Senior Partnerships Manager

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We support peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide.

We work directly with individuals to help them gain the skills, confidence and connections to transform their lives and shape a better world in partnership with the UK. We support them to build networks and explore creative ideas, to learn English, to get a high-quality education and to gain internationally recognised qualifications.

Working with people in over 200 countries and territories, we are on the ground in more than 100 countries. In 2021–22 we reached 650 million people.

Role Purpose & Context:

The British Council is the UK's international organisation for cultural relations and education. We build peace and prosperity through our work in cultural, education, civil society building and youth empowerment. We operate in over 100 countries globally and our EU office in Brussels is responsible for liaising with the EU institutions and other strategic partners to meet our global ambitions. Our work spans both internal & external European policies & we interact with DG INTPA, DG NEAR, DG EAC, FPI, EEAS, the European Parliament, EU Member State agencies, International organisations, etc.
We are looking for an enthusiastic development professional with at least three years experience to join our team. The role reports to the Director of the EU Office and involves engagement and advocacy with the EU institutions and strategic partners; programme development and proposal management; and advice on contracts being delivery. As well as external partners, the role requires close collaboration with various teams within the British Council, particularly thematic and regional teams, with emphasis on Asia, Middle East and Neighbourhood countries.

Challenges & Accountabilities:

Key account advisory

• Provides guidance to regional, sector and headquarters stakeholders on the development and management of key strategic partner relationships.

Strategic partner engagement and positioning

• Develops and maintains excellent relationships and networks with external strategic partners and stakeholders in Brussels, the UK and across relevant regions.
• Maintains an authoritative knowledge of strategic partner policies and programming to inform sector and regional colleagues of developments, alignment and to imbed this to regional planning.
• Coordinates advocacy efforts in Brussels which target strategic partners and other stakeholders, building respect for British Council's international development and cultural relations capabilities.
• Participates in key external networks to develop a coordinated position on key areas important to the British Council's global objectives, such as the Practitioners' Network.

Programme development and proposal management

• Generally, supports the development of the British Council's growth ambitions in terms of impact and financial targets.
• Gathers research and intelligence from a Brussels perspective on key strategic partner trends and opportunities, and coordinates colleagues to do the same from a country/regional perspective.
• Acts as proposal manager and/or supports the development of high-quality bids/proposals – management of the decision-making process; secures the necessary human and financial resources to deliver the bid; creates a bid plan and monitors its progress; provides technical and commercial quality assurance on project design and tender/proposal submissions.
• Leads lessons learnt exercise for both wins and losses and draws insights. Develops lessons around professional best practice and commercial rigour.
• Creates a network of external consultants in key sectors and manages the relationship with them.

Commercial and contractual management

• Responsible for pursuit expenditure and business development costs against pursuit budgets.
• Prepares financial proposals, project budgets and costing models.
• Prepares agreements to associate, non-disclosure agreements, pre-bid agreements, contract agreements and partner and consultant agreements. Negotiates and agrees terms with partners, clients, consultants and UK Global Contracts Team.
• Generally, supports the successful delivery of key strategic partner contracts and ensures learning is embedded into advocacy and the pursuit of new business.
• Contributes to project start up and inception, risk management including but not limited to contracts, tax, status and security risks.
• Participates in contract boards and closure activities, helping to ensure learning is embedded in future policy and project design via advocacy initiatives.

Capacity building

• Builds the capacity of colleagues around the internal network to engage and position for future contracts, to pursue business and to deliver with key strategic partners, through one to one guidance and contribution to training delivery and communities of practice.

Line management

• May provide formal line management to a small team, which might consist of staff both within and beyond the local office base.

Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI)

• Actively contributes to an inclusive and anti-racist organisational culture, being aware of own biases, and taking action to mitigate against these. Ensuring people feel valued and are treated equitably, with support for people's well-being and mental health.
• Understand the British Council's approach to equality, diversity and inclusion and how it applies to your role, and make time for learning and development relating to EDI and anti-racism.

Requirements:

• Right to live and work in Belgium
• English essential, and French desirable.
• Seven years' experience in the international development sector, including the successful implementation of advocacy and business targets with the EU institutions or EU Member State agencies or International organisations or CSOs or consulting.
• Masters degree in a related field, i.e. development studies, european/international affairs, education, culture, etc.
• Strong understanding of the EU institutions decision making, and policy and programming processes in the international development context.
• Experience building partnerships and working with funding from multi-national and/or national bodies, i.e. EU Institutions, European Governments, International organisations.
• Proven record in managing and/or writing successful bids/proposals for institutional donors such as EU institutions and/or EU MS and/or International organisations with ability to provide clear guidance on requirements and procedures.
• Good experience in budget preparation.
• Excellent written communication skills, able to convey projects in a clear, engaging way.
• Excellent interpersonal, verbal communication and influencing skills, able to engage and promote dialogue between a range of stakeholders, both internal and external.
• Proven facilitation, skills and ability to build capacity, with aim of contributing to the professional development of staff.
• Excellent organisational awareness and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to think and work proactively, to prioritise own workload under pressure, and to work autonomously.

Additional job requirements:

• Occasional domestic and/or international travel and/or non-standard working patterns, such as weekend or evening work, might be necessary according to the activity or to external factors, i.e. a deadline, an event, etc.

Benefits include

• Groups insurance (2nd pillar pension scheme)
• 13th month
• Holiday bonus
• Reimbursement public transport costs up to 34€/month and train season's tickets following the Employer's legal reimbursement rules
• Commuting cycling allowance: 0.35€/k
• Meal vouchers of 6€/working day (with personal contribution of 1.09€ per meal voucher)
• Teleworking allowance 30€/month (captured in a structural teleworking agreement three days/week)
• 25 days annual leave

Closing Date: Applications will close on 18/08/2024 at 23:59 (Central European Time(CET)

A connected and trusted UK in a more connected and trusted world.

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion(EDI) Statement

Please note that if you are NOT a passport holder of the country for the vacancy you might need a work permit. Check our Blog for more information.