Strategic Investment Partnerships Lead

Role Overview

This position owns the pipeline that turns promising ideas into financed, partnered initiatives capable of moving the needle on hunger and planetary health. Day to day, that means running an organisation-wide process for surfacing and screening opportunities, pressure-testing them with outside funders and partners, and assembling the coalitions, capital and delivery mechanisms needed to get the strongest ones off the ground. It sits where strategy, partnership building and resource mobilisation meet — and it exists because breakthrough work rarely scales on the strength of a good idea alone; it needs structure, validation and committed backers.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, launch and continuously refine an organisation-wide opportunity funnel that captures high-impact, influential and genuinely innovative initiatives and carries them from first intake through screening into a funded portfolio.
• Put the governance in place around that funnel — transparent decision criteria, stage gates, defined roles, processes and supporting tools — so prioritisation is consistent, defensible and clearly understood across the organisation.
• Convene cross-functional teams to scan for promising opportunities both inside the organisation and across its wider ecosystem, then co-develop the strongest candidates together with the colleagues who originated them.
• Match each selected opportunity to the vehicle that fits it — coalition, pooled or thematic fund, public-private partnership, or venture — and produce partnership and investment plans detailed enough to act on.
• Map and engage the actors who shape whether an opportunity succeeds: funders, investors, philanthropic foundations, regulators, technology providers and influencing partners, validating demand and clarifying where the organisation delivers distinctive value.
• Partner with technical units and country offices to build tailored partnership and capital mobilisation strategies that align public, philanthropic and private money behind shared agendas.
• Build momentum and visibility through compelling narratives, strategic convenings, coordinated campaigns and tailored pitches, converting interest into firm commitments from anchor partners — and reinforcing the organisation's reputation as a thought and practice leader in investment partnerships.
• Keep the organisation ahead of the curve through horizon scanning and structured exchange with external ecosystems, share what you learn about trends, breakthroughs and bottlenecks, and champion a culture of curiosity, courage, creativity and collaboration.

Requirements & Qualifications

• A strong track record of building a portfolio of ventures, partnerships or highly influential programmes in an international cooperation setting, with demonstrable success in growing an organisation's impact, influence, innovation and income.
• Cross-functional experience spanning programmes, innovation, policy, partnerships, investment and business development is a strong asset.
• Proven competence in pitching, partnership development, leadership, strategic thinking, collaboration and communication.
• Solid grasp of sector trends, emerging innovations and the key players in nutrition, climate, food systems, WASH and humanitarian response.
• Excellent understanding of how funding and investment actually work — Official Development Assistance, Other Official Flows, public and private investment, philanthropic giving, and the partnerships and platforms that connect them.
• A demonstrated ability to work effectively and collaboratively in a fast-paced, dynamic and complex multi-stakeholder environment.
• An existing network of relationships with philanthropic and institutional donors and other relevant organisations across food, WASH, humanitarian systems, climate resilience and nutrition is a strong asset.
• Experience working in low-income, fragile and conflict-affected settings, and in securing and/or managing high-value programmes or ventures, is an asset.
• You recognise the growing value of data in this field and are keen to build your awareness and skills so data-informed approaches feature in your work.
• Excellent English language skills; good French language skills are a strong asset.