Digital Financial Inclusion Specialist

CARE International in Pakistan

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Posted date	28th November, 2025	Last date to apply	9th December, 2025
Country	Pakistan	Locations	Islamabad
Category	Development Sector
Type	Contractual	Position	1

As a global leader, CARE is shaping the future of the humanitarian and development sector. Each year, we deliver support and services to millions of people in over a hundred countries. We do this by focusing on our mission and living the values that drive our organization. A career at CARE is an opportunity to be part of a movement that brings communities together to solve complex problems and foster lasting change throughout the world. We seek individuals who are passionate about humanitarian and development work, collaborate well with others, embrace learning and innovation, and deliver results.

Job Summary

To unlock the power of entrepreneurs worldwide, CARE and the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth (the Center) launched the Ignite program in 2020 with funding from the Mastercard Impact Fund. This global partnership dramatically accelerated the growth of enterprises while advancing financial security and promoting inclusive growth. Recognizing that female entrepreneurs represent one of the most powerful – and one of the most constrained – groups of entrepreneurs, Ignite prioritized actions that helped women thrive with resounding success.

The Digital Financial Inclusion Specialist will support the delivery of the Strive Women program by providing technical expertise on women-centered digital financial products and services. The role will work closely with financial service providers (FSPs), including banks, MFIs, and fintechs, to co-design, test, and refine inclusive financial solutions for women-led micro and small enterprises (W-MSEs). The Specialist will ensure strong alignment with State Bank of Pakistan regulations and CARE’s programmatic objectives. This role requires strong analytical capabilities, budgeting and financial planning skills, and the ability to translate market and policy insights into scalable interventions. The Specialist supports strategic decision making while coordinating technical deliverables, reporting, and partner management.

The position will be based at CARE Country Office Islamabad with frequent travel (30%) to the field. The position also requires working outside of business hours to coordinate with colleagues in other countries and across time zones.

Job Responsibilities and Tasks

1- Technical Advisory & Product Development: (50% of time)

- Provide financial modeling support to assess product pricing, business cases, and portfolio performance.
- Conduct mappings of the current market in Pakistan for financial products and services (credit, savings, insurance and other types) to understand the availability and usage of financial products and services and gaps in serving women entrepreneurs.
- Identify market entry points for financial products to better serve women-led micro and small enterprises (W-MSEs).
- Well aware of Women Centered Design methodology and can facilitate the workshops with FSPs.
- Collaborate with leading and innovative Financial Service Providers (FSPs) and explore partnerships options.
- Collaborate with FSPs to co-design (ideate, prototype and implement) tailored products and services specifically targeted at women entrepreneurs, considering digital solutions.
- Lead meetings and facilitate workshops with FSPs using a women-centered design approach to provide advisory services for FSPs to optimize their portfolio design to effectively serve the W-MSE segment and adapt or develop new financial services and products.
- Work closely with FSPs to monitor and analyze the delivery of new and adapted financial products and services, including their promotion.
- Run experimental trials of product innovations on childcare and green business and document insights and learnings.
- Engage in activities with FSPs and other stakeholders to create an enabling environment for the growth and success of W-MSEs.
- Stay updated with industry trends and best practices to continuously improve digital financial services for W-MSEs, including payment switching and mobile wallets. Communicate this information to a range of technical and non-technical audiences.
- Contribute insights to Strive Women Program team on behavior change campaigns to address barriers such as limited access to childcare, environmental insecurity, climate change, and restrictive formal or informal rules that hinder the autonomy of women leading MSEs.
- Work with communication team to develop a suite of resources, including media and marketing materials, to enable replication of successful models by FSPs, W-MSEs, and other stakeholders.
- Represent the project in key stakeholder events and platforms to enhance the visibility of project performance and evidence.
- Support FSPs and fintech partners in the design, prototyping, and rollout of digital financial services tailored for W-MSEs.
- Conduct product feasibility assessments, market scans, user insights, and competitive benchmarking.

2- Strategic Analysis & Budget Oversight: (25% of time)

- Work in close coordination and provide support to Senior Project Manager in maintaining updates on program implementation, in particular through updated and accurate monthly progress reports as required by CARE.

- Develop and maintain dashboards and financial monitoring tools to track progress against KPIs.

- Support budget planning, forecasting, and expenditure tracking in alignment with donor requirements.

- Analyze cost-benefit and risk implications for piloted innovations including green and childcare-linked products.

- Provide data-driven recommendations to inform strategic decisions and adaptive management.

- Provide support to Team Leqd by writing technical reports according to government requirements and requirements of the donor.
- Contribute and provide insights into fundraising efforts related to the scope of economic empowerment.
- Regularly coordinate with partners, visit partner office and program sites on monthly basis (additional visits as essential) and conduct partners’ review meetings on quarterly basis.

3- Stakeholder & Ecosystem Engagement: (20% of time)

- Facilitate partner workshops using women-centered design methodologies.

- Maintain strong communication and coordination with FSPs, regulators, ecosystem actors, and program partners.

- Contribute to policy dialogues and advocacy efforts supporting women’s digital financial inclusion.

- Support knowledge-sharing through technical briefs, learning products, and industry representation.

4- Other responsibilities as assigned: (05% of time)

Any other tasks or responsibilities based on organizational and programming needs as assigned by the Line Manager.

A) Qualifications (Know How)

- Master’s degree in Finance, Banking, Economics, Business Management, or related field; or equivalent combination of education and experience.

B) Experience/ Technical Skills

- 6–8 years of relevant experience in digital financial inclusion, retail banking, product development, or financial policy.

- Practical familiarity with State Bank of Pakistan regulatory frameworks (e.g., branchless banking, MSME finance, Banking on Equality, DFS policies).

- Strong budgeting, financial analysis, and modeling skills (Excel, dashboards).

- Experience engaging women or underserved market segments through inclusive finance initiatives.

- Strong presentation, report-writing, and stakeholder coordination skills.

- Fluency in English and Urdu.

CARE participates in the Inter-Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. In line with this Scheme, we hereby request information from the candidate’s previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the candidate left employment. All offers of employment are subject to satisfactory references and appropriate screening checks. By submitting an application, the job applicant confirms his/her understanding of these recruitment procedures.

CARE is an Equal Opportunity employer. We provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, sex, religion, ancestry, national origin, age, disability, marital status, or veteran status, or any other characteristics protected under applicable law.