Partnerships & Development Lead

Job Description

FIRST, the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams, is seeking a Partnerships and Development Lead to help us grow the reach and impact of our Community & Capacity Building (CCB) program. This role will be both strategic and hands-on, driving our fundraising and sponsorship efforts, building donor relationships, writing compelling proposals, managing grants and sponsorships, and leading our monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) efforts to measure and share the impact of our work with the wider community.

The main responsibilities of the role are to:

Strategic Outreach and Partnership Development

• Develop and deliver a fundraising strategy to support community and capacity building activities.
• Lead the newly launched FIRST CORE sponsorship initiative, cultivating long-term partnerships.
• Lead strategic outreach and partnership development with potential and existing donors and sponsors from government, private sector, foundations, philanthropies, and elsewhere.
• Draft and manage proposals, concept notes, sponsorship packages, and reports.
• Engage with collaborative programs like Common Good Cyber, Non-Profit Cyber, the Global Forum on Cyber Expertise (GFCE) and others.

Internal Collaboration

• Coordinate with the CCB team and wider FIRST community to align projects with both donor priorities and partner needs.
• Strengthen monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) frameworks—capturing impact through outcome harvesting and storytelling.
• Support internal communication, coordination, and collaboration across the CCB Team, FIRST Secretariat, and with the FIRST Board. This includes work with finance and communications to align budgets, narratives, and public messaging.
• Maintain accurate donor and sponsorship records, including deadlines and reporting calendars, to ensure alignment across the CCB team.
• Support development and delivery of CCB initiatives

Requirements & Qualifications

We are looking for a collaborative, community-driven professional, eager to help build a new and growing program. You should have 5-10 years experience in international development, donor engagement, capacity building, training and education, or a related field.

Preferred skills and experience for this position include:

• Proven success securing and managing grants or sponsorships in the non-profit sector and engagement with government, private sector, foundation, and philanthropic stakeholders
• Excellent writing and communication skills across technical and policy audiences
• A comprehensive understanding and experience in capacity building project monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) good practices.
• Stakeholder management skills, including with a range of different organizations working under diverse, global contexts
• Experience delivering complex programs of work, and managing projects to completion
• Ability to develop creative solutions to deliver outcomes
• Demonstrated ability to build strong relationships and networks at all levels
• Understanding of and ability to build trust and work in different cultural contexts
• Ability to travel regularly
• Familiarity or interest in cybersecurity, incident response, digital development, or related technical/policy fields is a plus

This role is fully remote. The FIRST Partnerships & Development Lead will work closely with the CCB Team and report to the Director – Community & Capacity Building.

Applying

To apply, please send your CV and a cover letter to ccb-jobs@first.org by 23:59 UTC on 19 October 2025.

We will treat your application as confidential within the FIRST staff and board. At the interview stage we may consult and involve other stakeholders, after informing you and getting your agreement.

About the Organization

FIRST, the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams, brings together Internet security teams and experts from across the world, to share knowledge and insights, ensuring a safer Internet for all. Founded in 1990, FIRST consists of security practitioners from over 816 corporations, government bodies, universities and other institutions, representing over 113 countries in the Americas, Asia, Europe, Africa, and Oceania.

FIRST gives the global incident response community a place to build trust and work together. It also provides valuable opportunities to build capability, such as:

• technical colloquia for security experts,
• hands-on classes,
• annual incident response conference,
• publications and web services,
• special interest groups, and
• community and capacity building.

The FIRST Community & Capacity Building program was launched in 2022 to help grow, strengthen, and expand the global incident response community. Since launch, the program has delivered a diverse range of cyber capacity building initiatives across the globe with support from the UK FCDO, Swiss FDFA, Fortinet, Organization of American States (OAS), US State Department, and others. In June 2025, FIRST CORE was launched as our flagship sponsorship program to support a wider range of community and capacity building activities. This role will drive the development and growth of FIRST CORE.

More information on FIRST and our Community and Capacity Building program can be found at https://www.first.org and https://www.first.org/community.

More information