Senior Partnerships Officer, Corporate - UK

Location: London or  Edinburgh, UK

Position Status: Full-time, Permanent

Salary: The starting range salary for this position is £37,040

Closing date: Applications to be submitted before September 4th

Valid unrestricted work authorization in the location in which you will be based (United Kingdom) is required at the time of application for this position.

About Mercy Corps
Mercy Corps is powered by the belief that a better world is possible. To do this, we know our teams do their best work when they are diverse, and every team member feels that they belong. We welcome diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be stronger and have long term impact.

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The Team
**The Corporate Partnerships team manages Mercy Corps’ fundraising relationships with major European and US companies. The team develops strategic and shared value partnerships that support social impact at scale in our priority areas including economic and market development, food and water security, climate change, peacebuilding, and emergency response, creating lasting impact with, and for, the local communities with whom we work.

We build meaningful partnerships through outstanding relationship management and partner services and through processes of co-creation and seeking shared value, as we work across the many teams at Mercy Corps, including programmes, marketing and communications, the executive office, and with our programme and country-based colleagues around the world. This team sits within Mercy Corps’ global Development team, which drives and supports Mercy Corps’ strategies for restricted funding, unrestricted funds and brand profile raising.

**The Position
**The Senior Partnerships Officer will be responsible for the account management of an existing portfolio of corporate partners within Europe. A key focus of the Senior Partnerships Officer will be to provide a high standard of relationship management and stewardship so that partners are motivated to continue and increase their support to Mercy Corps and relationships are deepened and developed. They will also support the Strategic Partnerships Manager to raise funds from new corporate partners. The role includes primary responsibility across the portfolio for grants management, including proposal and agreement review, compliance and finance coordination, award kick-off, and reporting.

Essential Responsibilities

RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT

• Strategically enhance and steward relationships within the corporate donor portfolio to maintain and significantly increase giving levels and alignment with Mercy Corps’ priorities.
• Support the Strategic Partnerships Manager on the formulation and implementation of individual strategies for developing key partnerships and initiatives around programmatic priorities.
• Act as a point person for partners and donors in response to outreach, questions and wider collaboration opportunities.

PORTFOLIO/GRANT MANAGEMENT

• Lead on the account management of agreed partners within the corporate portfolio in Europe, ensuring that each partnership is backed by a strategic plan for development.
• Ensure account-related records are accurate and accessible and that up-to-date information is recorded on Raisers’ Edge and appropriate internal and global drives.
• Lead on coordination with desk teams, finance, compliance, country and programmatic teams to conduct agreement reviews, address internal/external compliance concerns, ensure timely grant reporting, track budget vs actuals and file official grant paperwork.
• Ensure that relevant teams understand and adhere to funding requirements so that the objectives of CFT grants are fully met.
• Maintain understanding of key corporate partnerships to be able to represent engagement strategies to internal stakeholders.
• Deputize key accounts when the Strategic Partnerships Manager is unavailable.

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

• Lead portfolio expansion efforts (research, strategy, planning, materials) and strategies for thematic sectors e.g., digital currency and climate.
• Write, edit and/or project manage the development of concepts, proposals, reports, pitch decks, updates and stewardship materials.
• Work closely with global, regional and desk programmes teams to remain up to date with Mercy Corps priorities and global impact.
• Input into cross-team work streams related to new-business mapping, global event and conference research and preparation.

REPRESENTATION

• Act as an internal expert on the philanthropic landscape, and channel the perspective of corporate partners in developing proposals and ideas with programmatic team members.
• Effectively represent Mercy Corps to partners and external audiences for both fundraising and profile elevation.
• Lead initiatives that aim to enhance and deepen partner relationships, including campaigns and events.

**Supervisory Responsibility
**No direct reports

Reports Directly To: Strategic Partnerships Manager (Corporate)

Works Directly With: Corporate and Foundation Partnerships Officer

**Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders
**Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our programme participants, community partners, other stakeholders, and to international standards guiding international relief and development work. We are committed to actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

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Minimum Qualification & Transferable Skills**

• Minimum 4 years demonstrated experience in corporate fundraising or proven experience in partnership development, working in the international development/humanitarian sector.
• Demonstrated experience in stewarding donors resulting in the growth of 6-7+-figure partnerships and persuading larger giving values.
• Demonstrated experience in building long-term strategic partnerships with deepened value, e.g. incorporating profile-raising opportunities, leveraging partner expertise etc.
• Experience of working with a variety of teams to enhance internal collaboration towards a common goal.
• Understanding of the evolving environmental, social and governance (ESG) agenda and the role of companies as partners in development.
• Excellent writing skills and experience of proposal and report writing for a corporate audience, and the ability to write compelling funding proposals and communications.
• Excellent verbal communication skills, able to present the organisation and discuss opportunities for collaboration with a diverse range of actors.
• Excellent attention to detail.
• IT literate with good knowledge of Microsoft Office, particularly experience managing complex trackers.
• Experience of using/managing relationship databases, ideally Raiser's Edge (desirable).

Success Factors

• Creative and strategic thinker, able to find interesting angles to engage our partners.
• Strong and collaborative team worker.
• Excellent communicator, able to build and maintain effective internal and external relationships.
• Excellent organisational and time management skills, able to work quickly, accurately and to deadlines.
• Professional, highly motivated and solutions-oriented.
• Able to cope with changing priorities, often at short notice, and work well under pressure.

**Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions
**The position is based in London or Edinburgh and may involve occasional national and international travel. Mercy Corps Europe team members represent the agency both during and outside work hours when deployed in a field posting or on a short-term assignment or trip to country offices. Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and Mercy Corps policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all Mercy Corps locations. Fostering a diverse and open workplace is an important part of Mercy Corps' vision. Mercy Corps is an Equal Opportunity Employer regardless of background. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment. Candidates must have the right to work in the UK at the time of appointment.

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Ongoing Learning
**In support of our belief that learning organisations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities we serve, we empower all team members to dedicate 5% of their time to learning activities that further their personal and/or professional growth and development.

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Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
**Achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and work together. Through our commitment to enriching our organisation with people of different origins, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of thinking, we are better able to leverage the collective power of our teams and solve the world’s most complex challenges. We strive for a culture of trust and respect, where everyone contributes their perspectives and authentic selves, reaches their potential as individuals and teams, and collaborates to do the best work of their lives.

We recognise that diversity and inclusion is a journey, and we are committed to learning, listening and evolving to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive than we are today.

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Equal Employment Opportunity**

Mercy Corps is an Equal Opportunity Employer that does not tolerate discrimination on any basis. We actively seek out diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be collectively stronger and have sustained global impact.

We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all. We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, colour, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work.

Safeguarding & Ethics

Mercy Corps is committed to ensuring that all individuals we come into contact with through our work, whether team members, community members, programme participants or others, are treated with respect and dignity. We are committed to the core principles regarding prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse laid out by the UN Secretary General and IASC and have signed on to the Interagency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme**.** We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of our team members.

As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive work environment, team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner, respect local laws and customs, and to adhere to Mercy Corps Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct e-learning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.