Senior Officer, Partnerships for Impact

Job Description

Nairobi, Kenya
Full time

Application Deadline: 12/9/2025

Your Role

Your primary focus will be to lead and localize enterprise efforts that improve partner experience and drive deeper engagement within our Program Officer Community and related communities of practice. In addition, you will support the Foundation’s shift toward stronger regional presence, better grantee coordination, and sustainability-focused partnerships. In this role, you will work closely with Strategy, Planning & Management (SPM), Program Strategy Teams (PSTs), and implementing partners to support and accelerate the Foundation’s impact across priority geographies.

You will build and nurture communities, foster connection and trust, and amplify learning and collaboration across the partnership ecosystem. You will support partners in navigating complexity, especially as global funding landscapes evolve, and help improve their experience across the grant lifecycle.

As a Senior Officer, Partnerships for Impact, you will report to the Deputy Director, Partnerships for Impact. You will be part of a team situated in the Office of the Chief People Officer (CPO) in the combined HR/DEI function as part of the Business Operations division. The role is based in Nairobi, Kenya.

What You’ll Do

Partner Engagement and Support

• Plan and implement strategies to improve the consistency, quality and contextual relevance of partners’ experience, with an emphasis on strengthening the African partner ecosystem.
• Work closely with Program Coordinators (SPCs) and regional teams to expand support to partners, focusing on deeper capacity building and long-term sustainability.
• Lead content curation and management of the new partner onboarding website. Support longer-term planning to expand content to provide resources and information throughout the partnership life cycle.
• Collaborate with regional and country offices to support planning and implementation of Partner Forums and other regionally-based partner engagement activities and committees.
• Drive development and execution of a partner communications strategy. Develop partner-centered messaging and communications in collaboration with the Communications division.
• Support implementation of the foundation wide Grantee Perception Survey, ensuring that partner feedback is integrated into foundation processes and decision-making. Reflect partner feedback into development and updating of PO learning content.
• Support development of learning content for investment makers on managing partner relationships.
• Explore opportunities to pilot and test new and innovative approaches to engaging partners at an enterprise level.
• Collaborate with partners and internal teams to co-develop tools and training that address the changing development financing landscape.
• Serve as a thought partner and connector to help partners adapt, innovate, and pursue diversified funding pathways.

Program Officer (PO) Community Engagement and Content Development

• Design and lead a PO Community engagement strategy grounded in regional realities and partnership complexity, with the aim of equipping Program Officers to foster high-impact, locally relevant, and sustainable partnerships.
• Rapidly test and evaluate new tactics for driving greater engagement among program officers and increasing uptake of learning resources.
• Plan and manage a PO Community editorial calendar that balances enterprise-wide learning needs with regionally driven insights and storytelling.
• Lead direct outreach to the Program Officer Community, building your own voice and presence as a trusted resource.
• Provide thought partnership and support to communities of practice that support peer learning and knowledge sharing.

Delivery and Adoption

• Support strategy development for content launch and delivery, applying creative and innovative methods to drive awareness and adoption.
• Actively engage with program teams and the Program Officer Community to promote new content and facilitate uptake.
• Plan and lead learning sessions and trainings as needed as part of content delivery implementation.
• Integrate an intentional change management approach in content development and delivery to drive uptake and adoption of PO behaviors and practices aligned with the foundation’s partnerships philosophy and organizational values.
• Partner with regional and program teams to pilot, adapt, and scale learning products for broader uptake across teams and geographies.

Partner Coordination and Ecosystem Learning

• Facilitate stronger coordination among grantees in similar thematic or geographic areas to reduce duplication, promote learning, and increase synergy.
• Support or co-create regional and thematic convenings to foster community, joint problem-solving, and shared accountability.
• Document field-level insights and surface promising practices and partnership challenges to inform global learning and decision-making.
• Foster information sharing and highlighting successful partnerships between the public and private sectors that can offer guidance for future plans and transitions.

Internal Collaboration and Alignment

• Build tight-knit collaborations with other operational functions and divisions in order to deliver on P4I objectives, including HR, IT, Communications, and Finance.
• Develop close collaboration with Program Divisions and Regional and Country Offices (RCOs) to ensure that users are centered in the development and delivery of the new program, that different global contexts are reflected, and that new content is co-created and tested with pilot program teams and RCOs as part of an iterative development process.
• Collaborate with the Foundation Strategy Office and other P4I partners to prepare updates and reporting to Executive Sponsors and the Executive Leadership Team.

Your Experience

• Extensive 10-year background in leading, developing, and managing intricate partnerships globally, particularly within philanthropy.
• Experience making and managing grants is a plus, demonstrating a deep understanding of principles and approaches to high impact, partner-centered grant-making in a global context.
• Significant experience in community-building, developing and implementing strategies that drive greater engagement among target audiences.
• Deep understanding of tactics and strategies to drive uptake and adoption of new practices and behavior change.
• Demonstrated ability to engage with stakeholders across differences and context and forge collaboration towards a shared goal. Experience working in a matrix environment (i.e., ability to influence without formal authority).
• Proven record of driving complex projects to concrete outcomes. Experience with hands-on project management including workplans, resource allocation, communications, analysis, facilitation, and stakeholder/leadership engagement.
• Strength in structured problem solving and strategic business planning, with the ability to easily identify and communicate frameworks to analyze issues and synthesize disparate information.
• Demonstrated ability to build credibility with and influence senior leaders, peers, and cross-functional teams in a global, complex organization.   
• Proficient written and verbal communicator with proven expertise in crafting and executing impactful communication strategies, including experience designing messaging for diverse internal and external audiences. Curious and listens intently and with a bias toward being responsive and productive. Strong preparation and presentation of executive-level information.
• Strong demonstrated skills and behaviors aligned with our values and value-based behaviors: collaboration, inclusion, rigor, innovation, optimism. Possess and champion an environment of learning and a growth mindset. 
• High level of cultural competence.
• Experience working in at least one of the foundation’s programmatic areas desirable.

Other Attributes

• Comfortable in a wide range of cultural, geographic and operational situations, demonstrating culturally sensitive behaviour with a diverse range of people and a deep commitment to development issues and high standards of personal integrity.
• Ability to travel up to 40% domestically and internationally.