Strategic Partnerships Officer

Strategic Partnerships Officer

Contract: 12 Months Fixed term contract until March 2026, Full time, 35 hours per week

Salary: £33,233.00 - £34,894.00 per year with excellent benefits

Location: London, UK

Hybrid Working: A minimum of 40% of working time is spent face to face, either in London office, or as a result of external engagement or travel for WaterAid. WaterAid is located at Canary Wharf, London and this will be your location and contract base.  

About WaterAid

Want to use your skills in corporate partnerships to play a vital role in making clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene normal for everyone everywhere?

We need passionate, creative and dedicated people. In return, you will be encouraged and empowered to be yourself at your very best. Together, we will make a bigger difference.

Join WaterAid as Strategic Partnerships Officer to change normal for millions of people so they can unlock their potential, break free from poverty and change their lives for good.

About the Team

This role divides its time between WaterAid’s Corporate Partnerships and Water Industry Partnerships teams. Both teams harness the power of the private sector through strategic relationships that raise much needed funds for WaterAid’s life-changing work.

About the Role

As our proactive and adaptable Strategic Partnerships Officer, you will support the implementation of WaterAid’s partnership development strategy with Water Sector Organisations, and contribute to driving new income from businesses by leading funding proposals as well as supporting the wider corporate team to achieve their targets.

In this role, you will map out and capitalise on the engagement opportunities with the water sector while actively prospecting new business, negotiating partnership agreements and delivering against the commitments to cement WaterAid as the go-to NGO for a variety of industries. You’ll also use your skills in partnership development to support the team in following established funding processes.

You’ll also: 

• Lead and deliver on WaterAid’s presence at various water sector organisation and corporate partnership events
• Maintain a good knowledge of WaterAid’s work, and liaise with other organisations and individuals to prepare and present information about WaterAid’s work through face-to-face meetings, presentations etc 
• Support the teams’ managers in the development of strong, trusted relationships and influencing key decision makers within partner organisations  
• Maintain a good understanding of the sectors and businesses you work with to be responsive to trends and needs
• Work closely with Managers across the two teams to ensure best practise and innovative ideas are shared

To be successful, you’ll need: 

• Experience generating income in a charity fundraising, business development or prospecting role.
• Excellent communications skills; written, verbal, presentation and face to face, with the experience of communicating confidently with stakeholders both internally and externally
• Proven ability to effectively manage a busy and varied workload, including several projects at a time, assertively working across teams with strong attention to detail
• Excellent partnership building skills with a talent for spotting potential opportunities  
• A thorough and methodical approach to researching and planning projects including strong team work and effective collaboration skills   

• Working style that reflects WaterAid’s values of Respect, Accountability, Courage, Collaboration, Integrity and Innovation

 Although not essential, we also prefer you to have:

• Experience and knowledge of corporate responsibility / sustainability
• Experience of working or volunteering in the voluntary sector

View the full job description here

Closing date: Applications will close at 12:00pm 2nd March 2025.

How to Apply: Click ‘Apply’ to complete the pre-screening questions and upload your CV. 

Can I use Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology in my application? At WaterAid, we strongly advise against using AI technology at any stage of the recruitment process. Our goal is to ensure a fair and transparent process that provides every applicant with an equal opportunity to succeed. We value hearing about your unique experiences and perspectives in your application, and, if shortlisted, during the interview as well.

Pre-employment screening: In order to apply for this post, you must be able to demonstrate your eligibility to work in the UK. All our vacancies require a basic Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check to comply with our Safer Recruitment policy.

Our Benefits:

• 36 days' holiday (including 8 Bank Holidays)
• Option to buy an extra 5 days annual leave
• We offer a generous pension plan with employer contribution of up to 10%
• Wide range of flexible and agile-working arrangement
• Season Ticket Loan
• Free annual eye tests
• Pay as You Give charitable giving scheme
• Enhanced Maternity and Adoption/Surrogacy pay, Shared Parental Leave and Paternity Leave
• Sabbaticals
• Volunteer Day

Our Commitment:

Our People Promise:

We will work with passion and focus to ensure safe and sustainable water, toilets and hygiene are available to everyone, everywhere. WaterAid is a place of purpose – where people have a real commitment and shared responsibility for the impact we have.  We are a global community with diverse backgrounds and perspectives, motivated by inspiring, stimulating work. We are determined to put the wellbeing of our people first, to be a place where people feel safe and able to contribute their voice and truly live our values.    

Equal opportunities:

We are an equal opportunity, disability-confident employer and are dedicated to achieving the highest standards of diversity, equity and inclusion. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, beliefs, customs, traditions and ways of life. This includes, but is not limited to, race, gender, disability, age, sexual orientation, religion, national or social origin, health status, and economic or social situation.

Safeguarding:

We are also committed to protecting everyone we come into contact with. We have a zero-tolerance approach to abuse of power, privilege or trust across our global work, and any form of inappropriate behaviour, discrimination, abuse, bullying, harassment, or exploitation. Safeguarding the people and communities we work with, our staff, volunteers and anyone working on our behalf is our top priority, and we take our responsibilities extremely seriously.