Partnerships Manager

Key Responsibilities

1. Fundraising & Resource Mobilization

• Develop and implement a resource mobilisation strategy targeting grant-making organisations, foundations, development agencies, and philanthropic institutions.
• Lead the end-to-end proposal development process: opportunity scouting, concept note drafting, partnership positioning, grant writing, and submission.
• Maintain a robust pipeline of prospective funders and reporting obligations for active grants.

2. Strategic Partnerships Management

• Build and sustain strategic relationships with key funders and ecosystem actors.
• Represent PLP in donor and partner engagements, ensuring alignment between funder priorities and PLP programmatic goals.
• Ensure timely reporting, stewardship, and relationship cultivation with all external funders.
• Maintain a comprehensive, multi-country partnership tracker to manage, follow through, and convert partnership conversations into funding and strategic support across all PLP program countries.
• The Partnerships Manager shall proactively steward relationships from initial introduction to funding closure, ensuring timely follow-through, sustained engagement, and conversion of opportunities into secured financial support.

3. Business Development Support

• Identify opportunities for revenue generation through PLP’s products and services (e.g., advanced courses, corporate training, tech talent placement).
• Collaborate with program leads to position offerings for potential clients and partners.
• Support pitch development, service pricing, and partnership proposals.

4. Cross-Departmental Partnership Support

• Serve as the central point of coordination for partnership-related efforts across Outreach, Academy, Executive Director’s Office, Talent Hub, and Community teams.
• Collaborate with departmental leads to identify partnership needs, co-develop engagement strategies, and design value-aligned proposals.
• Actively support teams in initiating, nurturing, and closing partnerships with corporates, funders, government, and ecosystem actors relevant to their focus areas.
• Represent PLP in meetings, events, and forums that align with the strategic goals of these departments, ensuring consistent messaging and value delivery.
• Facilitate alignment between partner interests and internal program needs, ensuring strong internal coordination and follow-through.
• Track, document, and report on partnership pipelines and outcomes for each department, contributing to organisation-wide visibility and strategic planning.
• Provide capacity-building and advisory support to internal teams on best practices for partner engagement, proposal development, and relationship management.

5. Organisational Positioning & Visibility

• Work closely with the Communications & PR team to ensure PLP’s leadership is present in the right platforms: key industry events, panels, forums, and member organisations.
• Track and map influence-building opportunities for senior management.
• Draft strategic briefing notes, talking points, and speaker profiles as needed.

6. Market Research & Ecosystem Insights

• Lead ongoing research on trends in tech talent development, digital skills, youth employment, and related ecosystems across Africa.
• Track and analyze market data, policy shifts, and sector best practices to inform PLP’s strategy, fundraising priorities, and program design.
• Conduct benchmarking of global social enterprise models, funding approaches, and sector innovations to guide PLP’s growth and positioning.
• Prepare insight briefs and presentations for the Executive Director and leadership team to support decision-making and external engagement.
• Provide actionable recommendations on partnership opportunities, funding trends, and ecosystem gaps relevant to PLP’s mission and impact goals.

Preferred Qualifications & Competencies

• Proven track record in fundraising, grant writing, and donor relationship management.
• Experience in nonprofit or impact-focused business development.
• Strong communication and proposal writing skills.
• Ability to manage multiple stakeholders and drive collaborative initiatives.
• Familiarity with the tech education, youth employment, or social enterprise sectors is a plus.

What success in this role looks like

• Growth in successful grant applications and renewals.
• Sustained relationships with new and existing partners.
• Increased revenue from PLP products and initiatives.
• Documented support to cross-departmental partnership initiatives.
• PLP representation in strategic industry events and networks.
• Clear reporting and tracking of partnership engagements and fundraising pipeline.