Strategic Partnerships Manager, Institutional Funding

BirdLife International is the world’s largest partnership for nature conservation, bringing together 125 national organisations across six continents to protect birds, biodiversity and the natural systems that sustain life. Through our unique local-to-global approach, we work at the intersection of science, policy and community action to tackle the global nature and climate crises.

About the role

As Strategic Partnerships Manager, Institutional Funding, you will help us grow and diversify income from government, bilateral and multilateral funders, building on an established institutional funding base and strong existing partnerships while identifying and developing new opportunities for the future.

Working within our global Development team, you will manage and develop key donor relationships, build a strong pipeline of opportunities and connect funder priorities with BirdLife’s ambitious conservation programmes. You will work collaboratively with colleagues across global programmes, regional teams and our network of national Partners, bringing people together to develop compelling opportunities for support.

With scope to shape and develop your portfolio, you will have the opportunity to bring your own expertise to BirdLife’s institutional fundraising, helping open new relationships and develop areas of opportunity.

This role combines strategic partnership development with hands-on fundraising. Alongside developing relationships and identifying opportunities, you will lead the development of high-quality proposals, including complex, multi-country and consortium bids. You will bring insight, coordination and strategic donor expertise to our institutional fundraising, helping secure the funding needed to deliver BirdLife’s Global Strategy to 2030.

Who we are looking for

We are looking for an experienced partnerships manager with a strong track record of developing public funding partnerships and securing income from government, bilateral and/or multilateral donors. Developing programme funding will have been a substantive part of your career, and you will be comfortable combining strategic partnership development with hands-on delivery.

You will bring:

• Significant experience of developing, managing and growing institutional donor relationships, with personal responsibility for income generation and pipeline development.
• A strong track record of developing and writing successful institutional proposals, ideally including large, complex, multi-country or consortium bids.
• The ability to identify opportunities, understand donor priorities and work with programme colleagues to develop compelling, fundable projects.
• Good financial and technical understanding, including confidence working with budgets, logframes, donor compliance and risk.
• Excellent relationship-building and influencing skills, with the ability to work collaboratively across teams, cultures and geographies.

Specific and in-depth donor knowledge and experience with bilateral donor agencies such as the UK, Germany or the Nordics or multilateral environmental funds such as GEF and GCF will be welcomed, but we are open to candidates bringing experience from working with a variety of donor partnerships.

Conservation experience is not essential, and we welcome candidates from international development, humanitarian and other relevant sectors who can bring strong, transferable expertise and a genuine commitment to BirdLife’s mission.