• Duration: Fixed term - 12 months

• Salary: £102,000 per annum

• Job Level: 1

• 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: Chief Partnerships Officer

• Location: Working 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 ROLE

The Director of Partnerships leads the Corporate, Foundations and Sport Partnerships teams, and the delivery of UNICEF UK’s ambitious strategies and plans, to raise funds and leverage child rights advancing support through partnerships.

This pivotal role oversees a team of 40 colleagues, including 4 direct reports, and plays a key leadership role within the organization’s Extended Leadership Group. You will work collaboratively with executive level colleagues and colleagues within the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) to represent UNICEF UK and lead teams forward against the delivery of our strategic framework. Together, the Partnerships team are shaping the future of UNICEF UK's mission and strategic framework.

Together, over the current 4-year strategic cycle (2023-2026), these Partnerships teams are expected to raise over £240m and we have ambition to raise this income through a proactive approach to growth, innovation, talent development and better collaboration both internally and externally.  

What we will expect you to achieve:

• Role model Our Shared Commitment in all aspects of your work and leadership, and work with colleagues to ensure we have the inclusive and diverse teams and culture that we need to deliver our strategy. This will be evident in your actions, behaviour in meetings, engagement with colleagues and morale within the team and shown thrown achieving benchmark or higher in our Peakon scores [bi-monthly employee engagement survey].

• Ensure that UNICEF UK’s annual income targets across Corporate, Foundation and Sport Partnerships are achieved or exceeded (circa £60m in 2025) by leading the teams to deliver a sustainable and successful multi-year income generation strategy.

• Working with your teams and leadership, set an ambitious and proactive growth culture, enabling fundraisers to prioritise their output and deliver the organisation’s ambition of higher value, multi-year partnerships whilst managing the budgets in line with the financial modelling set out in the 2023-26 strategy.

• Personally engage with, as required, UNICEF UK’s most high-value partnerships to support unlocking complex opportunities across a global infrastructure and drive long-term partnership engagement and commitment.

• As a member of the Extended Leadership Group (ELG), collaborate closely with other directors, across the Partnerships & Philanthropy directorate and UNICEF UK more widely, to represent a shared a leadership voice which is values-led, and inspire teams to work in the same way.

• Build and deliver strong and effective working relationships with other offices within the UNICEF family globally. This includes UNICEF offices and teams in Geneva and New York, as well as UNICEF UK teams.

• Working across UNICEF UK and UNICEF, identify and resolve the pain points and critical enablers of the teams to ensure they are set up for success and have the platform to deliver against our strategic goals.

• In-line with the organisation’s overall Talent Strategy, work closely with the Heads of the Partnerships Teams and Extended Leadership Group to continuously foster an inclusive team culture, focusing on retention and equitable development of talent within teams.

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 better world for every child. 

• Develops effective relationships with target supporter groups enhancing their knowledge and involvement of UNICEF’s work.

• Uses in-depth knowledge of supporters, the market and the charity sector to predict future trends that impact upon supporters and their support.

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

Results focussed

• Prioritises and sustains focus on work that will have the greatest impact on agreed aims. 

• Reviews results and extracts learning to optimise future performance.

• Anticipates internal/external challenges that could impact UNICEF UK’s work and adapts approach accordingly.

Communication and influence

• Conveys complex ideas using a variety of methods to engage an audience and win understanding and support.

• Presents complex and difficult messages clearly and with impact.

• Anticipates and responds to the needs of an audience, adapting content, style, language and use of channel to deliver maximum clarity.

Leadership

• Promotes a results focused culture, engaging and guiding others to achieve ambitious goals.

• Creates and encourages cross-organisational teamwork and collaboration, acting as a visible role model.

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

• Able to make and communicate unpopular decisions.

• Promotes confident discussion of failure and constructive challenge to enhance innovation/learning.

• Prioritises knowledge and skills over status to make the best use of talent and promote involvement at all levels.

Resilience

• Remains positive and quickly recovers from setbacks, keeping problems in perspective.

• Takes a solution focused approach to problem solving to succeed in difficult circumstances.

Relevant experience

• Demonstrable personal experience of developing and delivering multi-million, multi-year Corporate and Foundation Partnerships resulting in growth opportunities and organisational impact.

• Values-led approach to leadership demonstrable through your actions and approach to problem solving.

• Developing innovative fundraising strategies for effectively growing high-value Corporate and Foundation Partnerships.

• Driving a multi-functional team with different disciplines and skill levels. Leading experienced managers responsible for their own teams and building a positive atmosphere and a committed and collaborative approach to best deliver tangible results.

• Long-term strategic and tactical planning and budgeting managing income and expenditure budgets and delivering against personal and organisational objectives.

• Experience building multisectoral and/or peer fundraising alliances; awareness of emerging fundraising trends; and existing knowledge of key issues within international development are all highly desirable.