Programme Officer, Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation

We are looking for a Programme Officer upto March 26 to support the Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation for a fixed term contract upto March 26, a programme designed to stimulate, celebrate and champion innovation and entrepreneurship across sub-Saharan Africa.

The role is varied and fast paced, focusing primarily on programme and event organisation, logistics, communications and stakeholder management, offering a great opportunity to develop a range of skills in the context of supporting African entrepreneurs.

The Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation has been running since 2014. It provides crucial commercialisation support to innovators who have developed engineering solutions. Selected entrepreneurs participate in an eight-month, hybrid, business training and mentoring programme, before having the opportunity to pitch their business to a live audience at a showcase final event on the African continent. They then go on to become part of an engaged and thriving alumni community.

Over the last 11 years, the programme has supported over 160 entrepreneurs from across sub-Saharan Africa. The businesses supported have gone on to create over 28,000 jobs, raise $39 million in funding, and bring 470 products and services to market, with a reach of over 10 million beneficiaries.

In this role, you will work closely with delivery partners to support the delivery of Cycle 12 of the Africa Prize. In collaboration with the selected training partner and the Programme Manager, you will support in designing engaging and bespoke training weeks for Africa Prize entrepreneurs, both in the UK and on the African continent. There may also be opportunities to support the wider Africa and Sustainable Development team activities. The job offers the chance to travel internationally, including to low-resource settings.

Application closing date: 16/11/2025

Interview date: w/c 24/11/2025

Interview location: London

Our location

Our light, spacious head office is based in a fantastic location in central London with views over St James's Park and close to the West End. We operate hybrid, flexible working practices with a baseline for office based working of a mandatory weekly team day plus further days each week as required for the role and the Academy.

Who are we?

Engineering matters. It shapes our everyday lives, from our ability to turn the lights on, have a hot shower and commute into work, to the mobile phones we rely on to keep connected. It also plays a vital role in addressing some of the biggest challenges facing society today, from climate change, to global health pandemics and cyber threats.

The Royal Academy of Engineering is a charity that harnesses the power of engineering to build a sustainable society and an inclusive economy that works for everyone. In collaboration with our Fellows and partners, we're growing talent and developing skills for the future, driving innovation, and building global partnerships, and influencing policy and engaging the public. Together we're working to tackle the greatest challenges of our age.

With a diverse workforce and an inclusive and supportive culture, we look to attract candidates from wide and different backgrounds who have a passion for the role engineering plays in society. Our aim is to make the Academy the best place to work for the staff we have and those we seek to attract.

Why work for us?

We're looking for people who are driven to make the world a better place. If you're passionate about what you do and want to work collaboratively with talented colleagues to make change happen now and for future generations, we want you to get in touch.

This is the perfect time to join us. We have a dynamic, visionary CEO, a strong leadership team and an ambitious and exciting strategy. The value we bring as experts in our field and change agents is highly recognised and makes the Academy a motivating place to be. Our work today builds on a long, proud history with a focused and ambitious future which we'd love you to be part of.

We are looking for talented people who want to make a difference, to join our team – is this you?

The Academy is committed to making reasonable adjustments to remove barriers that hinder applicants from applying or staff from working effectively and comfortably.