Experienced professionals working across humanitarian innovation, social impact, partnerships, fundraising, and programme development can apply for the Alight FutureKind Strategic Catalyst Job 2026: Program Development Opportunity in Nairobi, Kenya.
The position is officially advertised by Alight under the title FutureKind Strategic Catalyst and is based in Nairobi, Kenya.
The successful candidate will work with Alight’s FutureKind platform to discover, shape, and communicate new ideas addressing displacement while helping transform promising concepts into initiatives capable of attracting partners, funding and strategic support.
Applications close on 2 October 2026.
Candidates should note that this is an experienced professional opportunity rather than an entry-level position. Applicants are expected to have 7+ years of relevant experience identifying opportunities, developing relationships, and converting ideas into partnerships or funding outcomes.
Applicants must also already have the legal right and valid authorization to work in Kenya. Alight explicitly states that it cannot provide work-permit sponsorship for this position.
About Alight
Alight is an international humanitarian organization that works alongside people affected by conflict, crisis, and displacement.
According to the vacancy announcement, Alight has been working with displaced communities for nearly 50 years.
Today, the organization works with more than three million people each year across Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Americas.
Alight emphasizes dignity, choice and partnership in its approach.
The organization refers to the people it serves as “customers,” reflecting its philosophy that displaced people should have meaningful influence over the solutions designed to support them.
What Is FutureKind?
FutureKind is described as Alight’s platform for discovering what comes next.
The initiative works alongside displaced people, host communities, governments, entrepreneurs, researchers, designers, philanthropists, and creative thinkers.
Together, these groups co-create and test ideas intended to help people build meaningful futures while displacement remains part of their reality.
FutureKind represents a growing portfolio of:
Ideas.
Partnerships.
Experiments.
Potential solutions.
Its work is built around the question of how displaced people can create futures they value rather than waiting until displacement ends.
About the FutureKind Strategic Catalyst Position
The FutureKind Strategic Catalyst will report to the:
Director of FutureKind Strategy.
The position is based in:
Nairobi, Kenya.
The successful candidate will also undertake frequent travel to Uganda and Rwanda.
The role sits at the intersection of strategy, programme development, partnerships, fundraising, storytelling and innovation.
The Strategic Catalyst will help identify promising ideas and transform them into initiatives capable of attracting resources, partners and momentum for the FutureKind portfolio.
Purpose of the Position
The FutureKind Strategic Catalyst will help Alight discover, shape, communicate, and mobilize ideas that could influence the future of displacement.
The successful candidate will work alongside multiple groups.
These include:
Displaced customers.
Design teams.
Country teams.
Philanthropists.
Governments.
Creative partners.
The objective is to take promising ideas and help develop them into compelling initiatives capable of attracting partners and funding.
The position is therefore particularly relevant to experienced professionals who can move between strategy, relationship-building, fundraising, and programme development.
Core Responsibilities
The role has three primary areas of responsibility.
These are:
Opportunity Discovery & Idea Generation – 30%
Narrative Development & Thought Leadership – 30%
Partnership Building, Movement Mobilization & Learning – 40%
Together, these responsibilities require someone who can identify emerging opportunities, communicate ideas persuasively, and build relationships capable of moving concepts toward practical outcomes.
Opportunity Discovery and Idea Generation – 30%
Approximately 30% of the role focuses on discovering opportunities and generating ideas.
The Strategic Catalyst will identify emerging needs and potential opportunities through engagement and collaboration.
This includes facilitating co-creation workshops.
The successful candidate will also listen closely to:
Customers.
Host communities.
Governments.
Partners.
These conversations are intended to help FutureKind understand emerging needs and identify opportunities for new approaches.
The role therefore requires someone who is comfortable engaging directly with diverse stakeholders rather than developing strategies exclusively from an office environment.
Co-Creation Workshops
Workshop facilitation forms part of the Strategic Catalyst’s responsibilities.
The successful candidate will need to create spaces where people with different experiences and perspectives can develop ideas collaboratively.
This requires strong facilitation and interpersonal skills.
Candidates should be able to encourage participation, navigate different perspectives and help groups transform conversations into practical opportunities.
Previous experience facilitating workshops is explicitly included among the vacancy’s experience requirements.
Narrative Development and Thought Leadership – 30%
Another 30% of the position focuses on narrative development and thought leadership.
Ideas alone are not enough to attract partners or funding.
The Strategic Catalyst will help turn complex ideas and insights into compelling concepts that different audiences can understand and support.
Working under the leadership of the Director of FutureKind Strategy, the successful candidate will contribute to building FutureKind’s narrative and thought leadership.
