Development Director
Full-time · Remote · United Kingdom
Loowatt seeks a Development Director to help us scale services to households in underserved urban informal settlements in Africa and beyond. This is a unique opportunity to drive Loowatt’s core purpose at a pivotal stage. The Development Director role includes and goes far beyond fundraising: You are an impact-driven individual who will harness strategic, innovative and hands-on contributions to help the business attain transformational financing and partnerships.
Loowatt Ltd is a UK-based waterless sanitation technology company driven by the vision that everyone should have a ****toilet that is safe and clean, protects water resources, supports circular economies, and most importantly, brings joy to everyday life.
We have developed patented off-grid sanitation technologies and service delivery models ideal for deployment in underserved urban communities and humanitarian settings that need access to water and sanitation. Loowatt toilets provide a user experience akin to a flush toilet. By delivering a hygienic, enjoyable toilet experience, our technology enables operationally sustainable services with high customer satisfaction, high willingness to pay, and low customer churn. Our technologies also facilitate the transformation of waste into valued byproducts (e.g. energy and fertilizer) and contribute to climate resilience in rapidly growing urban settings.
Loowatt sanitation products include toilets, consumables, waste processing equipment and software. Our hardware and consumables are produced through contract manufacturers, with international supply chains including suppliers based in Africa.
Through our partner servicing companies in Madagascar and South Africa – Loowatt MG and Kaloola, respectively – Loowatt is growing its presence and impact in both countries while also beginning to undertake licensing agreements with third-party sanitation service providers, preparing bids for municipal contracts, and exploring new territories and markets. Having proven the viability and demand of our services in diverse and challenging settings, we are ready for scale.
Loowatt Ltd is a UK-based waterless sanitation technology company driven by the vision that everyone should have a ****toilet that is safe and clean, protects water resources, supports circular economies, and most importantly, brings joy to everyday life.
We have developed patented off-grid sanitation technologies and service delivery models ideal for deployment in underserved urban communities and humanitarian settings that need access to water and sanitation. Loowatt toilets provide a user experience akin to a flush toilet. By delivering a hygienic, enjoyable toilet experience, our technology enables operationally sustainable services with high customer satisfaction, high willingness to pay, and low customer churn. Our technologies also facilitate the transformation of waste into valued byproducts (e.g. energy and fertilizer) and contribute to climate resilience in rapidly growing urban settings.
Loowatt sanitation products include toilets, consumables, waste processing equipment and software. Our hardware and consumables are produced through contract manufacturers, with international supply chains including suppliers based in Africa.
Through our partner servicing companies in Madagascar and South Africa – Loowatt MG and Kaloola, respectively – Loowatt is growing its presence and impact in both countries while also beginning to undertake licensing agreements with third-party sanitation service providers, preparing bids for municipal contracts, and exploring new territories and markets. Having proven the viability and demand of our services in diverse and challenging settings, we are ready for scale.
The Development Director will lead fundraising, partnerships and market development with existing and future sector partners, funders and thought leaders. This role is a key representative, presenter and figurehead for Loowatt’s work in emerging markets. Within the team, the Development Director will master strategies to build and finance growth in challenging environments.
The ideal candidate will have 10–15 years of progressive experience spanning international development fundraising and/or project finance, with a meaningful portion of that time spent working in or with African countries. They will have a demonstrable track record of closing significant grants and/or financing deals — ideally at least some above £1–5 million — and will understand the full funding landscape from philanthropic and donor grants through corporate social investment, impact investment, to blended finance structures involving DFIs and development banks. Strong candidates will bring experience in developing markets through partnerships, and robust financial literacy. Sector experience in WASH, sanitation, urban infrastructure, municipal service delivery, or related fields (housing, waste management, public health) is desirable.
This role is remote and full-time, and reports directly to the CEO, while working in frequent collaboration with Loowatt Ltd’s lean team that includes commercial, marketing, product, impact measurement, grant-writing and finance functions, as well as the executive teams of Loowatt MG and Kaloola. Our management culture is results-driven with KPIs tracked against a shared master plan. We value transparency, integrity, frankness, rolling up sleeves to get any job done, and providing employees a healthy work-life balance.
Candidates will likely need to travel in Sub-Saharan Africa and other regions at least 6 times a year, and to London approximately quarterly for face-to-face team meetings.
Key Responsibilities- Develop an understanding of the sanitation sector in Africa, especially for non-sewered urban settlements and humanitarian response settings.
- Develop a deep understanding of Loowatt’s products and systems, its service company business models in emerging markets, their pathways to profitability, and financial gaps.
- Develop strategies for market development and entry in new regions, including exploration and scoping both in currently active and new countries.
- Map and maintain a mapping of the funding landscape, identifying alignments between the scale-up requirements and potential funding sources.
- Maintain a multi-year funding pipeline that will support existing and future servicing partners’ required investments in CAPEX to enable growth.
- Maintain and build excellent relationships with funders, prospective funders and contracting entities, notably municipalities and government, through networking, staying in touch, and managing external communications with support from the marketing team
- Support development, refinement and maintenance of the CRM tool that tracks these relationships.
- Lead a lean funding applications team that produces and submits top-quality written and visual communications, both at the application and reporting stages.
- Support our overseas partners with funding applications, local municipal tenders and partnership agreements, including reviewing documents, providing advice, and supporting contract negotiations where required
- Engage in discussions with a wide variety of stakeholders to support blended financing initiatives, results-based funding schemes, cross-subsidies, and other models that will enhance and expand sanitation service delivery across Africa’s informal settlements and other underserved sectors
- Attend strategic sector conferences and networking events for the business, including making presentations to both private and public audiences
Candidates are requested to upload a CV and Covering Letter and answer a short questionnaire at the link below. Interested applicants should review this full specification including the Ideal Candidate Profile below.
The recruitment process includes 3 interviews which will require circa 2.5 hours of in-person and/or virtual meetings, and 2 hours of preparation for those shortlisted after the first interview. The selection process is targeted for conclusion within 4 weeks from the submission deadline. ****
Deadline for applications: October 27th, 2026
Our ideal candidate profile possesses many of the following traits and experiences:
- An excellent communicator with strong interpersonal skills, ethical integrity and curiosity, who takes joy in networking and maintaining relationships
- Deep belief in Loowatt’s mission to provide high-quality sanitation to underserved populations – and ambition to do this at scale
- A good public speaker, comfortable in role as a figurehead for the business’s impactful purpose
- 10-15 years working in international development fundraising and/or project finance
- Experience working in government contracts and/or municipal service delivery partnerships
- A strong track record in obtaining grants, DFI funding, CSI funding, investments, contracts, partnerships, and other sources of finance for enterprises delivering essential services such as sanitation, water, and adjacent fields
- Robust financial literacy including financial modelling experience to support developing and iterating business models including sales and services, and the skills to develop corresponding strategies such as blended finance
- Fluent (native level) English proficiency, and ideally bilingual French-English, with, at minimum, working proficiency in conversational French
- Experience of working in Africa, and ideally, with African utility sectors including government stakeholders and structures
- Experience working with major organisations in the WASH sector, humanitarian relief, or adjacent fields
- Minimum 5 years’ experience in a senior business leadership role, including managing teams, and developing strategic partnerships to drive growth
