Principal Project Development Specialist

Lead the execution of technical project development from early-stage preparation through to bankable feasibility, ensuring projects meet the technical, environmental, social, regulatory, and commercial requirements for investment decision-making and financial close.

**Key Responsibilities**:
**1.Project Development and Technical Execution**

- Provide technical inputs in the development of project development strategies to unlock infrastructure projects in South Africa, SADC and select African Countries through project preparation.
- Design projects that support the annual disbursement target and the division's strategic objectives.
- Lead the technical, engineering, and environmental components of project preparation to achieve bankable feasibility.
- Develop detailed project development workplans and schedules covering feasibility studies, Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA), technical designs, grid and geotechnical studies, and permitting processes.
- Define scope, technical specifications, quality standards, milestones, deliverables, and resource requirements for project development activities.
- Lead the preparation of pre-feasibility and feasibility studies, including engineering designs, cost estimates, implementation models, scheduling and risk assessments.
- Oversee development of preliminary and detailed design work, including capacity sizing, layout planning, technology selection, and constructability evaluations.
- Ensure technical solutions are aligned to appropriate technology standards, lifecycle cost considerations, operational performance requirements, and sustainability principles.
- Provide technical guidance to the project development team, ensuring maintenance of quality standards and a standardised approach.

**2.Procurement and Management of Technical Service Providers**

- Draft the Terms of Reference (ToR) and technical procurement specifications for external consultants, engineers, and technical advisors.
- Lead the procurement process in line with DBSA procurement governance.
- Manage, oversee, and quality-assure outputs of technical service providers, ensuring deliverables meet technical and bankability standards.

**3.Due Diligence and Regulatory Compliance**

- Review projects for compliance with legislation impacting infrastructure development.
- Coordinate with relevant specialists for Environmental and Social Impact Assessments (ESIAs) and associated management plans in accordance with IFC/World Bank standards, local regulatory requirements, and climate-resilient development principles.
- Engage with regulators, utilities, municipalities, and line ministries to secure required permits, licenses, environmental approvals, water use rights, grid connection approvals, etc.
- Validate and adhere to all legislative, sector policy, and regulatory conditions that are embedded into feasibility outputs.
- Maintain a risk register covering technical, environmental, commercial and execution risks and provide risk mitigation strategies.

**4.Financial and Commercial Assessment Support**

- Liaise with a multidisciplinary team to support programme implementation, identifying funding needs for the project development.
- Provide technical inputs to prepare bankable feasibility data packs to enable financial modelling, investment appraisal, and structuring.
- Work closely with financial specialists to test project affordability, revenue models, commercial structures, and risk allocation frameworks.

**5.Bankable Feasibility Report Development**

- Consolidate all technical, environmental, social, regulatory, commercial and cost data into a bankable feasibility report suitable for due diligence, financial modelling, structuring, and investment decision-making.
- Validate accuracy, completeness and technical defensibility for financial appraisal.
- Prepare presentations and submissions for Investment Committees and transaction preparation governance structures.

**6.Relationship Management and Stakeholder Relations**

- Build and maintain strong relationships with clients, global and regional private businesses, banking and multilateral partners and government officials to further develop specific investment opportunities.
- Facilitate continuous communication with clients/ projects that the DBSA has funded to adequately support the Division’s monitoring function.
- Network and maintain relationships with key internal and external stakeholders to develop specific investment opportunities further.
- Identify clients’ pain points and coordinate DBSA’s solution offerings to address them.

Undertake other tasks as assigned by the line manager, from time to time.

**Key Measurements of Outputs**

1.Value of bankable projects developed.
2.Value and number of projects approved and committed.
3.Value of infrastructure catalysed.
4.Reduction in impairments through de-risking technical and commercial risk aspects of projects.
5.Management of client relationships and key stakeholders.
6.Qu