Background
This position is located in the Partnerships Section of the Systematic Observations Financing Facility Secretariat. The Partnerships Officer reports to the Deputy Director/Head of Partnerships, P5, under the overall leadership of the SOFF Secretariat Director.
The Partnerships Officer will contribute to further development and implementation of SOFF’s Resource Mobilization Strategy, with a primary focus on the acquisition, retention and stewardship of public sector funders, including sovereign donors and other public financing partners supporting strategic engagement, resource mobilization and partnership management across a diverse portfolio of public, philanthropic and private sector partners.
The incumbent will be responsible for advancing the resource mobilization stream related to direct funding, while contributing to the coherence and effectiveness of SOFF’s broader resource mobilization efforts, including coordination with the innovative finance stream.
The position requires strong fundraising expertise, sound political and institutional judgment, experience managing donor pipelines and CRM systems, and the ability to cultivate and maintain relationships with a diverse range of funding and strategic partners.
Duties and Responsibilities
Under the leadership of the SOFF Director and the direct supervision of the SOFF Deputy Director/Head of Partnerships, the incumbent will be responsible for the following duties:
1.Resource Mobilization Strategy
- Contribute to the further development, operationalization and implementation of the SOFF Resource Mobilization Strategy.
- Support the development of annual and multi-year resource mobilization plans, targets, donor engagement priorities and outreach approaches.
- Contribute to the alignment of the direct funding stream with SOFF’s broader resource mobilization strategy, including coordination with the innovative finance stream and other partnership initiatives.
- Provide analytical inputs to inform strategic decision-making on donor engagement, funding opportunities, partnership positioning and resource mobilization priorities.
- Monitor trends in official development assistance, climate finance, development finance, public funding priorities and relevant philanthropic funding relevant to SOFF’s mandate.
2. Donor Acquisition and Pipeline Management
- Map, analyze and prioritize prospective public funders, with a particular focus on sovereign donors, development cooperation agencies, climate finance institutions and other public financing partners.
- Identify engagement opportunities with related philanthropies and other partners that may complement or catalyze public funding for SOFF.
- Develop and maintain donor intelligence, prospect profiles, engagement plans and funding pipelines using SOFF’s CRM and related tracking systems.
- Prepare tailored funding proposals, donor briefs, pitch materials and other resource mobilization products for prospective funders.
- Support and follow up on outreach, donor consultations and funding discussions to advance prospects through the funding pipeline.
- Identify entry points for senior-level engagement and recommend targeted actions to convert priority prospects into SOFF funders.
3.Donor Retention and Stewardship
- Support the stewardship and retention of existing public funders by contributing to regular communication, strategic updates, reporting, visibility and engagement activities.
- Organize and support donor meetings, briefings, presentations, partnership dialogues and resource mobilization events involving existing public funders and other strategic partners.
- Prepare high-quality donor-facing materials, including updates on SOFF results, funding needs, investment cases and strategic opportunities.
- Maintain accurate records of donor interactions, commitments, follow-up actions and relationship status in SOFF’s CRM and related information management systems.
- Contribute to the development of tailored engagement and recognition approaches for SOFF funders, in coordination with communications and governance colleagues.
4. Governance
- Prepare resource mobilization inputs for the SOFF Steering Committee, SOFF funders, the SOFF Advisory Board and other governance platforms, including briefing notes and talking points.
- Follow up on governance decisions, recommendations and action points related to resource mobilization.
- Ensure resource mobilization information provided to governance bodies is accurate, consistent and aligned with SOFF priorities.
- Coordinate resource mobilization plans with SOFF funders, founders, partners and key initiatives supported by SOFF.
Required Skills and Experience
Education:
Master’s degree or equivalent in finance, economics, business administration, development studies, international relations, environment studies, public policy or a related field. A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced degree.
Experience:
- A minimum of five (5) years of progressively responsible professional experience in resource mobilization, fundraising, partnerships, donor relations or development finance is required.