Turning Ideas Into Compelling Concepts
The successful candidate will help transform complex information into:
Presentations
Proposals
Concepts
Funding opportunities
The ability to communicate clearly is therefore central to the role.
Candidates need to demonstrate that they can understand complicated issues and translate them into persuasive narratives for different audiences.
Storytelling
Storytelling is another significant element of the position.
The vacancy describes the need to tell stories capable of inspiring action across settings ranging from refugee settlements to boardrooms, stages and dinner tables.
This means the successful candidate must be comfortable adapting communication to different audiences.
A conversation with a community member requires a different approach from a presentation to a donor or senior executive.
The Strategic Catalyst must be able to navigate these different contexts effectively.
Partnership Building and Movement Mobilization – 40%
The largest component of the role, accounting for 40%, focuses on:
Partnership building
Movement mobilization
and
Learning
The Strategic Catalyst will help mobilize people, resources and evidence around FutureKind ideas.
This includes identifying opportunities and building relationships across multiple sectors.
Building Cross-Sector Relationships
The successful candidate will develop relationships involving areas such as:
Philanthropy.
Government.
Business.
Academia.
Design.
Technology.
Media.
This makes the role highly cross-sectoral.
Candidates should therefore be able to work effectively with people whose professional cultures, priorities and perspectives may differ considerably.
Philanthropic Partnerships
The Strategic Catalyst will originate, cultivate and serve as a key relationship-holder for catalytic philanthropic relationships and strategic partners.
This responsibility helps explain why substantial prior experience is required.
The position is not simply about supporting existing donor relationships.
The successful candidate must be capable of identifying new opportunities and developing relationships that can produce strategic or funding outcomes.
Convenings and Community Building
The role also involves designing and hosting convenings.
These gatherings should help:
Build community.
Attract collaborators.
Strengthen relationships.
Advance FutureKind ideas.
The successful candidate will also represent both Alight and FutureKind with external audiences.
Strong communication and professional representation skills are therefore important.
Building a Global Movement
The vacancy states that the Strategic Catalyst will help build a global movement around FutureKind.
This involves generating awareness, belief and support for the platform’s ideas.
The successful candidate will need to connect individual opportunities and partnerships to FutureKind’s wider strategic ambitions.
Capturing Learning and Evidence
The position also includes capturing learning across the FutureKind portfolio.
The Strategic Catalyst will contribute to strengthening evidence and impact.
This reflects FutureKind’s experimental approach.
New ideas need to be tested, understood and improved based on what is learned through implementation.
Required Experience
Applicants should have at least:
7+ years of relevant experience.
This experience should involve identifying opportunities, cultivating relationships and turning ideas into partnerships or funding outcomes.
Experience in areas such as:
Social impact.
Community-based organizations.
For-profit-for-good environments.
or related sectors is preferred.
This makes the FutureKind Strategic Catalyst position best suited to established professionals rather than recent graduates.
Partnership and Funding Track Record
Applicants need a demonstrated track record of successfully identifying opportunities and converting ideas into tangible outcomes.
These outcomes may include:
Strategic partnerships.
Funding.
Resources.
Stakeholder engagement.
The role therefore requires more than theoretical understanding of partnership development.
Candidates should be able to provide examples demonstrating previous success.
Donor and Senior-Level Relationships
Candidates must have experience successfully cultivating and growing relationships with:
Donors
Partners
and
Senior leaders
Relationship management is one of the central functions of this position.
Applicants should be able to demonstrate how they have developed professional relationships over time and converted them into meaningful organizational outcomes.
Workshop and Meeting Facilitation
The successful candidate should have proven experience facilitating workshops and leading meetings.
Experience conducting customer or community interviews is also required.
These capabilities are particularly important because FutureKind emphasizes listening closely to displaced customers and host communities.
The Strategic Catalyst needs to be able to gather insight while treating communities with dignity and respect.
Proposal and Fundraising Experience
Candidates should demonstrate success creating materials such as:
Proposals
Fundraising materials
Business cases
Strategic communications
Thought leadership content
These materials should have influenced decision-making, secured resources or strengthened stakeholder engagement.
The position therefore requires a combination of strategic thinking and practical communication skills.
Knowledge and Skills
Alight is seeking someone capable of listening deeply and approaching challenges with curiosity.
The successful candidate should be able to connect ideas and support individual and organizational learning.
They should also be capable of establishing, nurturing and expanding relationships across:
Sectors.
Communities.
Professional networks.
The ability to work across traditional organizational boundaries is particularly important.
