Vacancy: Legal Associate at Persistent Energy

If you have what it takes, apply for the Legal Associate position at Persistent Energy, Nigeria. It is a full time position.

Application Deadline – 05 September, 2025

We are Persistent in our quest to build climate ventures in Africa

Persistent is the leading climate venture builder in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). We are pioneer investors, thought leaders and venture builders driving climate friendly investments in, amongst others, the distributed renewable energy (DRE), e-mobility, energy efficiency, eco-system enablers and and other climate technologies.

We believe that building commercially successful climate impact ventures in emerging markets can both make the world a better place and provide attractive financial returns.

We believe that climate change is the biggest challenge of our time and therefore focus on companies that proliferate renewable energy and other climate-mitigating solutions to customers in emerging markets.

Our model is simple. We bring expertise and experience, as well as the right financial capital to start-up companies. The Persistent team can provide business and financial modeling, fundraising, legal and tax structuring, technology architecture, digital strategy, and HR management expertise.

Our model is unique for two reasons. First, we go beyond boardroom advice, roll up our sleeves and fill operational roles. Our sector experience helps companies avoid making mistakes we have already seen in the sector.  Second, due to our close involvement and deep experience, we can provide risk-tolerant capital to our companies in the most flexible way.

Our model provides positive impact and financial returns because we only work with exceptional entrepreneurs, are backed by the most visionary investors, institutions, and foundations, and because we are Persistent.

Your role

We are looking for an exceptional lawyer (Associate level and above) with a pronounced entrepreneurial mindset, and a passion for climate and social impact in Africa. You will be working with a diverse team (10+ nationalities) of close-knit, passionate individuals in an exciting and dynamic environment.  Ideally, you should have at least 6+ years’ legal experience in VC, private capital, energy, and/or corporate transactions.  The role will primarily be linked to Persistent direct investments, focused on our $70M Africa Climate Venture Builder (“ACV”) Fund. You will also be required to work on all legal aspects of Persistent’s business, including our investments, Venture Building, advisory work and fund management. Be ready to roll up your sleeves to venture build our portfolio companies in legal, compliance and environmental social and governance (ESG) aspects and work with them to achieve impact and scalability.

Your responsibilities

Persistent corporate and business operations:

• Work on the legal aspects of Persistent’s business operations, tax analysis, fund structuring and management, capital raising and borrowing.
• Work on the legal aspects of Persistent’s investments in and relationships with its partner companies, including legal due diligence, tax, negotiations and documentation. Most of Persistent’s legal work is done in-house.

Persistent partner companies:

• Guide, oversee and vet tax and legal structures of Persistent partner companies.
• Advise on and troubleshoot ongoing legal matters (issue spotting, assistance in retaining outside counsel where appropriate and assistance in supervision of outside counsel) for Persistent partner companies.
• Act as legal and business advisor for partner companies under Service Level Agreements, including negotiating complex financings, securitizations, investments,  acquisitions and insolvency restructurings, with appropriate technical assistance from outside legal counsel.

Your Profile

You fulfil the following requirements:

• Passion for our mission and a pronounced entrepreneurial mindset to enable companies in emerging markets to positively impact the climate and lives as they grow and scale.
• A Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) and Master of Laws degree (LL.M) and a licence to practise in a leading African or international jurisdiction.
• Over 6 years’ post-bar experience practising law (Associate level and above) and demonstrated legal experience in several of the following categories:
  • Early stage venture capital or private equity experience.
  • Closed-ended fund management, fund investment and other fund legal matters (GP/LP) including ILPA model documentation.
  • Advisory experience in the climate sector such as  the energy transition (offgrid solar, e-mobility, PUE, energy efficiency), the resource transition (circular economy and waste management), or the agricultural transition (agtech).
  • Experience in legal due diligence (DD).
  • Experience in general corporate law; and mergers and acquisitions, bankruptcy and insolvency law and international tax law experience.
  • Must have the ability to lead and run deals.
  • Must have experience managing transactions (including managing work in internal teams and third party service providers).
• A practical, problem solving approach to practising law, able to weigh risks and propose practical solutions, not simply point out obstacles.
• Building relationships and representing: You are able to build trustful relationships with peers, key partners and stakeholders on the ground.
• You are a team player with an analytical mindset and strong problem-solving abilities.
• Location & Travel: You are based in Africa (preferably can legally live and work in Nigeria) and are able to travel to partner companies and the Persistent team.

Build with us

Our culture at Persistent is entrepreneurial, collaborative and flexible. We seek talented people who are passionate about climate and impact and have a drive for excellence. We offer a diverse team and a dynamic work environment that is required to work closely with our fast-moving partner companies that are located in more than a dozen countries in Africa.

Join us at Persistent and benefit from:

Impact: An opportunity to work directly with start-ups in underserved markets and create lasting social and environmental impact.

Steep learning curve: You will join a small, but experienced team that will enable you to become a multi-skilled professional in a short period of time and build the confidence to embrace and tackle most business challenges.

Opportunity to take initiative: Leverage your expertise to create practical and relevant solutions for companies on the frontline and see concrete outcomes of your work.

Flexibility: Exercise a significant amount of discretion in determining what you do and how you do it. Persistent is a workplace that gives you the flexibility to balance the requirements of work and private life. While you will frequently travel to our partner companies and be with your colleagues, you will also be able to work from home when necessary and make use of flexible hours and family-focused leave policies. We also offer attractive compensation that is designed to reward your performance and impact over the long term.Applications to be sent to join@persistent.energy