Corporate Partnerships Manager (New Business)

About the team

The Fundraising & Partnerships department is in an exciting phase, building the team further to engage new and maintain existing relationships, raising urgently needed funds in support of our cause, with corporate partnerships being integral to this growth.

The Corporate Partnerships team holds several relationships with high-profile brands and organisations including AJ Bell, Bank of America, Google, Norton Rose Fulbright and Starling Bank. As we expand the team, we are recruiting for a new Corporate Partnerships Manager, with a focus on winning new multi-year strategic partnerships.

Smart Works is a fast-paced collaborative environment with dynamic teams and ambitious plans. It is also a lot of fun, with opportunities to attend nationwide fundraising events, expert leadership panel discussions and designer fashion sales. The Fundraising and Partnerships team are based in London, operating out of our North London centre in Islington.

About the role   

Our partnerships with external organisations provide vital funding, awareness, and pro bono support to enable us to achieve our mission.

Reporting to the Head of Corporate Partnerships, this is a key role with responsibility to deliver on our new business strategy, securing more five and six-figure partnerships of all types and across multiple sectors. A particular priority is multi-year opportunities, where there is the greatest potential for longer-term strategic and transformational partnerships.

In practice, this means proactively identifying and qualifying opportunities, diversifying the sectors we work with, cultivating and stewarding relationships and thinking creatively and strategically to develop compelling proposals. The successful individual will be leading on proposal writing, pitches and representing Smart Works in new business meetings.

This role will focus on our new business pipeline, ensuring we are effectively developing partnerships in support of our sustainable growth plans. The role will be responsible for securing national partnerships and embedding these across our 11 UK centres, and for working closely with our Smart Works centres outside of London to secure and develop local partnerships.

Successful candidates will have experience in securing new partnerships and managing a diverse portfolio of accounts. They will have outstanding relationship building skills and excellent stakeholder management, both internally and externally.

This is a hybrid role with requirement for the post holder to flex days they are available to work from our North London centre 2-3 days a week to attend partner meetings, pitches and events. There is opportunity to work the remainder from home, or from our North, West or South London centres. Due to being a service delivery organisation, an element of flexibility is required to work from our other London centres. Some evening and weekend work is required to lead on partnership fundraising, attend prospect events, as well as support wider department activities.

In securing new national partnerships, there will be some travel to visit local Smart Works centres too.

This is a fantastic opportunity for someone looking to develop their career in high-value corporate partnerships. If you are passionate about supporting women and thrive in a fast-paced environment, we would love to hear from you.

 Duties and responsibilities   

• Implementing the new corporate partnerships strategy, to help Smart Works reach its goal of raising over £5m per annum.
• Building a healthy, robust pipeline of new business opportunities, to actively onboard multi-year, high-value partners.
• In collaboration with the Head of Corporate Partnerships, refine and develop Smart Works’ proactive corporate prospecting approach, including improved ways of working with Smart Works local centres and trustees, with the aim of increasing the sustainability, value and breadth of partnerships secured.
• Onboarding of new partners, including risk management in line with Smart Works ethical fundraising policy, leading on new partnership agreements and developing stewardship plans.
• Working closely with local Smart Works centres to significantly grow their corporate fundraising income streams by building pipelines, approaching new funders and creating attractive partnership propositions.
• Managing a small portfolio of existing partners across a variety of corporate sectors, providing outstanding stewardship and relationship management, ensuring lasting, mutually beneficial partnerships.
• Delivering partnership activations and communications plans, collaborating with the partner and internal teams to identify key moments that will drive further engagement.
• Upskilling knowledge and capacity building of fundraising staff across the Smart Works Group.
• Representing Smart Works by speaking at external partner and prospect events.

Personal specification 

Essential Criteria

• Demonstrable experience of securing new business and onboarding new partnerships.
• Experience and understanding of multi-faceted partnerships including brand, strategic and Charity of the Year (COTY).
• Account management experience, evidenced through strong relationship building skills.
• Ability to manage complex relationships and senior stakeholders, both internally and externally.
• Demonstrable experience in managing and exceeding income targets of at least five figures.
• Experience of negotiating and completing contractual agreements.
• Experience of generating income from at least one of the following activities: employee fundraising, sponsorship, commercial or grants.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to adapt style to suit the audience.
• Passionate and enthusiastic about the mission and vision of Smart Works, demonstrated through clear initial research and understanding in the written application.

Desirable Criteria

• Experience of managing six figure+ partnerships across the following activities: employee fundraising, sponsorship, commercial or grants.
• Experience of working in the Charity sector.
• Experience of working with a CRM database to monitor and manage contacts, applications, and success against a range of KPIs.

Benefits, terms and conditions

• Salary of £34,000 – £39,000 FTE, depending on experience.
• 25 days annual leave, plus bank holidays.
• Company pension.
• Positive, supportive working environment with opportunities for practical training and progression.
• Full-time role, based across our London centres. These are in North London (Islington), West London (Ladbroke Grove) or South London (Croydon). Happy to discuss alternative working location / hybrid working at interview.
• Monday – Friday with typical working hours 9am – 5pm in line with centre opening times.
• All successful applicants must provide two satisfactory references and complete a Basic DBS check.

How to apply  

 Please submit a CV and answer the following questions via our recruitment portal here by Monday 4th March at noon. Your application should be addressed to Helen Nelson. First round interviews will be held virtually, week commencing 11th March.

• Why do you want to work for Smart Works Charity? (Max 200 words)
• What skills experience do you have for the role? (Max 350 words – bullet points are fine)
• In your opinion, what is the biggest challenge and biggest opportunity for Smart Works to develop new corporate partnership opportunities? (Max 350 words)

If you require any reasonable adjustments or alterations for the application and recruitment processes, please contact recruitment@smartworks.org.uk about submitting a manual application.

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Smart Works promotes equity, diversity, and inclusion in our workplace. We particularly welcome applications from black, Asian and minority ethnic, disabled candidates, and candidates with lived experience of unemployment as we would like to increase the representation of these groups at Smart Works.