Director of Business Development and Fundraising

The context :

Across the developing world, more children than ever are in school – but they are not learning. A recent study estimated that less than 1% of school children in Sub-Saharan Africa attend a school where the teaching meets basic standards of quality. At Rising Academies, we’re changing that, and we want your help. Our mission is to create the best schools and the most powerful teaching and learning tools for the people that need it most. We’re one of the fastest-growing quality-focused education companies in Africa, and a Certified B Corp®.

About us :

Founded in Sierra Leone in 2014, we’ve spent over a decade crafting a unique blend of high-tech and low-tech learning solutions proven to dramatically improve student outcomes that elevate teaching quality at scale. 7 RCTs have shown that the students we support learn, on average, 2.4x faster each year than their peers in comparable schools.

Today, we serve more than a quarter of a million students across 1,000 schools in West and East Africa through three integrated and complimentary channels :

• Pioneering Great-Value Private Schools : Our innovative networks of private schools deliver best-in-class results for children while developing highly scalable new technologies and approaches.
• Scalable Government Partnerships : We partner and collaborate with local and national governments across Africa to transform the quality of public school systems at scale.
• High Impact Solutions for Partners : We offer our proven high-impact solutions to other education providers and schools to improve school performance & increase outcomes.

Our innovative approaches combine expertly designed curriculum materials, personalized learning experiences, intensive teacher coaching and actionable data for school leaders. You can learn more about our solutions here : https : / / www.risingacademies.com / oursolutions

About the role :

We are on a mission to transform education across Africa, and we know bold ambitions require bold resources. As Director of Business Development and Fundraising, you will drive this effort by leading efforts to secure major multi-year funding that unlock ambitious growth for Rising’s mission and scaling our impact.

You’ll be both architect and driver, building the fundraising engine for scale, leading a high-performing team, and delivering world-class proposals that win transformative partnerships. This is a role for someone who thrives at the intersection of vision and execution, spotting the biggest opportunities, bringing clarity to complexity, and ensuring Rising is always positioned for the next major win.

The Director of Business Development and Fundraising will :

Requirements

Qualifications and Experience :

We’re looking for someone who brings both the vision and the discipline to build Rising’s fundraising engine for scale. The ideal candidate will have :

About You :

Location and reporting :

This role can either be a full-time or long term consultancy position. The role can be done as a fully remote role, or from one of Rising’s operating countries (Ghana, Rwanda, SL, Liberia). The role will report directly to Rising’s Chief Strategy Officer.

Application deadline : Target start date for this role is January 2026.

Benefits

Why Join Us?

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Rising is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to providing a work environment that is inclusive and free of discrimination and harassment. All employment decisions are based on individual qualifications without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender identity and expression, national origin, family or parental status, veteran or disability status.

Rising is committed to creating a culture within the organisation, and its schools, that recognises the importance of safeguarding children and prioritising their rights and needs. We strive to uphold international safeguarding standards, and keep the safety and well-being of our students at the heart of what we do. All Rising employees are expected to abide by the Child Protection Policy, and to have the same level of commitment to protect children from harm. Safeguarding questions are part of every interview process and all Rising employees undergo reference checks before joining the organisation.