• Duration: Permanent

• Salary: Circa £55,000 per annum

• Job Level: 3

• Hours: 35 hours per week. Other flexible arrangements will be considered.

• Disclosure Level: Basic. This role involves no direct or indirect work with children.

• Reports to: Head of Corporate Partnerships – Partnerships Development

• Location: Work from home and at 1 Westfield Avenue, London E20 1HZ

At the UK Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK), we pull together to achieve the best possible results for children in danger around the world.  We believe in an inclusive workplace and in the power of fulfilled colleagues who share the same values and goals, enjoy their work and are motivated to do their utmost for children. 

Our work is guided by the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which recognise the universality of children’s rights.

ABOUT THE TEAM

We firmly believe that companies can play a crucial role in changing the world for children; we’re motivated by this and are working in increasingly diverse and integrated ways with our partners to make this change a reality. We’re doing that through shared value partnerships; it’s about more than financial investment, we’re calling on their skills, expertise, and in-kind support to accelerate change for children. We’re ambitious, we have high targets and big plans.

The award-winning Corporate Partnerships team secures and manages long term, multi-million-pound partnerships with major UK companies including easyJet, Unilever and arm. The team has ambitious plans for growth to £23m per annum in 2024 by adding to and growing our portfolio of truly strategic and pioneering full value corporate partnerships.

We are currently a team of 26 coming from a diverse range of backgrounds – charity sector, agency, and the corporate world. We are proud of the partnerships that we develop, we work hard to keep these partnerships fresh and mutually beneficial in an ever-changing world.

ABOUT THE ROLE

This role strategically and operationally supports the growth and development of six-figure partnerships (both financial and non-financial), managing an associated budget. The Corporate Partnerships Lead manages a small team of Corporate Partnership Managers, Executives, and administrator, and works with the Head of Corporate Partnerships on overall partnership development strategy.

What we will expect you to achieve:

• Lead, manage and develop the mini partnership team with up to five direct line reports.

• Work with the other Leads and Heads of Corporate to create a positive team culture that allows team members to excel and supports well-being.

• Develop and implement strategy for the partnerships in your portfolio - working with managers and executives to identify objectives for each partnership to deliver the wider team objectives.

• Manage key relationships with corporate partners in your portfolio, developing strong relationships and liaising with all levels to ensure relationship audit KPIs are met.

• Work in collaboration with UNICEF Global to monitor, coordinate and report regularly on the specific projects funded by the partnerships.

• Work closely with the Business Development team and Head of Corporate Partnerships to ensure smooth transitioning of partnerships across the team.

• Awareness of risk, ensuring that risk mitigation plans are in place and risks are appropriately flagged and escalated when needed.

• Contribute to the wider Corporate Partnerships team, fundraising and UNICEF UK strategies as needed.

• Overall responsibility for the planning and monitoring of income and expenditure budgets within your portfolio.

• Ensure best practice account management is implemented across your portfolio and provide a helicopter view of accounts with senior level support and advice.

• Ensure partners are aware of and participate in key campaigns.

• Ensure appropriate response and communication to corporate partners in the event of humanitarian emergencies.

• Lead on specific projects for the Corporate Partnerships team, represent the wider team for cross organisational projects and / or ways of working with key internal stakeholder teams.

• Demonstrate and model a commitment to our shared values, behaviours and inclusive practices (known as Our Shared Commitment) in all aspects of your work.

BEHAVIOURS, EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

This section contains the essential behaviours, experience, knowledge and skills needed in order to be effective and successful in this role. All criteria in this section are essential.

Effective behaviours

Supporter driven and mission aligned

• Is committed to children and their rights and motivated to work towards achieving a world that is fit for every child.

• Considers partners’ needs and pressures, balancing their expectations with doing what’s right for children.

Communication          

• Uses a range of approaches and conveys complex ideas to engage an audience and win understanding and support.  

Efficiency and effectiveness

• Manages conflicting priorities to ensure that objectives are achieved, and deadlines met.  Anticipates risks and put plans in place to minimise their impact and responds flexibly to unforeseen events such as emergency responses.

Negotiating and influencing

• Maintains a win-win approach by balancing achievement of both Unicef UK’s and our external partners’ objectives.

• Operates and negotiates with confidence with new and existing contacts at a senior level.

Resilience

• Remains positive and quickly recovers from setbacks, keeping problems in perspective and taking a solution focused approach.

Leadership

• Acts as a role model to promote a positive, dynamic and results focused culture, engaging and guiding others to achieve ambitious goals. 

• Translates strategic direction into medium- and long-term plans and objectives for own team.

Decision making

• Sensitively decisive, takes responsibility for decisions, escalating appropriately and communicating them clearly.

Relevant experience

• Experience of strategic planning, developing, and monitoring budgets.

Specific knowledge and skills

• Detailed understanding of corporate responsibility, relationship management and strong commercial understanding including negotiating contracts.