Head of External Affairs

BURN MANUFACTURING • Full-time • Nairobi, Nairobi • 2w ago

About the Role
BURN is looking for a Head of External Affairs, reporting to the Global Director of External Affairs. This role executes and helps deliver BURN's government relations, policy, and partnerships agenda across its African markets, translating the Director's strategy into disciplined, on-the-ground delivery.
The successful candidate will be measured against two outcomes, delivered in support of the Global Director of External Affairs:

Carbon market access: helping secure and protect the host-country authorisations, regulatory approvals, and bilateral arrangements (LoAs, Article 6.2 bilaterals, Article 6.4 host approvals, CORSIA eligibility, voluntary market authorisations) that allow BURN to issue and sell carbon credits from every country of operation.
Fiscal competitiveness: supporting the negotiation and defence of the tax, duty, VAT, and incentive environment in each country so that BURN maximises revenue and product accessibility after statutory requirements.

To deliver these outcomes, the Head of External Affairs will help coordinate, develop, and support a high-performing in-country external affairs team across Africa. This is fundamentally an execution and coordination role: strengthening country presences, maintaining consistent standards, and keeping the function running as a coordinated unit day to day, while the Global Director sets overall strategy and owns the most senior relationships.
Core Objectives

Support the strategy and lead day-to-day execution for securing and renewing host-country approvals required for BURN's carbon projects across voluntary and compliance markets (Article 6.2, Article 6.4, CORSIA, Gold Standard, Verra), escalating complex or contested negotiations to the Global Director.
Support the negotiation, securing, and defence of tax exemptions, duty waivers, VAT treatment, and other fiscal incentives for clean cooking stoves, components, and carbon-related revenue streams, coordinating with Finance and Tax teams on exposure data.
Coordinate and support a regional government relations, policy, and partnerships team, working closely with Country Government Relations & Policy Leads to keep delivery consistent across markets.
Act as a credible, well-organised day-to-day counterpart to African governments on clean cooking, carbon markets, and Article 6 cooperation, at the technical and senior-official level.

Duties and Responsibilities
1. Government Relations
Support BURN's relationships with the governments of every country in which we operate or intend to operate, with a particular focus on the ministries, regulators, and agencies that gate carbon market access and the fiscal environment.
Carbon market authorisations and approvals

Support the strategy and lead execution for securing Letters of Authorisation (LoAs), Letters of Approval, and equivalent host-country approvals for BURN carbon programmes, across both voluntary and compliance markets.
Manage day-to-day engagement with Designated National Authorities (DNAs) and focal Article 6 contacts across assigned markets (e.g., Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Ghana, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, DRC, Uganda, Madagascar, Ethiopia, Senegal), escalating strategic or higher-stakes negotiations to the Global Director.
Prepare negotiating positions on host-country authorisation terms — corresponding adjustments, share of proceeds, vintage scope, programme coverage, and renewal mechanics — for the Global Director's review and sign-off.
Track bilateral Article 6.2 arrangements being negotiated between host countries and buyer governments (e.g., Switzerland, Singapore, Sweden, Korea, Japan), and flag positioning opportunities for BURN.
Monitor the implementation of Article 6.4 and feed analysis on early activity registration and transition into the Director's positioning.
Track national methodology approvals, baseline-setting decisions, and NDC accounting choices that affect issuance volumes, and surface issues that need intervention.

Tax, duty, and fiscal advocacy

Support execution of the strategy for tax exemptions, customs duty waivers, VAT zero-rating, excise relief, and other fiscal incentives applicable to clean cookstoves, electric cooking appliances, components, raw materials, and carbon revenues.
Engage with Ministries of Finance, Revenue Authorities, Ministries of Energy, Ministries of Environment, and investment promotion agencies at technical and senior-official level to progress rulings, regulatory clarifications, and statutory amendments; brief the Global Director for Cabinet Secretary/Ministerial-level engagements.
Maintain the country-by-country fiscal playbook that maps BURN's exposure (import duties, VAT, withholding tax, corporate tax, levies on carbon transactions, registry fees) and the advocacy positions and counterparts needed to address each.
Help defend existing exemptions and incentives during national budget cycles, finance bill processes, and tax policy reviews, mobilising coalitions where directed.
Brief the Global Director, CFO, and SMT on the fiscal implications of new country entry, new product launches, and new carbon contracts, as requested.

Stakeholder engagement and representation

Serve as BURN's day-to-day government-facing representative with Directors-General, Permanent Secretaries, regulators, and technical counterparts, supporting the Global Director at Cabinet Secretary and Ministerial level.
Maintain the stakeholder map for each market covering executive, legislative, regulatory, and technical counterparts, with engagement plans and ownership assigned to country leads.
Represent BURN at industry and governmental convenings as delegated by the Global Director.
Manage incoming government engagement: official visits, audits, inspections, regulatory enquiries, and parliamentary or committee requests.
Monitor and analyse legislative and regulatory developments across BURN's markets, identifying risks and opportunities, and converting intelligence into action plans for the Director's review.
Support partnerships with industry bodies, think tanks, research institutions, and universities to generate the evidence base BURN needs to win arguments on baselines, additionality, and corresponding adjustments.