Collaborative Leadership
Candidates should be skilled at designing and leading collaborative discussions and workshops.
They need to help diverse stakeholders generate ideas and align different perspectives.
This requires facilitation rather than simply directing participants toward predetermined answers.
The successful candidate should be able to create an environment where others can contribute meaningfully.
Communication Skills
The Strategic Catalyst needs strong narrative and communication capabilities.
Candidates should be able to tailor messages for audiences including:
Donors.
Partners.
Customers.
Community members.
Senior executives.
The same idea may need to be communicated differently depending on the audience.
Working in Ambiguous Environments
FutureKind is designed around experimentation and discovering new approaches.
The successful candidate should therefore be comfortable:
Pursuing new relationships.
Testing ideas.
Taking initiative.
Working in evolving environments.
Candidates who require every project to have a predetermined pathway may find this type of role challenging.
Interpersonal Skills
The position requires strong interpersonal capabilities.
The successful candidate should be able to engage, persuade and build trust with people from diverse backgrounds and different levels of influence.
This is particularly important for a role that operates between communities, donors, governments, businesses and organizational leadership.
Synthesizing Complex Information
Applicants should be able to synthesize complicated information and bridge perspectives across:
Sectors.
Functions.
Cultures.
Stakeholder groups.
The Strategic Catalyst must then transform those insights into practical action.
This combination of analytical and interpersonal skills is central to the position.
Customer-Centered Solutions
Alight specifically requires demonstrated experience putting customers at the center of solutions.
This reflects the organization’s broader philosophy.
Rather than designing programmes solely from institutional headquarters, Alight emphasizes listening to the people experiencing displacement.
Candidates should therefore demonstrate experience with participatory, human-centered or community-informed approaches where relevant.
Cross-Functional Experience
Applicants should have demonstrated experience thriving in cross-functional initiatives.
The position works closely with the Office of the Customer FutureKind strategy team and cross-functionally with the Marketing & Engagement fundraising team.
The successful candidate must therefore be able to collaborate beyond a single department or professional discipline.
Travel Requirements
The position is based in Nairobi but requires frequent travel to Uganda and Rwanda.
Candidates should therefore be comfortable with regular regional travel.
The role can also involve travel to refugee settlements.
Applicants should be prepared to engage respectfully and sensitively with displaced communities.
Candidates unable to undertake frequent travel should carefully consider this requirement before applying.
Location and Work Authorization
The FutureKind Strategic Catalyst is based in:
Nairobi, Kenya.
There is an important eligibility condition for applicants.
Candidates must already have the legal right and valid existing authorization to work in Kenya.
Alight states explicitly that it is unable to provide work-permit sponsorship for this position.
International applicants should therefore not assume that the organization will sponsor a Kenyan employment permit.
Is Visa Sponsorship Available?
No work-permit sponsorship is available for this particular vacancy.
This is explicitly stated in the job announcement.
Applicants who would require employer-sponsored authorization to work legally in Kenya should therefore take this restriction seriously.
The position should not be advertised as a visa-sponsored international relocation opportunity.
Alight’s Values
The vacancy places significant emphasis on values alignment.
Alight is looking for someone who is curious and genuinely listens.
Candidates should appreciate complexity and seek to understand problems before attempting to solve them.
Humility and willingness to learn are emphasized.
Shared Ownership
Alight believes that shared ownership can create better outcomes.
The Strategic Catalyst should trust displaced customers to help guide solutions.
Candidates should be willing to:
Bring others into the process.
Build ecosystems.
Share power.
Adapt their work to create space for others.
This collaborative philosophy is central to FutureKind.
Embracing Transformation
The organization also emphasizes adaptability.
Humanitarian environments and the lives of displaced people are constantly changing.
Alight therefore expects its own approaches to evolve.
The successful candidate should be comfortable questioning existing assumptions and exploring new possibilities.
Valuing Dignity and Human Experience
Alight emphasizes the importance of creating experiences that recognize joy, dignity and human connection.
Quality should be judged in part by the people experiencing programmes and services.
This customer-centered perspective influences the way FutureKind approaches programme development.
Benefits
The vacancy identifies several employment benefits.
Employees become part of Alight’s borderless team of approximately 2,500 staff worldwide.
The organization also provides access to hundreds of free online learning courses.
These courses can be completed at an employee’s own pace and tailored to professional development goals.
The position also offers flexible leave time, including vacation, personal leave and holidays.
Salary and Compensation
The vacancy does not provide a specific salary figure.
Instead, Alight states that:
Remuneration will be commensurate with relevant experience and Kenya market standards.
