JOB SUMMARY:
CARE is seeking a Senior Director of Cocoa Partnerships to lead our most sophisticated and high-profile corporate relationships in the cocoa sector. This is a senior business development and partnership management role — part diplomat, part strategist, part field translator — for someone who understands how cocoa companies think and can position CARE as the indispensable partner for achieving their sustainability goals.
The SDOD will own the full partnership lifecycle for CARE's cocoa portfolio: deepening relationships with current partners, including Mars, Hershey, Cargill, and others; building new partnerships aligned with CARE's supply chain strategy; and translating CARE's two-decade track record in cocoa-producing communities into business-value narratives that justify and grow investment.
This role reports to the Executive Director of Agribusiness and operates at the intersection of CARE's program delivery, corporate sustainability trends, and the evolving cocoa industry landscape — including WCF, living income frameworks, climate-smart agriculture, and child labor remediation. The ideal candidate brings deep cocoa sector fluency combined with the instincts of a business development professional.
RESPONSIBILITIES:
Strategic Account Ownership
- Own a portfolio of several major cocoa sector accounts end-to-end: setting partnership strategy, managing senior relationships, leading annual review and renewal cycles, and driving year-over-year investment growth
- Serve as the senior point of accountability for account health — proactively identifying risks, surfacing growth opportunities, and keeping CARE indispensable to partners across leadership transitions and shifting corporate priorities
- Build and advance relationships at the corporate sustainability, procurement, and executive level — not just program touchpoints — with the credibility to engage on business strategy, supply chain resilience, and ESG commitments
- Lead annual review cycles, stewardship reporting, and impact narrative development; coordinate cross-functionally with CARE country offices to ensure field realities translate accurately into partner-facing materials
Business Development & New Partnerships
- Develop compelling partnership proposals, pitch decks, and business cases that translate CARE's program impact into language that resonates internally at partner companies
- Identify and pursue new partners in the cocoa ecosystem — brands, traders, certification bodies, industry platforms — with a clear theory of how each relationship fits CARE's portfolio strategy
- Represent CARE at senior levels at industry convenings, including World Cocoa Foundation and bilateral partner engagements
- Engage credibly with partners exploring emerging financing models — blended finance structures, impact-linked vehicles, and collective industry funds — as complements or alternatives to traditional grant-based investment
Technical & Industry Expertise
- Maintain current knowledge of cocoa industry dynamics: sustainability standards, certification landscape, living income benchmarks, climate risks, child labor protocols, and the evolving regulatory environment (EUDR and equivalents)
- Serve as internal expert on cocoa sector trends and partner company priorities — helping CARE anticipate what partners will need before they ask
- Support CARE's positioning in the cocoa sustainability conversation through conference content, publications, and industry engagement
- Work with the CIP / Impact Intelligence team to develop evidence-based business cases for cocoa partnership investment
Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Work closely with the Executive Director and the broader Agribusiness team to align partnership strategy with program delivery and revenue goals
- Collaborate with CIP on data products, impact measurement, and business intelligence that support cocoa partner relationships
- Coordinate with Thought Leadership & Events on conference strategy, speaking opportunities, and partner-facing conten
- Support New Business by developing sector-specific intelligence and materials for prospecting in the cocoa/agribusiness space
