Principal Project Development Specialist

Job Description

The Principal Project Development Specialist is responsible for leading 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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

• Value of bankable projects developed

• Value and number of projects approved and committed.

• Value of infrastructure catalysed.

• Reduction in impairments through de-risking technical and commercial risk aspects of projects

• Management of client relationships and key stakeholders

• Quality of signed agreements/mandates.

• Clean Audit.

Expertise & Technical Competencies

Minimum Requirements

• A Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering and/or in the Built Environment (Civil, Construction Management or Quantity Surveying)

Minimum Experience

• A minimum of 10 years’ experience in infrastructure project development/preparation in the built environment, public sector management, advisory service or consulting experience.
• Experience in dealing with development finance institutions at the various levels of government and business.
• Demonstrated expertise in financial modelling and feasibility analysis.
• Extensive experience in structuring project finance deals.
• Successful track record in business development and stakeholder management.
• Understanding of infrastructure project development, feasibility and structuring.
• Understanding of financial modelling and project finance structuring.
• Knowledge of regulatory frameworks and industry best practices.

Desirable Requirements

• Project Management professional with one of the following qualifications: Project Management Institute (PMI), Projects in Controlled Environments (PRINCE) and South African Council for the Project and Construction Management Professions (SACPCMP).

TECHNICAL COMPETENCIES

a) Business Acumen

• Deep understanding of commercial drivers and can make decisions based on an assessment of alternatives concerning complex business situations.
• Deep understanding of economic priorities of South Africa and Africa and how they can be implemented to meet an organisation's strategic objectives.
• Deep understanding of the need to coordinate efforts with many government entities, the private sector, community groups and individuals to ensure effective
• implementation of new policies and regulations.
• Takes actions to fit business strategy.
• Assesses and links short-term tasks in the context of long-term business strategies or perspectives.
• Reviews own actions against the organisation's strategic plan; includes the big picture when considering possible opportunities or projects, or thinks about long-term applications of current activities.
• Anticipates possible responses to different initiatives.
• Understands the projected direction of the industry and how changes might impact the organisation.

b) Project Management

• Ability to plan, initiate, execute, control and close projects related to a relevant function as well as to track and manage resources, timelines, costs, deliverables and performance, and implement contingency plans if necessary, to ensure projects are successfully.
• Defines, plans and manages large and/or strategic projects, including those with a high degree of technical complexity, with impacts across the organisation and/or with national implications.
• Assembles and leads diverse and multi-disciplinary teams, ensuring