Applicants should therefore avoid third-party claims advertising a specific salary unless that figure is separately confirmed by Alight.
Compensation may depend on the successful candidate’s relevant experience and applicable market conditions.
Equal Opportunity Employment
Alight describes itself as an Equal Opportunity Employer.
The organization states that employment decisions are made without regard to characteristics including race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, national origin, citizenship, disability or protected veteran status.
Alight also encourages applicants who can contribute to the diversity of the communities it serves.
Candidates bringing lived experience with displacement are strongly encouraged to apply.
Application Deadline
Applications for the FutureKind Strategic Catalyst position close on:
2 October 2026.
The vacancy was posted on:
14 September 2026.
Applicants should therefore prepare and submit their applications before the official closing date.
How to Apply
Candidates should apply through the official application link provided in the vacancy announcement.
Before submitting an application, applicants should ensure their materials demonstrate experience relevant to:
Opportunity development.
Partnership building.
Donor relationships.
Fundraising.
Workshop facilitation.
Strategic communication.
Proposal development.
Community engagement.
Cross-sector collaboration.
Candidates should tailor their application specifically to FutureKind rather than submitting a generic programme-management application.
How to Strengthen Your Application
Applicants should focus on evidence of outcomes.
Instead of simply stating that they have “partnership experience,” candidates can demonstrate how they identified a potential partner, developed the relationship and converted the opportunity into funding or another strategic outcome.
Similarly, fundraising experience should be supported by examples of proposals, business cases or communications that helped secure resources.
Workshop facilitation experience can be demonstrated through examples involving diverse stakeholders and complex challenges.
Who Is This Role Best Suited For?
This opportunity may particularly suit experienced professionals working in:
Humanitarian innovation.
Programme development.
Strategic partnerships.
Philanthropy.
Fundraising.
Social innovation.
International development.
Human-centered design.
Community engagement.
Strategic communications.
Social impact.
Candidates should still compare their background directly against the official requirements.
Is This an Entry-Level Job?
No.
The vacancy requires 7+ years of relevant experience.
ReliefWeb categorizes the experience level as 5–9 years, while Alight’s detailed requirements specifically state at least seven years.
Recent graduates and applicants seeking their first NGO position should therefore look for more junior opportunities.
The Strategic Catalyst position requires a demonstrated professional track record in partnerships, opportunity development, fundraising and stakeholder engagement.
Important Details at a Glance
Organization: Alight
Position: FutureKind Strategic Catalyst
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
Reports To: Director of FutureKind Strategy
Career Area: Program/Project Management
Experience: 7+ years of relevant experience
Travel: Frequent travel to Uganda and Rwanda; ability to travel to refugee settlements required
Work Authorization: Existing legal authorization to work in Kenya required
Work-Permit Sponsorship: Not available
Salary: Not specified; remuneration based on relevant experience and Kenya market standards
Posted: 14 September 2026
Application Deadline: 2 October 2026
Important Headline Clarification
The headline supplied for this opportunity uses “Alright FutureKind Strategic Catalyst Job 2026.”
The official organization name is Alight, not “Alright.”
For SEO purposes, preserving an existing published headline may sometimes be necessary, but readers should be given the correct employer name prominently in the article.
The official position title is:
FutureKind Strategic Catalyst
and the employer is:
Alight.
Final Considerations
The Alight FutureKind Strategic Catalyst Job 2026: Program Development Opportunity in Nairobi, Kenya presents an opportunity for experienced professionals interested in humanitarian innovation, programme development, strategic partnerships and social impact.
The successful candidate will help Alight’s FutureKind platform discover new ideas, develop compelling narratives, build strategic partnerships, and mobilize resources around approaches designed to improve the futures of displaced people.
The role combines 30% opportunity discovery and idea generation, 30% narrative development and thought leadership, and 40% partnership building, movement mobilization and learning.
Applicants need 7+ years of relevant experience, including a demonstrated ability to identify opportunities, develop donor and partner relationships, facilitate workshops and turn ideas into tangible partnerships or funding outcomes.
The position is based in Nairobi, Kenya, with frequent travel to Uganda and Rwanda.
Most importantly for international candidates, applicants must already possess valid legal authorization to work in Kenya. Alight will not provide work-permit sponsorship for this vacancy.
Compensation is not given as a fixed figure in the announcement. Alight states that remuneration will be commensurate with relevant experience and Kenya market standards.
Applications close on 2 October 2026.
Experienced professionals who meet the work-authorization and experience requirements should review the complete vacancy and submit their application through the official application channel before the deadline.
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