Director of Partnerships, Climate

Main Purpose of the role

• Provide collaborative leadership for the diverse philanthropic partnerships that the climate team requires to achieve strategic aims and in doing so gain valuable intelligence, build trust and mitigate relationship risks for the team and wider organization.
• Encourage a long term and systemic view in managing partnerships, whilst building and enhancing the overall suite of strategic relationships and cross-cutting initiatives that are essential to the success of CIFF’s programmes.
• Manage talented colleagues to develop and deliver high quality, timely proposals and programmes aligned to foundation strategy and climate philanthropic leadership.
• Play a leading role in cross organizational partnerships and the CIFF partnership community to maximize teamwork and results.
• Lead resource mobilization projects in collaboration with partners and the team.
• Represent CIFF at Board level with relevant grantees and partners.

As a member of the Climate Director Team

• Provide up-to-date, professional advice to the CIFF Executive Team and CIFF Board on relevant issues, to support the development of Foundation strategies and initiatives.
• Take the lead on corporate, cross-cutting initiatives and projects, as required by the Executive Team and/or the Climate Global Leadership Team.
• Provide compelling, consistent and united leadership which creates clarity for all staff in the team and builds a sense of shared accountability for its success and that of the organisation, including role-modelling matrix working, coaching leadership and fostering team cohesiveness.
• Develop and maintain excellent external relationships, acting at all times as a corporate ambassador for CIFF, to help build the organisation’s reputation and profile as a professional, visionary and collaborative philanthropy.
• Contribute to major cross team-decisions, in support of the Climate team’s strategies, portfolio development and business plan, to ensure the effective prioritisation of resources and activities.

Strategy & planning

• Contribute and advise on CIFF’s global strategies related to scaling climate philanthropic giving and other ecosystem wide services as required
• Develop and deliver new strategies to increase climate giving and build co-funding partnerships. In doing so, consider risks and mitigation strategies.
• Advise and work with the Climate team to support CIFF grantees to develop robust fundraising strategies and build their capacity to execute
• Provide input into the use of DA and DCA funds for the Climate Global Leadership Team

Philanthropic partnerships

• Role model and be a thought leader on fundraising and co-funding partnership development across the climate team and CIFF.
• Prioritize, manage and steer the flow of co-funder partner intelligence, information and insights into the Climate and wider CIFF teams.
• Advise the Climate team and strategic grantees to identify, negotiate with and manage philanthropic partners, to maximise philanthropic impact and increase co-funding.
• Proactively identify opportunities for external engagement in line with philanthropic and partnership development objectives.
• Develop and maintain strategic partnerships with other funders and guide other directors and the ED Climate to manage strategic relationships.
• Deepen relationships with partnership leads in other foundations and funder groups.
• Coach more junior colleagues across CIFF to identify and support philanthropic partnerships.
• Play an active leadership role in the CIFF cross-organization partnership community to maximize consistent approaches, aid collaboration and improve the quality and quantity of co-funding.
• Conduct due diligence on potential partners, prioritizing relationships that align with our mission and capital goals.
• Oversee the use of robust partnership systems (e.g., CRM and partner update tools) and processes to enhance efficiency and impact across partnerships.

External engagement, corporate communications and profile-building

• Play a key role in the development and delivery of CIFF Climate’s corporate communications, in support of our business plan goals, working closely with External Affairs
• Proactively identify opportunities for external engagement in line with philanthropic and partnership development objectives.
• Advise on high-quality thought leadership, PR and marketing materials to raise awareness about CIFF’s work within the sector, ensuring alignment with the Foundation’s communications and advocacy strategies. In doing so, translate CIFF’s climate work effectively for different audiences.
• Prepare compelling thought pieces, speeches, and presentations that position CIFF as a visionary philanthropy and advance partnership objectives
• Produce high-quality, strategic briefings and talking points ahead of external engagement and events for the ED Climate, and where relevant, the CEO and Chair.

Programme development, delivery and performance

• Oversee both the development of successful investment proposals and the implementation of high impact programmes related to partnerships and fundraising.
• Conduct regular reviews of investments, to monitor compliance with agreed due diligence and risk management protocols, ensuring the interests and reputation of the Foundation are appropriately and proportionately protected. Intervene to take corrective action where necessary.
• Ensure all investment proposals and programmes are underpinned by appropriate monitoring and evaluation processes and procedures.
• Ensure that appropriate procedures and frameworks are in place to support the effective leveraging and scaling-up of successful programmes and initiatives.
• Advise and support more junior colleagues in identifying, negotiating with and managing appropriate programme partners (as required), to enable CIFF to maximise its philanthropic impact through effective collaboration.

Leadership of the team

• Offer inspiring and motivational leadership that role models CIFF’s values and leadership behaviours, and empowers and enables staff to deliver excellence.
• Adopt a coaching approach with colleagues which instils a culture of openness and trust, embraces diverse thinking, and encourages continuous improvement and learning.
• Provide ongoing support to all direct reports ensuring high performance is enabled through objective setting, clear accountabilities and regular review.

Requirements:
• Recognised as a subject-matter expert in partnership development and fundraising, with a track record of working successfully in one of CIFF’s priority geographies
• Deep communication skills with the ability to translate technical programmatic information into compelling content for a range of stakeholders
• Comprehensive knowledge and understanding of the international development sector
• Excellent people leadership skills and proven ability to motivate, develop and hold to account a small- to medium-sized teams of professionals
• Ability to effectively champion and promote causes – credible and professional, they always present the foundation’s programmes in a compelling way to engage the audience
• Proven success in building and maintaining strategic relationships and working in partnership;
• Highly developed influencing and negotiation skills
• Capacity to work in a range of cultural and socio-economic contexts, adapting style and approach appropriately and in a culturally sensitive manner to maximise effectiveness
• Able to think critically and analytically to draw sound conclusions on the basis of complex data
• Experience of identifying and delivering business process improvements
• High-level of financial literacy
• A proven self-starter, who works with pace and resilience

Benefits:
CIFF operates a hybrid work policy across all locations, which means employees work in the office and some of the time from home. We are happy to provide more information on this as part of the recruitment process.

Alongside a competitive salary, we offer a generous benefits package here at CIFF that includes, but is not limited to the following.

• Annual leave - 25 days per annum. Increasing by 1 day after each year of service to a maximum of 30 days.
• Bonus - CIFF currently operates a discretionary bonus scheme.
• Training allowance
• Wellbeing allowance
• Life insurance
• Medical insurance

Please submit your application on or before Sunday 8 March 2026. CIFF reserves the right to close the job advert early if we receive a high number of suitable applications.