ABOUT NEXUS FOR DEVELOPMENT
Nexus for Development mobilizes climate finance to accelerate the growth of climate positive enterprises across Southeast Asia, with a particular focus on carbon and debt financing.
Founded in 2009, Nexus is an international, not-for-profit organization registered in Singapore with an operational team based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. As one of the early pioneers of carbon finance in the region, we help organizations navigate complex carbon markets and unlock the capital needed to scale their climate solutions.
Our carbon finance work centers on building long-term partnerships with enterprises and project implementers to design, certify and commercialize high-quality carbon projects. We support the full project lifecycle, from feasibility assessments and methodology selection to verification, issuance, and global credit sales, ensuring projects deliver both climate impact and meaningful community benefits.
As a not-for-profit organization, we’re not driven by shareholder returns; we prioritize ensuring that carbon finance genuinely benefits the local enterprises, communities, and ecosystems behind the projects.
Our work focuses on three core areas:
--Technical assistance for carbon credit certification
--Carbon credit sales and innovative project financing structures
--Financing facilities for social enterprises delivering clean energy, water and waste solutions
POSITION DESCRIPTION
Nexus seeks a Senior Business Development Manager to build the demand and partnership base for our next phase of growth. This is a new role within our Carbon Finance team, created to take deliberate ownership of developing new implementation and consortium partners, new sources of grant and co-investment capital, new end buyers, and new compliance sales channels.
We are looking for someone who arrives with a standing network in carbon markets and can be productive in the first quarter. The successful candidate will be equally comfortable in a partner negotiation with a development NGO; a corporate buyer conversation, a government or Article 6 tender process, or a donor or foundation pitch.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
NEW BUSINESS AND PIPELINE DEVELOPMENT (Primary Responsibility)
- Own inbound lead triage and first-pass qualification, applying agreed screening criteria so that only viable opportunities consume technical capacity.
- Own identification, qualification and submission of RfPs, tenders and calls for proposals, from opportunity scanning through to bid pack assembly and submission.
- Own the pipeline tracker: stage definitions, data quality, weighted value and stage reporting to the Head of Carbon Finance and the leadership team.
- Build and maintain the sourcing matrix across project type, geography and compliance pathway, and use it to direct outreach effort toward the segments with the strongest commercial case.
- Source and cultivate strategic implementation partners: Development NGOs, social enterprises, technical alliances, corporates and peer developers that can bring projects, distribution or delivery capacity to Nexus.
- Prepare grant applications and concept notes, coordinating input from technical, finance and communications colleagues.
- Prepare project financial modelling: Revenue share, cost stack and contribute the commercial assumptions behind pre-screening decision memos and stage-gating.
- Prepare term sheet and project partner contract negotiation in alignment with the Head of Carbon Finance.
- Contribute to country entry assessments, including Article 6 readiness and designated national authority capacity, in support of new market decisions.
NEW DEMAND: BUYERS, COMPLIANCE CHANNELS AND PARTNERSHIPS
- Own new end-buyer prospecting: target list construction, segmentation, outreach sequencing and meeting generation, at a sustained weekly outreach volume.
- Own buyer-facing collateral and the stacked offering: pitch materials, capability statements and offer narratives, developed with Communications & Marketing, who own channel execution.
- Lead Article 6 tenders, accredited-vendor list applications and government buyer engagement, in coordination with the Head of Carbon Finance.
- Drive compliance-tier sales development: CORSIA, Article 6 and domestic schemes including the Singapore carbon tax, JCM and the Korean market.
- Support sales negotiation, ERPA and offtake structuring by opening and qualifying the opportunity and handing over a well-documented position.
- Prepare compliance documentation packs and buyer-facing eligibility evidence so that the compliance premium in our portfolio is legible to buyers.
CAPITAL AND CO-INVESTMENT SOURCING
- Own co-investment sourcing from foundations, family offices, accelerators and impact investors for project development and prefinancing.
