Governance and Compliance Manager

Background
The African Climate Foundation (ACF) is the first and only African-led climate change re-granting organisation on the continent. Through a combination of grant making, fellowships, transformational research, technical assistance, coalition building and advocacy the ACF seeks to support interventions at the nexus of climate change, and development that have the greatest potential to deliver long-term socio-economic transformation and inclusive development. ACF also provides Fiscal Hosting (also called Fiscal Sponsorship) services to support emerging and mission aligned organisations and initiatives.

Purpose

The Governance and Compliance Manager is responsible for strengthening the organisation’s governance, compliance and risk management frameworks.

The role ensures that ACF operates in accordance with applicable legal, regulatory, donor and internal policy requirements across all areas of the organisation’s work in various jurisdictions.

As ACF expands its geographic footprint and programme portfolio, the Governance and Compliance Manager will play a critical role in ensuring that the organisation’s governance architecture evolves appropriately to support increasing operational complexity.

This role will support the COO and CFO in ensuring that organisational risks are identified, documented and appropriately managed.

Responsibilities include but not limited to:

Governance Frameworks:

Support the development and implementation of organisational governance systems.

• Maintaining the organisational policy framework.
• Maintaining a register of organisational policies.
• Supporting policy review and update processes.
• Identifying gaps in existing organisational policies and supporting the drafting of new policies.
• Ensuring organisational policies reflect legal, regulatory and donor requirements.
• Supporting governance reporting requirements.

Contract Governance:

Establish and maintain strong contract governance across the organisation.

• Maintaining registers of contracts and agreements.
• Supporting development of standard contract templates.
• Supporting review of major contracts.
• Supporting compliance with donor agreements.
• Supporting contract management processes across departments.

Compliance Management:

Ensure the organisation maintains appropriate compliance across its operations.

• Monitoring compliance with regulatory requirements.
• Supporting cross-border compliance considerations.
• Supporting independent contractor classification assessments.
• Supporting compliance with donor requirements.

Risk Management:

Support the development and maintenance of the organisation’s risk management systems.

• Maintaining the organisational risk register.
• Supporting risk identification processes.
• Supporting risk mitigation planning.
• Monitoring progress against risk mitigation actions.
• Supporting reporting to the Risk and Audit Committee.

Procurement and Governance Oversight:

Support compliance with procurement policies.

• Supporting procurement compliance processes.
• Maintaining procurement documentation.
• Ensuring compliance with internal procurement policies.
• Supporting tender processes where required.

Coordination with Legal Advisors:

Act as the internal coordination point for legal matters.

• Coordinating work with external legal advisors.
• Supporting legal review of contracts and agreements.
• Maintaining records of legal opinions and advice.
• Ensuring legal guidance is appropriately incorporated into organisational processes.

Requirements include but are not limited to:

• Bachelor’s degree in law, governance, public administration, or related field.
• Minimum 7 years relevant working experience.
• Member of the Compliance Institute of Southern Africa (CISA) or (CGISA) is preferred.
• Experience in compliance, governance or legal environments.
• Experience managing organisational risk frameworks.
• Experience working across multiple jurisdictions.
• Experience in non-profit or international development organisations.
• Experience working with donor-funded programmes.
• Strong governance and compliance capability.
• Ability to work across multiple organisational functions and in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong analytical and organisational skills.
• High levels of integrity and judgement.
• Ability to translate regulatory requirements into practical organisational processes.

Start date: Position available immediately.

Contract duration: 12 months (renewable based on mutual agreement).

Location: ACF’s operational hub is in Cape Town, South Africa. Remote working will be considered for candidates based in South Africa.

Closing date: 16 April 2026.

For further information about the ACF, visit www.africanclimatefoundation.org.

Should you not hear back from us by 31 May 2026, please consider your application to be unsuccessful.

The ACF strives to be an equitable organisation with a team which reflects the diversity of Africa.

In compliance with the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), The ACF assures all applicants that any personal information provided during the recruitment process will be treated with the utmost confidentiality and used solely for recruitment purposes. Your privacy and data security are of paramount importance to us. By applying for this position, you consent to the collection, processing, and storage of your personal information for recruitment-related activities only. The ACF is committed to safeguarding your privacy and maintaining the trust you place in us.