2. Policy
Help build and run BURN's policy function as a coordinated unit that tracks and shapes the rules under which BURN, the clean cooking sector, and African carbon markets operate.

Contribute to and help execute BURN's policy positions on Article 6, CORSIA, voluntary carbon market integrity, clean cooking finance, e-cooking, and results-based finance in African markets.
Draft specific policy asks — statutory instruments, regulations, ministerial directives, gazette notices, finance bill amendments, and DNA procedural guidance — for the Global Director's review.
Produce policy briefs, position papers, regulatory submissions, and consultation responses in support of BURN's positions, in collaboration with the Carbon and Legal teams.
Run the policy intelligence function that tracks legislative calendars, regulatory pipelines, NDC updates, and bilateral negotiations across all countries of operation, and provide the Global Director and SMT with timely, actionable analysis.
Coordinate with industry associations, peer companies, and coalitions to amplify BURN's positions where collective action is more effective than unilateral advocacy.

3. Supporting and Coordinating a Pan-African Team
This role plays a central coordination part in a distributed team that operates credibly in capitals across the continent. The Head of External Affairs works closely with Country Government Relations & Policy Leads and directly manages the Policy Officers and Analysts function.
Team coordination and development

Help the Global Director design and refine the operating model for the external affairs function, including which countries need a dedicated in-country lead versus regional coverage.
Support the recruitment of Government Relations & Policy Leads and Policy Officers/Analysts, partnering with HR and external recruiters; lead recruitment directly for roles within this role's own team.
Build the bench: identify and develop high-potential analysts and associates who can grow in role and responsibility as the business grows.
Help verify that new hires are genuinely connected in their market — with credible relationships at relevant ministries — and technically capable on both carbon and tax.

Managing across countries

Track country-level objectives and milestones (LoAs secured, exemptions retained or won, bilateral arrangements signed, fiscal positions defended) and flag slippage to the Global Director.
Run the operating rhythm on the Director's behalf: weekly country check-ins, monthly team global reviews, and inputs into quarterly business reviews with the SMT and annual planning.
Maintain the shared systems the team needs to work as one: stakeholder maps, engagement trackers, policy intelligence repositories, briefing-note templates, and country-plan standards.
Apply the function's standards for political risk assessment, escalation, and crisis response, and know when to pull in the Global Director, CCO, or SMT.
Travel regularly to support country teams in-market and attend government meetings alongside country leads.

Talent development and culture

Coach country leads and analysts to operate at a professional standard with their counterparts.
Support career paths that retain talent and reinforce BURN's standing as an attractive employer in the African external affairs and climate policy space.
Reinforce a culture of evidence, judgement, and discretion: rigorous analysis, sound political judgement, and absolute confidentiality in sensitive relationships.
Model BURN's values and hold the team to the highest standards of integrity in dealings with public officials.

4. In-Country Communications in Support of Government, Policy, and Partnership Objectives
BURN's corporate communications, brand, and media functions sit elsewhere in the business. This role helps deliver the slice of communications that exists specifically to advance government relations, policy, and partnership outcomes in the countries where BURN operates, under the Global Director's direction.

Help develop country-level communications plans that support priority government engagements, regulatory submissions, and partnership milestones.
Prepare materials for country leads to operate credibly with their counterparts: government-facing briefing decks, position papers, fact sheets, ministerial talking points, and short technical primers on Article 6, CORSIA, and BURN's operating model.
Draft speeches, op-eds, and remarks for BURN representatives at country-level policy forums, ministerial roundtables, parliamentary engagements, COP side events, and partnership launches, for the Global Director's or senior spokesperson's review.
Support targeted in-country media engagement that reinforces BURN's standing with government and partners, coordinating closely with corporate communications.
Maintain the country-by-country messaging framework that aligns BURN's public positioning with its policy asks.
Support government-facing crisis communications, responding rapidly under the direction of the Global Director, CEO, General Counsel, and corporate communications.
Support partnership communications where joint visibility advances BURN's interests, including review of partner-issued materials that reference BURN.

5. Cross-Functional Support

Work closely with the carbon teams to align government engagement with carbon project pipelines, methodology choices, and buyer commitments.
Partner with the CFO, tax, and finance teams to ensure fiscal advocacy is grounded in accurate exposure data.
Partner with the Legal team on contract drafting, statutory interpretation, and regulatory compliance arising from government engagement.
Partner with the corporate Communications and Brand functions so that in-country materials are consistent with BURN's global narrative.
Feed policy and political intelligence to the Global Director and SMT to inform country entry, capital allocation, and risk decisions.
Coordinate with country managers and country leadership teams so that operational realities (production, distribution, after-sales) are reflected in policy positions and vice versa.

6. Reporting and Governance

Report regularly to the Global Director of External Affairs on the status of LoAs, authorisations, fiscal positions, key government relationships, and political risk across all countries.
Maintain an auditable record of government interactions, partnership commitments, and policy positions taken on BURN's behalf.
Support management of the external affairs budget, including consultants, advisers, country-level external counsel, industry membership fees, and event participation.