
Lead the midterm review of the 2024–2028 corporate strategy and develop future strategies aligned with the Bank’s development mandate, regional integration priorities and member-state needs.
Recommend priority countries, sectors, products and transaction sizes, including activities that should be expanded, reduced or discontinued.
Work with Finance and Treasury to ensure growth plans align with the Bank’s capital, liquidity and funding limits.
Monitor regional, global and sector trends and identify market research, new products and business models that can inform strategy.
2. Strategy Delivery
Translate the corporate strategy into annual business plans and budgets in collaboration with Finance.
Maintain a central record of strategic initiatives, including accountable owners, milestones, budgets and measurable results.
Coordinate regular strategy-delivery reviews with senior management, departments and country offices.
Identify implementation challenges, escalate unresolved issues and lead change-management initiatives.
Promote innovation and continuous improvement across the Bank.
3. Performance and Impact Measurement
Design and maintain the corporate scorecard, including targets for external capital mobilised alongside the Bank’s lending.
Ensure departmental and country-office targets align with corporate objectives.
Work with Human Resources to link individual performance objectives to corporate targets.
Lead the development impact measurement framework, covering employment, small businesses, women, climate and regional integration.
Prepare strategy, performance and impact reports for senior management, the Board, Board committees and funding partners.
4. Data and Analytics
Develop and lead the Bank’s data strategy in collaboration with ICT, Finance and Risk.
Establish common data definitions, ownership arrangements and quality standards for portfolio, pipeline, financial and impact data.
Build organisational analytics and data-science capabilities, including management dashboards, portfolio analysis, forecasting and scenario modelling.
Strengthen data skills across departments and country offices.
Ensure proposals submitted to senior management and the Board are supported by reliable data and analysis.
Key Performance Measures
Performance will be assessed using measures such as:
The proportion of strategic initiatives delivered on time and within budget.
Implementation of the corporate scorecard across departments and country offices.
Reliability of core organisational data and the proportion of major decisions supported by data and analysis.
Quality and timeliness of strategy and performance reporting to senior management and the Board.
Academic Qualifications
Applicants should possess:
A master’s degree in Strategic Management, Organisational Development, Economics, Finance, Business Administration, Statistics, Data Science, Development Studies, Public Policy or a related field.
A bachelor’s degree in a related discipline.
Professional Qualifications and Membership
The following are added advantages:
A professional qualification in finance or investment, such as CFA, ACCA or CPA.
Certification or training in strategy development, innovation management, project management, data analytics or performance management.
Membership in a relevant professional body, such as the Strategic Management Society, Project Management Institute (PMI) or American Academy of Project Management (AAPM).
Required Work Experience
Essential Experience
Applicants should have:
At least 10 years of progressive experience in corporate strategy, strategy delivery or corporate performance, including at least five years in a senior leadership role.
A demonstrated record of delivering a strategy, transformation or turnaround with measurable results.
Experience in business planning and budgeting within a bank or other financial institution, including collaboration with Finance and Treasury on capital, liquidity and funding plans.
Experience using data and analysis to guide strategic decisions and build organisational data or analytics capabilities.
Experience preparing papers for and presenting to senior management and a Board of Directors.
Desirable Experience
The following experience is an advantage:
Working in a multilateral development bank or development finance institution, with an understanding of how transactions progress from pipeline to approval and disbursement.
Experience in strategy consulting or a corporate strategy function.
Experience engaging with government shareholders in more than one country.
Functional Skills and Competencies
The successful candidate should demonstrate:
Strong analytical, problem-solving and strategic-thinking skills.
Financial fluency, including the ability to assess a development bank’s balance sheet and model growth against capital, liquidity and credit-rating constraints.
Strong data literacy and working knowledge of analytics, data science, data governance and reporting tools.
Programme, project and change-management skills.
Expertise in corporate strategy, business planning, performance monitoring and impact measurement.
Excellent writing, presentation and stakeholder-engagement skills, including at Board level.
A sound understanding of development finance and East African Community economies.
Fluency in English. Knowledge of Kiswahili or French is an added advantage.
Behavioural Competencies
Candidates should demonstrate:
A strategic, results-oriented mindset and the persistence to deliver initiatives.
High levels of integrity and accountability.
The confidence to challenge constructively using evidence.
The ability to influence and inspire colleagues and stakeholders.
Strong leadership, collaboration and team-building abilities.
Adaptability and openness to innovation and change.
Reporting Relationships and Working Conditions
The Director will report to the Senior Director Research Strategy and Innovation and lead the Strategy and Innovation team. Direct reports include the Manager Strategy and Innovation, Impact Evaluation Specialist, ESG Manager and Researcher.
The position is primarily office-based in Kampala, with occasional travel across EADB member states and beyond for stakeholder engagement, strategic partnerships and regional development forums. Extended working hours may occasionally be required to meet strategy-review, Board-reporting and business-planning deadlines.
How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should send an application letter and detailed CV to psabwa@eadb.org.
Applicants must:
Use DIRECTOR STRATEGY AND INNOVATION as the email subject.
Indicate their expected gross salary in the application.
Follow the application guidelines provided by the Bank.
The full job description and additional application information are available on the official EADB vacancies page: https://eadb.org/vacancies/
Application deadline: 23 October 2026.
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
How to apply