Partnerships Manager

About Future Frontiers

In the UK, family income is the strongest predictor of how well a young person will do at school and the future opportunities they will have. Future Frontiers exists to change this. Our vision is of a society where equal access to education and career opportunities enables potential to overcome poverty. We support young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to realise their potential and work towards secure and fulfilling employment. In partnership with schools, businesses and supporters, we deliver an evidence-based programme of career coaching, opportunities and guidance for young people from lower income households. This year, we are working with 2,500 young people in schools across Greater London. You can find out more about our programme and impact so far in the Annual Impact Report on our website.

About the role

As a Future Frontiers Partnerships Manager, your role is to identify, develop and maintain mutually beneficial partnerships with organisations which work with us to enable our mission. This is key to delivering our work and making a lasting difference for young people from under-resourced backgrounds on their education and career journeys.

The focus of the role is on building meaningful, long-term relationships with schools and/or businesses, to match young people from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds with business professionals who can provide insight into the world of work and guidance to help young people unlock their aspirations and develop the plans and skills they need to be successful.

Our Partnerships Managers each have a focus on a priority audience, either schools or businesses, and on an activity area, either new business development or account management. The role we are currently recruiting for will have a main focus on driving new business from companies.

Your responsibilities

The focus of each role could expand or change depending on the needs of the organisation. Current priorities and targets are reflected in each individual s objectives for the year - these are regularly reviewed to ensure that they remain relevant and create ownership and stretch for each individual.

Core responsibilities across the Partnership Development and Partnership Management teams include:

Securing new partnerships

• Identify potential partners for Future Frontiers, focussing on organisations where there is synergy with Future Frontiers and/or where we can address a clear need for them
• Engage with potential partners through the most suitable channel (email, LinkedIn, phone/video call or in person) to understand their priorities and identify how Future Frontiers can meet their needs
• Deliver targeted campaigns and pitches of the most appropriate product(s) / way(s) to engage; handle objections and negotiate terms to help Future Frontiers to achieve income and impact targets and support more young people to achieve their potential

Maintain relationships; renew and grow partnerships

• Nurture relationships with existing partners, working with colleagues across Future Frontiers to ensure smooth delivery and an exceptional partner experience
• Explore opportunities to grow partnerships through working together in different ways and/or extending involvement to more pupils or colleagues
• Regularly request feedback and respond to suggestions from partners, helping them to feed involved and engaged with Future Frontiers work and development
• Maintain professional and timely communications with partners, following up on actions and delivering on commitments

Set up and enable successful partnership working

• Work with key contacts to agree objectives, responsibilities and deadlines. Maintain accurate records of partnership activities and conversation, ensuring that the Salesforce database is kept up to date
• Support partners with messaging and resources for internal and external communications, to enable them to build Future Frontiers into their organisations
• Coordinate with Future Frontiers colleagues to ensure that activities involving partners are well-run and that everyone is clear on their role in delivering successful interventions for young people

Stakeholder engagement, marketing and communications

• Use templates to create materials and communications to your audiences which align with Future Frontiers brand and convery core messaging
• Ensure that the partners you manage are engaged with relevant stakeholder communications, including events, newsletters and social media
• Proactively identify suitable content (or opportunities to develop content) from your partners to share in Future Frontiers marketing and communications, enabling us to build the charity s brand and engage new audiences

Wider contribution

• Contribute to department-, directorate- and organisation-wide projects and priorities through membership of project groups or taking on pieces of work in line with your skills, experience and development objectives
• Act as an ambassador for Future Frontiers, our cause and values in all engagements and communications with partners, supporters and suppliers

About you

Experience and knowledge

• Experience in a fundraising, sales or account management role, ideally working with businesses and/or schools (essential)
• Demonstrable success in hitting and exceeding targets in a fast-paced environment (essential)
• Experience of working in a team, taking ownership of areas of work and contributing to shared successes (essential)
• Experience implementing a range of marketing techniques, including digital and email marketing (desirable)
• Knowledge of the UK education system (desirable)
• Understanding of the UK charity sector and relevant legislation and best practice, such as GDPR and the Code of Fundraising Practice (desirable)

Skills and competencies

• Passion for Future Frontiers mission: you are motivated to play a role in empowering young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to realise their potential.
• Excellent communication skills: you will be able to articulate with passion the difference Future Frontiers makes to young people. You are a strong influencer and negotiator, and comfortable presenting to people from a wide range of backgrounds and with varying levels of seniority.
• Strong relationship builder: you are diplomatic, an active listener, and connect with people easily.
• Thorough and organised: you have strong attention to detail, maintain accurate records and can manage multiple deadlines.
• Proactive self-starter and problem-solver: you take initiative and approach your work with a positive, can-do attitude.
• Target driven: you are highly motivated and will be energised by working in a fast-paced, target driven environment with people who are committed to achieving social change.
• Collaborative: you work well with others and contribute to a supportive, team-oriented culture.

What we can offer you

• Annual leave of 27 days plus bank holidays, increasing with service
• Flexible working with the option to work from home regularly (with at least one day a week in the office, and the flexibility to come in more often if you d like)
• 4pm finish on Fridays
• Annual personal training and development budget of £300
• Employee Assistance Programme, including counselling
• Team-building offsites and regular team socials throughout the year
• Additional parental leave pay and additional childcare leave for child s first 2 years

Equal opportunities, diversity and inclusion

Here at Future Frontiers we are dedicated to the practice of equal opportunities. The principles of it underpin our mission and we treat all employees, volunteers, clients and young people as individuals. We believe in having an open and inclusive culture that champions diversity in all its forms, including disability, culture, race, gender, sexual orientation, age, life experiences, socio-economic background, and religion.

We encourage everyone to apply for our roles. If you would like to talk to us about working at Future Frontiers in advance of your application, particularly regarding diversity, we strongly encourage you to contact us via email. We d love to hear from you. We are particularly interested to hear from candidates who have not been to university or who have lived experiences relatable to our young people.

How to apply

To apply, please complete our application form on our website, attaching your CV and answering the following questions:

1. Why do you want to work at Future Frontiers? What is it about our organisation that excites you? (Max. 1,500 characters) Strong answers will tell us why Future Frontiers appeals to you personally and why you are motivated to work for us.

2. Please tell us how you meet the three essential knowledge and experience criteria given in the job description. (Max. 2,000 characters) Strong answers will factually and succinctly demonstrate your relevant experience.

Deadline: Thursday 29th May, 5pm

Start date: We are ideally looking for someone to start in mid-August, although we can be flexible.

Interview dates: First round interviews will take place virtually on during the week commencing 2nd June . click apply for full job details