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Humanity & Inclusion UK is looking for a Head of Institutional Relations (maternity cover) to lead our engagement with institutional donors, programme partners and allies in the UK. This is a fantastic opportunity to lead a dynamic team in the delivery and implementation of an ambitious institutional relations strategy. With a particular focus on the FCDO and Start Network alongside  growing our Australian and Irish portfolios, you will build partnerships and maximise income and influence to achieve our strategic aims. As a member of the HI UK Leadership Team, you will also play an important role in shaping the culture and direction of the organisation as a whole.

Background Information and Purpose of Post

The Head of Institutional Relations leads HI’s engagement with institutional donors, programme partners and allies in the UK, working closely with colleagues from across the global HI Federation, including our country programmes and our technical departments.

You will lead a dynamic team in the delivery and implementation of an ambitious institutional relations strategy. With a particular focus on the FCDO and Start Network alongside growing our Australian and Irish portfolios, you will build partnerships and maximise income and influence to achieve our strategic aims. This will involve managing relations with a wide range of actors, building our profile and responding quickly and effectively to opportunities. You will oversee and strengthen our compliance with donor requirements, ensure our programmes are effectively supported to implement grants and consolidate our capacity to bid for and manage commercial contracts.

As a member of the HI UK Leadership Team, you will also play an important role in shaping the culture and direction of the organisation as a whole.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

Leadership and management

• Implement our ambitious plan for institutional relations, staying aligned with the organisation’s objectives and responding appropriately to the external environment.
• Contribute to the implementation of the network-wide institutional funding strategy.
• Lead, empower and motivate your team to achieve their goals, providing support as needed.
• Manage the team budget, including planning, phasing and forecasting in line with the organisation’s financial procedures.
• Participate as an active and constructive member of the Leadership Team, promoting a positive culture, modelling excellent behaviour and supporting cross-organisational initiatives.
• Provide timely and accurate reporting to the Chief Executive, trustees and Federation as required.

Institutional Relations

• Lead the team in ambitious engagement strategies for all donors in the portfolio, particularly the FCDO, Start Network, Australian DFAT and Irish Aid, strengthening existing relationships and, where appropriate, developing new ones.
• Ensure the team develops and maintains expertise on UK donor priorities, expectations and compliance requirements and is proactively analysing, interpreting and sharing this knowledge internally with relevant colleagues across the Federation.
• With your team, build the ability of our country programmes to engage with our donors locally and to comply with donor requirements, including through training.
• Oversee the process of identifying, analysing and sharing new funding opportunities with relevant colleagues, taking a lead when needed on coordinating large multi-country/framework bids to our donors.
• Maintain a network of contacts at other organisations and, working closely with operational and technical colleagues, build relationships with potential partners, including supporting the development of consortia for new bids when required.
• Contribute to building HI’s capacity to bid for and manage commercial contracts, including frameworks.
• Support the team with risk-based contract analysis and negotiation, due diligence and donor compliance.
• Ensure your team is delivering timely and high-quality reporting and grant/contract management, including follow-up of payment requests and tracking.
• Oversee the team’s information management tools and champion HI-wide internal processes and tools such as the CRM.
• Participate in the Bond Disability and Development Group, including supporting its influencing to promote greater emphasis on disability inclusion by the UK Government.
• Monitor and respond to threats and opportunities relating to the UK aid budget and aid policy, as well as for other donors in our portfolio where capacity allows.
• Support your team, the Chief Executive and technical colleagues to engage appropriately with other relevant networks in the UK to influence the UK government and raise HI’s profile (e.g. on specific crisis contexts, the impact of counter-terrorism legislation, health, education, humanitarian mine action, climate change etc.).
• Contribute to engaging with the Start Network and implementing our Start Network strategy.

Other duties

• Maintain a positive and collaborative working relationship with HI UK colleagues and the Federation’s institutional funding, operations and advocacy teams.
• Represent the organisation at relevant external events and meetings.

· Keep abreast of developments within the sector by liaising with counterparts in other NGOs and relevant networks.

• Keep up to date with any relevant changes in legislation, regulatory procedures, innovation, best practice and industry standards.
• Any other activities commensurate with the level of the post, as may be required.

Person Specification

We genuinely value diversity and are looking to build a team of people with a wide of range of personal and professional experience. If you don’t meet all of the criteria listed below but feel you would be a good candidate for this role, please apply. If you would like an informal conversation about this, please do send us an email or call us – we would love to hear from you.

Essential criteria

· Substantial relevant experience with INGOs, including at least five years’ experience managing strategic relationships with donors, partners and/or networks.

· A track record of securing and managing institutional income.

· Good knowledge of the FCDO as a donor and influencing target.

· Excellent management skills, including the ability to provide appropriate support and to develop colleagues’ capabilities.

· Excellent relationship-building, networking and negotiation skills, both internal and external, and at a variety of levels.

· Demonstrated capacity to design and deliver high-quality proposals, reports and briefs.

· An entrepreneurial thinker with a strong ability to identify opportunities, cultivate prospects and achieve strategic aims.

· Ability to carry out sound strategic analysis, identifying key trends and producing clear summaries from complex information.

· Good understanding of project design, programme quality and effective delivery.

· Excellent planning skills and an ability to work under pressure, to prioritise and to meet standards and deadlines.

· A collaborative and team-oriented approach with strong self-motivation.

· Ability to work effectively in an international and multicultural organisation.

· Willingness to travel and to work outside of office hours when necessary.

· Good IT skills (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams).

· Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English.

· Commitment to creating and maintaining an inclusive and protective environment for everyone that comes in contact with the organisation.

Desirable criteria

· A track record of securing and managing funding from, building relationships with and influencing DFAT and/or Irish Aid

· Good knowledge of the Start Network

· Experience of bidding for and managing commercial contracts for humanitarian and development programmes.

· Experience of cross-organisational leadership.

· Understanding of key humanitarian and development issues.

· Understanding of and experience of advocacy or campaigns, including working with the UK political system.

· Experience of developing NGO or academic partnerships.

· Lived experience of disability or from one of our countries of operation.

· French-language proficiency.

Equal Opportunities Policy

HI UK is committed to diversity and inclusion. We recognise that discrimination shapes the opportunities that many people have in society and that people have different needs in order to realise their full potential.

Addressing this requires organisations to be proactive in creating environments that encourage the inclusion and development of all. Though we still have a long way to go, inclusion is central to our identity at HI UK and we are strongly committed to the continuous work that it requires.

We are particularly interested in hearing from candidates with disabilities and/or from Black and minority ethnic backgrounds, to help make us more representative. If you declare a disability and you meet the minimum requirements for the role, we will offer you an interview to demonstrate your skills. In the event that we receive a high level of applications for a role, we will invite those applicants who best meet the person specification.