- Prepare the design of project investment plans and prefinancing structures, including blended structures with the Nexus Pioneer Facility and the Impact Investment team.
- Support investor due diligence, including preparation and maintenance of the project data room.
- Support monitoring of prefinancing disbursement conditions and covenants alongside Finance.
MARKET INTELLIGENCE, POSITIONING AND REPRESENTATION
- Own competitor and peer developer tracking, and translate it into a defensible positioning for Nexus’ offer.
- Contribute price benchmarking and market intelligence by tier and project type, in support of the Portfolio Manager’s pricing intelligence work.
- Represent Nexus at conferences and industry events, securing speaking slots and converting attendance into qualified pipeline.
- Ensure the accuracy and commercial clarity of Carbon Finance content on the Nexus website and in outward-facing materials.
COMMERCIAL SYSTEMS, FORECASTING AND REPORTING
- Own CRM discipline: buyer and prospect data hygiene, outreach logging and activity reporting.
- Contribute to pipeline-weighted revenue forecasting and to the revenue route mix across technical assistance, credit sales, investment deals.
- Contribute to annual Carbon Finance KPI setting and quarterly performance review.
- Uphold confidentiality and data protection obligations in the handling of buyer and partner data.
HOW PERFORMANCE IS MEASURED
Targets are set annually with the Head of Carbon Finance and reviewed quarterly.
- Qualified new end-buyer meetings per quarter, against a sustained weekly outreach standard
- New outreach converted to a first transaction
- Number of RfPs and tenders entered, and win rate
- Article 6 and government engagements initiated
- Grant and co-investment value applied for and secured
- Weighted pipeline value created
KEY REQUIREMENTS
Competitive candidates will have:
- A minimum of 5 years demonstrated business development or origination experience in carbon markets, with a project developer, trading house, broker, standards body, climate advisory or carbon fund; a transferable record from adjacent environmental or climate finance markets will also be considered.
- An existing, activatable network of carbon credit buyers, intermediaries, project partners or funders. Candidates should be able to describe, in general terms, the network they would bring and how quickly it can be mobilised.
- A verifiable track record of new-client acquisition: opening cold relationships, qualifying them, and converting them into transactions or signed partnerships.
- Working knowledge of compliance carbon demand: CORSIA, Article 6.2 and 6.4, and domestic pricing schemes in Asia and of what buyers require as eligibility evidence.
- Experience preparing and submitting competitive bids: tenders, RfPs, accredited-vendor applications, and institutional grant proposals.
- Sound commercial judgement and financial literacy: Able to draft a project model, understand a revenue share and cost stack, and recognise when a deal does not work.
- Exceptional written and spoken English, and the credibility to hold a room with corporate sustainability leads, government officials, investors and Boards.
- Disciplined CRM and pipeline hygiene, with a genuine preference for working from documented, quantified pipeline rather than recollection.
- The ability to operate without direct reports, achieving results through influence, partnership and cross-functional coordination.
- Experience in Southeast Asia, and willingness to be based in Phnom Penh, is a significant advantage. Experience within an NGO, social enterprise, start-up or mission-driven organization is strongly preferred.
THE OPPORTUNITY OFFERS
- Flexible work environment
- 40 days of annual leave including public holidays
- Visa, group health insurance, local pension fund scheme
- Yearly professional development budget
- Health insurance and childcare/ tuition support for dependents
- Annual flight home (for non-national staff)
POSITION SUMMARY
Role Title: Senior Business Development Manager
Location: Phnom Penh, Cambodia; regional and international travel expected
Reporting to: Head of Carbon Finance
Term: Unspecified duration contract under Cambodian law. Minimum commitment of two years requested.
Remuneration Package: Negotiable
Start Date: ASAP
IMPORTANT NOTE:
Applications will be considered on a rolling basis until October 07, 2026. We encourage all qualified applicants to apply at their earliest convenience. Nexus for Development reserves the right to close the role early if a candidate is chosen.