35 hours per week.

The Chevening Scholarships Secretariat, based at the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU), is seeking a Senior Partnerships and Business Development Officer to join our leadership team, to support ambitious plans to further expand our partnerships and business development work. It is an exciting opportunity to join a dynamic team, and spearhead a business development strategy with UK-based corporate and other strategic partners, with a view to increasing the number of partner-sponsored awards each year.

As Senior Partnerships and Business Development Officer, you will serve as the main point of liaison between the Chevening Secretariat and the FCO on partnership development as well as relationship management of existing partnerships. You will contribute to the implementation of a business development strategy for Chevening, and support the FCO in developing and implementing an ambitious fundraising strategy for the programme.

As Senior Partnerships and Business Development Officer, your responsibilities will include:
• Identifying, engaging and pitching opportunities to prospective funding partners, working with senior FCO colleagues where necessary to secure new funding
• Leading engagement with existing and potential private sector and government partners
• Supporting the Programme Policy Manager in developing agendas for, and attending, the weekly Chevening meetings at FCO
• Identifying and securing sponsorship for large scale Chevening scholar events
• Assisting the FCO Head of Scholarships and the Director of Chevening Secretariat by maintaining the Partnerships element of Chevening programme budget planning, forecasting and monitoring
• Ensuring compliance and due diligence across partnerships, and overseeing partner approvals
• Developing, coordinating and delivering engagement events for corporate and strategic partners.

Some of the skills you need to be able to demonstrate include:
• Experience, knowledge and understanding of corporate fundraising/partnership management, including the ability to clarify service/product offerings, identify value propositions from the partner’s perspective and develop new partnerships and diversify funding streams
• Negotiating, influencing and networking skills, with the ability to liaise fluently with both internal and external stakeholders