Strategic Partnership Development Manager

About this role

Strategic Partnership Development Manager Contract type: Permanent, Full-time, 35 hours per week Location: London, UK UK hybrid working – a minimum of 40% of working time is spent face-to-face (London office, external meetings or travel). 60/40 hybrid working at WaterAid means roughly three days wherever you work best and two days together in person.

Salary: £47,423 per year with excellent benefits *We offer competitive, market-aligned starting salaries. While most roles are offered at the advertised starting salary, we may adjust this in exceptional cases depending on a candidate’s experience, skills, and potential. Change starts with water. Change starts with you. Every day, millions of people live without clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene. WaterAid exists to change that – for everyone, everywhere. Join us, and your energy will help unlock people’s potential and create a fairer future. About WaterAid We’re a global federation driven by one vision: a world where everyone, everywhere has clean water, sanitation and hygiene by 2030. Powered by our values of Respect, Accountability, Courage, Collaboration, Integrity and Innovation, we work alongside communities, partners and supporters to make change happen. About the team The Corporate Partnerships Team is responsible for developing high value, high impact strategic partnerships with companies, where the value goes beyond financial alone to meaningfully contribute towards WaterAid’s mission, including finding ways to contribute to programmatic, policy and advocacy objectives. About the role As our proactive and driven Strategic Partnership Development Manager you will lead partnership development for a range of priority corporate sectors - working closely with global partnerships, programmes and policy colleagues - to secure new multi-year partnerships and drive sustainable change. In this role, you will: Business Development: Generate, cultivate and convert high-value corporate partnership opportunities against a personal income target. Secure annual and multi-year partnerships for WaterAid, each with a target value of a minimum of £100,000 per year (ideally £250,000+), covering a broad spectrum of partnership types (e.g. corporate donations, cause-related marketing, and employee engagement). Lead on partnership development for strategically important sectors including food and beverage and agriculture, communicating WaterAid’s partnerships offering and value-add externally to the industries. Attend networking events and conferences to build a network of relevant corporate contacts. Identify and research target companies, ensuring WaterAid’s ethical policy implementation guidelines are adhered to. Develop and deliver tailored and compelling proposals and pitches. This will often involve drawing on the skills and knowledge of colleagues from around the organisation to create innovative and business-aligned proposals. Assess and manage incoming partnership requests to the Corporate Partnerships team in a timely manner and in line with our partnership development objectives. Strategic projects: Coordinate with senior staff across WaterAid departments to ensure broader private sector objectives are prioritised when planning for global events. Identify, explore and work with WaterAid colleagues to develop innovative collective action propositions for the agriculture and food & beverage industries. Work closely with corporate teams from across the WaterAid federation to ensure new partnership offerings and financial propositions are utilised. Requirements To be successful, you will need: Proven experience of generating six-figure strategic new business partnerships from cold in the charity sector or in a commercial setting, and proven ability to meet and exceed personal targets. Confident networker able to represent WaterAid at external events. Externally focused and proactive attitude, with the energy and passion to engage people and excite them about WaterAid. Able to forge effective working relationships with stakeholders at all levels, including internal and external C-suite, across a range of industries and differing business cultures. Aptitude for writing high-quality and engaging proposals and reports for a corporate audience. Exceptional face-to-face interpersonal negotiating and persuasive skills, matched with a sensitive diplomatic approach. Experience in handling objections and negotiating successful mutually beneficial outcomes for internal and external relationships. Ability to manage multiple priorities and assertiveness to ensure that deadlines are met, including managing others’ input. Experience using a fundraising or customer database and producing marketing or similar analysis reports from the database. Although not essential, we’d prefer you to have: Experience and understanding of private sector sustainability and international development. Understanding of and active interest in the agriculture and food & beverage sectors, including key materially important sustainability topics. Experience working in corporate sustainability for the private sector, or industry-aligned organisations such as consultancies, agencies, standards or certification bodies, etc. View the full job description here Closing date: Applications close 12:00 PM UK time on the 10th July 2026.

How to apply: Click Apply to complete the pre-screening questions and upload your CV.

Can I use Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology in my application? At WaterAid, we strongly advise against using AI technology at any stage of the recruitment process. Our goal is to ensure a fair and transparent process that provides every applicant with an equal opportunity to succeed. We value hearing about your unique experiences and perspectives in your application, and, if shortlisted, during the interview as well. Pre‑employment screening To apply for this role, you must be able to demonstrate your eligibility to work in the respective country. All…