Senior Officer, Education Partnerships (Private Sector)

Background/IRC Summary: The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster.

Job Overview/Summary

This role is part of the IRC’s Global Partnerships and Philanthropic Services (GPPS) unit, a team within the private-sector fundraising unit of External Relations, and comprised of specialists providing a variety of cultivation, support and stewardship functions for the organization’s high-value donors, partners, and supporters. Program Services is GPPS’ largest pillar and works at the intersection of high value fundraising and our operations and programs in the field.

This role is managed in partnership between GPPS and the IRC’s Education Technical Unit (TU). The Education TU aims to ensure that children, youth and adults in crisis and conflict contexts have access to safe, relevant, quality learning opportunities. We support government as well as community-based, non-formal or alternative education that provides sufficient spaces for all out-of-school children, including those in remote or difficult to reach areas, and that promotes learning outcomes according to children and youth’s development potential.​​​​​​

The Senior Officer, Education Partnerships (Private Sector), will lead on bringing internal IRC teams together to successfully implement development strategies and donor stewardship plans, ensuring our high-value fundraisers are engaging the right prospects and our teams are developing the right assets to mobilize resources, including core funding, for the IRC’s life-changing Education programs. This role is a critical contributor to the continued growth and development of strategic new business opportunities to meet our private fundraising ambitions. The role will galvanize and work alongside IRC’s high-value fundraisers (account managers), Education project leads, in-country and HQ technical experts, and support teams to significantly raise the profile of, and increase revenue for, Education programming at the IRC. The Senior Officer, Education Partnerships will be managed in partnership between the Director, Program Services in GPPS and the Director of Education.

Major Responsibilities:

Fundraising support (35%)

• Ensure Education funding needs and priorities are well represented across high-value fundraising teams on an ongoing basis, proactively sharing information, and advocating as needed on behalf of the Education TU.
• Work alongside technical leads and the wider GPPS team to develop multifaceted and compelling materials that strike the balance between technical depth and clarity of vision for specific audiences
• Support the creation of stewardship plans for donors in collaboration with account managers and donor engagement team
• Lead and/or support proposal development processes as needed for Education, bringing together teams across the organization – including senior leadership. As needed, participate in donor meetings providing technical expertise and strategy support, and/or connect relevant colleagues from across the TU to inform donor conversations, proposal design, and business development.

Internal coordination & process improvements (30%)

• Help develop and operationalize standard ways of working and process workflows for cross-functional projects between GPPS, Education, and other teams to grow overall funding, advance our private-sector partnerships pursuits, prioritize funding needs, increase efficiency, and ensure appropriate partner sign off
• Coordinate with relevant teams to ensure efficient support to Education-led private fundraising efforts.
• Ensure an outstanding level of service to our internal partners, including coordinating and leading effective cross-functional meetings, and ensuring decisions and follow up are taken in a timely manner
• Complement and amplify the existing capacity of the Education team to engage with HV teams (communications, knowledge management, proposal development, and portfolio management)

Portfolio management support (35%)

• Maintain an up-to-date record of all private sector partnerships in Education to inform effective and timely delivery of relevant updates, progress and insight to the relevant business teams
• Ensure consistency and compliance across private partnerships for the entire duration of a partnership in close coordination with the fundraising teams and Education TU, to ensure donor requirements are met and compliance issues are raised as needed
• Keep up-to-date on developments around Education program implementation, flagging risks and challenges around implementation, and ensures timely flow of information to support efficient delivery of donor reports
• In partnership with other relevant focal points, responsible for planning and facilitating Grants Opening meetings to ensure efficient project start up (ensuring clarity of team member roles & responsibilities, communication channels, and key grant achievements)
• Coordinate and ensure clear, reliable reporting for maximum partnership impact, including drafting and finalizing donor reports and communication materials for Education, as needed.
• Ensure the TU’s funding priorities framework entries are accurate and up-to-date
• Provide post-award project management support on large strategic grants as requested from fundraising teams and Education TU

Key Working Relationships:

Position Reports to: Director, Program Services, Director of Education

Position directly supervises: N/A

Other Internal and/or external contacts:

• IRC External Relations and Fundraisers
• Grant Operations and Analytics (GOAT) Team
• Technical Unit Directors and Team Members
• Country Program Staff

Job Requirements:

Experience and skills:

• 6-8 years of related work experience, preferably with a large International Non-Governmental Organization in fundraising and/or advocacy
• Outstanding relationship management, writing, and presentation skills
• Experience working with grants management processes
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate closely with technical authorities to structure revenue plans
• Experience fundraising for Education or related programming; ability to quickly get up to speed on Education and technical content
• Excellent track record of delivering on sophisticated proposals and projects
• Bachelor’s degree in Education, International Affairs, Public Administration, Economics, Business Studies, Accounting, Commerce, or equivalent professional experience

Preferred experience & skills:

• The ideal candidate will have experiences across strategic partnership development, fundraising and communications channels
• International business experience across diverse contexts; working with global, cross-cultural teams
• Experience developing multi-million dollar partnerships
• Master’s degree in related field or equivalent experience a bonus
• Proficiency in another of the working languages of the IRC (Spanish, French and/or Arabic) would be a plus!

*Working Environment:***This role requires working remotely full or part time (i.e., telecommuting). Travel may be required.

The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way – Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.

US Benefits:

We offer a comprehensive and highly competitive set of benefits. In the US, these include: 10 sick days, 10 US holidays, 20-25 paid time off days (depending on role and tenure), medical insurance starting at $145 per month, dental starting at $7 per month, and vision starting at $5 per month, FSA for healthcare, childcare, and commuter costs, a 403b retirement savings plans with up to 4.5% immediately vested matching contribution, plus a 3-7% base IRC contribution (3 year vesting), disability & life insurance, and an Employee Assistance Program which is available to our staff and their families to support counseling and care in times of crisis and mental health struggles.

Posted pay ranges apply to US-based candidates. Ranges are based on various factors including the labor market, job type, internal equity and budget. Exact offers are calibrated by work location, individual candidate experience and skills relative to the defined job requirements