Senior Partnerships & Development Officer

**General Background**

GRC are policy makers, lawyers and development experts dedicated to promoting accountability and strengthening justice systems through the application of international law. With ongoing operations in some of the world’s most complex legal and security environments, Global Rights Compliance continues to provide specialised legal expertise, policy solutions, and strategic advisory services to uphold justice and strengthen the rule of law globally.
The Business & Human Rights (BHR) Pillar focuses on addressing human rights risks linked to business activity, including forced labour, supply chain due diligence, conflict-affected and high-risk areas, and responsible resource governance.

We are seeking a Senior Partnerships & Development Officer to join our International team. The Senior Partnerships & Development Officer is responsible for identifying, developing and coordinating strategic funding opportunities that advance GRC’s organisational priorities. The role will cultivate donor and partner relationships, coordinate high-quality proposal development, manage funding pipelines, and work collaboratively across the organisation to secure institutional and philanthropic funding.

**The role**

- Monitor institutional, philanthropic and commercial funding opportunities across GRC’s priority thematic and geographic areas, maintaining comprehensive donor intelligence and identifying opportunities aligned with organisational strategy.
- Research, cultivate and maintain relationships with institutional donors, foundations, trusts and strategic partners to diversify GRC’s funding portfolio.
- Build and maintain strategic partnerships and consortiums with local and international organisations to strengthen programme delivery and proposal competitiveness.
- Maintain GRC’s business development pipeline, CRM systems and opportunity trackers, ensuring accurate forecasting, reporting and timely communication across the organisation.
- Represent GRC and attend events and meetings to identify upcoming opportunities and government donor priorities.
- Assess funding opportunities against organisational priorities and provide recommendations to Division Leads regarding strategic investment in proposal development.
- Coordinate proposal development processes, working closely with technical teams, finance, legal, monitoring and evaluation, and communications colleagues to develop competitive proposals.
- Draft, edit and quality assure proposal narratives, annexes and supporting documentation, ensuring compliance with donor guidance and GRC quality standards.
- Support donor relationship management throughout the project lifecycle, including grant extensions, amendments and follow-on funding opportunities.
- Coordinate development of project budgets and cost proposals alongside Finance, ensuring accuracy and donor compliance.
- Assist in organising and assist in coordinating meetings, workshops, and other programme-related events.
- Collaborate across divisions to ensure alignment of business development efforts.
- Contribute to organisational and divisional business development strategies through market analysis, donor intelligence and pipeline forecasting.
- Identify emerging funding trends and strategic partnership opportunities that contribute to GRC’s long-term growth.
- Coordinate submission of high-quality, compliant proposals within donor deadlines while maintaining proposal records, templates and lessons learned.
- Maintain GRC’s proposal library, capability statements, staff CV database and business development resources.
- Support the transition from proposal development into programme mobilisation.
- Promote continuous improvement of proposal processes, systems and knowledge management.
- Use digital systems and AI-enabled tools responsibly to improve research, drafting and proposal coordination.
- Support and contribute to the ongoing development of the team’s work by identifying potential areas for future activity and collaboration, consistent with strategic priorities.
- Undertake international travel where required to represent GRC and develop strategic partnerships.

**Your Background**

- Experience in an INGO or international development environment.
- Bachelor’s degree in international development, law, political science, public policy, business or another relevant discipline (or equivalent professional experience).
- At least 3–5 years’ experience in business development, fundraising or programme development within an international NGO, consultancy or international organisation.
- Experience coordinating complex multi-partner grant proposals.
- Experience working with major institutional donors (EU, FCDO, UN, foundations or similar).
- Experience developing proposal budgets with finance colleagues.
- Experience using CRM or pipeline management systems.
- Strong understanding of donor compliance requirements.
- Excellent analytical, research and strategic thinking skills, with the ability to assess funding opportunities critically.
- Demonstrated experience coordinating proposal development from opportunity identification through submission.
- Excellent stakeholder management skills with confidence representing GRC to donors, partners and consortium members.
- Strong project coordination and organisational skills with the ability to manage multiple competing priorities.
- Excellent written communication skills with the ability to produce high-quality donor-facing documents.
- Excellent organisational and time management skills, with the ability to prioritise tasks and meet deadlines.
- Exceptional attention to detail and commitment to quality assurance.
- Ability to work independently while collaborating effectively across multidisciplinary international teams.
- Highly proactive, solutions-focused and able to take ownership of complex workstreams with minimal supervision.
- Commercial awareness and understanding of the international donor landscape.
- Ability to build trusted relationships across cultures.
- Willingness to travel internationally where required.
- Fluent English language skills - verbal and written communication.
- Additional language skills are desirable.
- An existing network within the international donor community is desirable.
- Experience working in fragile and conflict-affected contexts is desirable.
- Experience of proposal management software and CRM platforms is desirable.