Frontier Innovation Portfolio Lead Consultant – Poverty Eradication Lab

About FINCA International

FINCA International is a global nonprofit organization dedicated to ending poverty through sustainable and scalable solutions that expand economic opportunity. Operating across multiple regions worldwide, FINCA works to empower underserved communities through financial inclusion, social enterprise, and impact-driven development programs.

Over the next five years, FINCA aims to impact 40 million lives and secure $400 million in donor and investor capital to support this mission. Achieving this vision will require a more scalable, data-driven, and digitally sophisticated fundraising model capable of deepening donor engagement while directly connecting supporters to measurable client impact.

Summary

The Poverty Eradication Lab (PEL) is FINCA International's innovation function, moving new products and business models from Deep Discovery through Human-Centered Design, Build & Pilot, and Validate & Scale. The Lab operates across two tracks: business transformation pilots with the FINCA network, and exploratory pilots that test new innovative products, partners, and markets still finding product-market fit.

The Consultant will provide portfolio leadership, product development to support PEL's frontier innovation portfolio. The engagement will focus on non-credit and cross-sector pilots that advance FINCA's mission, including areas such as insurance, agriculture, education finance, and other emerging innovation opportunities.

The Consultant will support the Chief Product Officer and serve as the primary point of contact and collaborate with relevant HCD, Research, Program, subsidiary, and other functional teams as required for delivery of the agreed services and pilot deliverables.

Scope of Work

Innovation Portfolio Management

The Consultant will:

• Be responsible for end-to-end portfolio management for assigned non-credit and exploratory innovation pilots, supporting activities from initial intake through pilot completion and scale recommendations,
• Define and document the customer and market problem addressed by each assigned pilot and translate it into a clear pilot hypothesis, success measures, and execution plan,
• Maintain portfolio-level tracking of assigned pilots, including progress, risks, dependencies, and key decision points, and provide relevant analysis and recommendations to support go/no-go and other stage-gate decisions,
• Confirm pilot readiness against agreed stage criteria and prepare decision-support materials, including concept notes, pilot plans, and scale recommendations, for FINCA's review and decision-making,
• Collaborate with the HCD & Research team to develop a learning agenda for each assigned pilot and document key findings and learnings throughout the pilot lifecycle and at completion,
• Apply PEL's established innovation pipeline standards, definitions, and stage criteria to assigned non-credit and exploratory pilots and provide recommendations for improving the Lab's approach to testing and advancing new concepts.

Product Development & Business Case Services

• The Consultant will:
• Develop the product vision and business case for assigned pilots, identifying the customer, mission, and commercial problems to be addressed and the evidence required to inform potential scale-up,
• Develop and track agreed success criteria and analyze customer, operational, and commercial performance to provide recommendations for refinement, scale, pivot, or discontinuation,
• Assess prospective partnerships supporting assigned innovation pilots and document their alignment with pilot objectives and evidence requirements,
• Develop and test product hypotheses for exploratory pilots using available customer and market evidence, and
• Develop pilot prototypes, SOPs, implementation tools, performance trackers, and other agreed materials required for assigned pilots.

Partner & Stakeholder Relationship Management

• Serve as the designated day-to-day coordination point for external partners and funders in relation to assigned pilots, within the authority established for the engagement,
• Coordinate innovation-pilot communications with relevant subsidiary stakeholders and external partners,
• Partner with subsidiary commercial, risk, and operations teams to ensure pilots are ringfenced, well-scoped, and non-disruptive to core business,
• Coordinate as needed with the Global Product Lead to keep the Lab's overall pilot pipeline aligned and non-duplicative across both portfolios.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Coordinate with HCD and Research resources, as required for assigned pilots to validate pilot assumptions, test customer desirability, and assess impact, recognizing HCD as a shared function rather than a dedicated resource per pilot,
• Collaborate with the Program team on portfolio synthesis, governance, and reporting, and with fundraising or communications functions when a pilot needs evidence to support their work,
• Collaborate with vendors, technical partners, and technology teams as needed to define requirements for new, non-credit pilot concepts.

Reporting

• Provide the Chief Product Officer with periodic reports on pilot findings, performance, risks, and recommendations in accordance with agreed reporting arrangements,
• Maintain structured pilot documentation and decision logs to support portfolio-level synthesis and reporting,
• Provide periodic updates and inputs to reports for donor-funded pilots.

Key Deliverables

For each assigned pilot, the Consultant will provide the following deliverables, as applicable to the relevant pilot stage:

• Pilot Charter — one evolving document, built section by section across the pilot's stages (concept, validation, design & compliance, readiness), covering the customer problem, evidence of demand, partner, operating model, KPIs, budget, and risk allocation,
• Learning Agenda — opened at Stage 1 with the pilot's hypothesis and non-claims, tested against results at Stage 3,
• Product prototype or SOPs — the Stage 2 design output covering pilot and product parameters and process flows, finalized before launch and, for subsidiary-related pilots, circulated to the subsidiary management committee alongside the Charter,
• Compliance and approvals documentation — coordinating and tracking required approvals and supporting documentation, including NDAs, partnership agreements, TPRA, Board or regulatory approvals, DPAs and PEL internal approvals, as applicable,
• Launch readiness sign-off — the Stage 2 gate confirming agreements are signed and funding, systems, and governance requirements are in place; requires joint sign-off from the Portfolio Lead, subsidiary lead, and CPO before any field activity begins,
• Performance Tracker — a live record running through Stage 3, reporting against agreed KPIs and thresholds and flagging risk before a threshold is breached,
• Issue Log — a live record running through Stage 3, capturing every issue's root cause, action taken, and impact,
• Midpoint report — the short performance and learning check-in produced partway through Stage 3, ahead of the scale decision,
• Decision Memo — produced at the Stage 3 gate, the evidence-based case to scale, replicate, pivot, or stop, made jointly with the subsidiary lead, never by the Portfolio Lead alone.

Qualifications & Experience

Education:

• Bachelor's degree in business, finance, economics, international development, or a related field (or equivalent work experience); advanced degree a plus.

Experience:

• 10+ years of experience in product management, venture building, or innovation program leadership, with a proven track record of launching and scaling new pilots or products, ideally in financial inclusion, insurance, or emerging markets,
• Experience developing or launching financial products such as insurance (parametric, bundled, or microinsurance), or other mission-aligned innovations in agriculture, education, or livelihoods finance,
• Demonstrated experience structuring and managing external partnerships, including with donors, insurers, and technical partners,
• Strong ability to test and validate new business models with limited evidence, and translate early signals into clear go / no-go recommendations,
• Experience working with cross-functional teams, including HCD/research, risk, compliance, and field operations,
• Exposure to or collaboration with low-income customer segments and field-based user research,
• Working knowledge of agile product development, with experience on agile product teams preferred,
• Familiarity with Miro, Jira/MS Planner, AI tools (Claude etc.) and other similar tools is a plus.

Duration and Level of Effort

The consultancy contract will initially be for 12 months, with the possibility of extension. During this period, specific pilots and assignments may be agreed between FINCA and the Consultant within the Scope of Work and deliverables defined in this Schedule. Any material expansion of the Scope of Work will be subject to mutual written agreement.

Travel Requirements

• Travel to subsidiary and partner locations may be required where necessary for delivery of assigned pilot activities, anticipated at up to 25% of the engagement period in line with FINCA travel policies requiring pre-approval,
• Travel in economy class when traveling by air or rail.

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