Strategic Projects Associate

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Strategic Projects Associate

This is not a typical early career role. You’ll gain exposure to entrepreneurship at scale, global technology deployments, capital raising and investor relations and institution building to really accelerate your career!

About Sand

Sand Technologies is a global Physical AI company using data and AI to make critical industries work better. We partner with governments, cities and enterprises to improve how essential systems operate across healthcare, water, energy, telecommunications and infrastructure.

Our work delivers proven real-world impact. We have built AI systems that help manage London’s water supply, supported telecom network planning across hundreds of cities, and developed digital healthcare platforms serving tens of millions of people across Africa. From intelligent command centers to AI-powered infrastructure platforms, we help organizations sense, analyze and act in complex environments.

Our people are ambitious, curious and relentlessly practical. Our teams work alongside clients in the field, solving hard problems and deploying solutions that last. With colleagues across Africa, Europe, the UK and the US, we operate across the full stack - from research and engineering to deployment and capability building.

Our mission is simple: to harness AI to solve humanity’s most pressing challenges.

About the role

We are seeking an exceptional Strategic Projects Associate to join the Office of the CEO of Sand Technologies.

This is a high-trust, high-performance role designed for an ambitious operator and strategic thinker who thrives in fast-moving environments and enjoys solving complex problems across multiple domains.

Working directly with the CEO and Chief of Staff, you will help ensure the CEO operates at maximum effectiveness while also independently supporting priority projects across the organisation. No two days will look the same. In one meeting, you may be discussing organisational design and talent strategy; in another, preparing investor communications or structuring a new strategic initiative.

The ideal candidate is someone who can move seamlessly between strategy and execution, bringing structure to ambiguity and consistently delivering results.

This role offers a front-row seat to entrepreneurship and institution-building, and is designed as a springboard for exceptional early-career talent who aspire to build or lead organisations in the future.

What you’ll do

1. CEO Office Operations & Effectiveness

Support the CEO and the CEO’s Office in ensuring his time, communications, and decision-making processes operate efficiently, including:

• Preparing the CEO for high-stakes meetings with investors, partners, clients, and senior leadership
• Drafting and refining strategic communications including board materials and executive correspondence
• Conducting research and analysis on companies, investors, partners and emerging strategic opportunities
• Supporting email management, including drafting responses to complex or high-stakes communications
• Designing systems to improve the efficiency of the CEO’s Office (e.g. email analytics, workflow management, communication tracking)

1. Strategic Projects & Organisational Priorities

Work alongside the Chief of Staff to drive high-priority projects, often operating independently to move initiatives forward, including:

• Supporting capital raising processes, including investor research, pitch materials, and data room management
• Leading strategic analyses and recommendations to support new initiatives
• Supporting organisational initiatives such as leadership retreats, internal strategy sessions or major cross-functional projects
• Working with teams across the organisation to track progress on key strategic priorities
• Ensuring the CEO receives clear, concise briefings that enable rapid and informed decision-making

1. Company Coordination

Act as a key interface between the CEO’s Office and teams across the organisation, including:

• Managing inbound requests to the CEO’s Office and helping determine which issues require the CEO involvement
• Ensuring matters escalated to the CEO are well-structured, thoroughly researched and clearly presented
• Helping maintain strong alignment between the CEO’s Office and senior leadership teams

Requirements

Essential

• Bachelor’s degree from a top university
• 2+ years of experience at a leading consulting firm (MBB) or equivalent
• Experience supporting founders, CEOs or senior leadership teams
• Strong quantitative and qualitative analytical skills
• Exceptional organisational and project management capabilities
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills
• High attention to detail and ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously

Preferred

• Experience in technology, AI, or Venture Capital
• Exposure to capital raising, strategic partnerships, or organisational strategy
• Experience working in high-growth startup environments
• Experience within the African Leadership Group ecosystem (ALX, ALA, ALU)

Personal Attributes

We are looking for individuals who demonstrate the following qualities:

• Extremely organized: You keep meticulous to-do lists, plan your day carefully, and make sure everything gets done
• Detail-oriented: You don’t miss a thing! You are very careful and triple-check important documents, emails and presentations while ensuring everything you deliver is of the highest standards.
• Excellent relationship management: You are able to manage different relationships and communicate effectively with stakeholders at all levels.
• Creative problem solving: You are able to tap into different skills to come up with solutions that are out of the box
• Unrivalled communication skills: We’re not saying that you are Shakespeare but you have a way of turning complex ideas into totally inspiring verbal and written communication.
• Effective project management: You have a proven ability to effectively manage and collaborate with others on different aspects of a project.
• Learning mindset: You are always willing to see and receive feedback and view this experience as an opportunity for growth.

How we work

Due to the highly collaborative and internationally distributed nature of our work, successful candidates must be comfortable operating in small teams while contributing to larger, globally coordinated efforts. A strong sense of ownership, self-motivation and discipline in maintaining clear and consistent communication through virtual collaboration tools and video conferencing is essential.