Institutional Funding Senior Advisor

Sightsavers is looking for an Institutional Funding Senior Advisor

Salary:        £53,000 - £55,000 per annum

Location:    UK remote - with occasional travel to Haywards Heath, when required

Contract:    Permanent

Hours:        This is a full-time role with some flexibility around hours worked and lots of home working

About the role

We are looking for an individual with substantial experience of working in government or statutory funding to be responsible for developing institutional donor relationships, both directly and in support of other members of the Institutional Funding team. Working with the Director and Heads of Institutional Funding, the Senior Advisor will lead on contract management and maintain key institutional donor relationships for some of our largest funding agreements. The post holder will engage with senior internal stakeholders at head office, consortium working groups and country offices to support project implementation.

You will join at an exciting time for Sightsavers and the Institutional Funding team as we engage in new partnerships, supporting new contracts and bids.  Key accountabilities will include:

• building strategic relationships
• contract management
• bid development
• learning and continuous improvement

This is an ideal opportunity to build on your existing experience gained within an international development organisation. To succeed in this role, you will need:

• Substantial experience of working in government or statutory funding for an international development organisation
• Research experience (preferably including development of engagement plans or donor strategies)
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• French language skills an advantage
• Experience and knowledge of the general international development environment
• Strong interpersonal and relationship building skills with exceptional networking skills
• Exceptional internal and external stakeholder management skills
• Exceptional reporting writing and proposal development skills
• Strong research skills with the ability to translate concepts into effective action plans
• Numerate with the ability to analyse complex financial and programme data
• Line management experience (preferable)
• Computer literacy using the Microsoft Office suite
• Ability to travel for up to four weeks per year travel to meet donors, accompany donors and support programme staff in the development of relationships at a country office / regional level
• An understanding of and commitment to equality of opportunity for disabled people

This is a involved role, please read the full job description for further details. 

Benefits

Sightsavers offers some fantastic benefits. Our comprehensive benefits package includes generous annual leave allowance, pension, season ticket loan, cycle to work scheme, discounted gym memberships and wellness discounts. If you choose to work in or are visiting our collaborative, modern office space, you will find it an easy 20-minute train journey from Brighton or 45 minutes from London.

To apply for this exciting new opportunity, please complete an application via our recruitment portal. We are particularly interested in learning of your motivations for applying. Please note that there will be an expectation that you can occasionally visit our modern and collaborative offices in Haywards Heath, West Sussex (RH16 3BW).

We anticipate that remote interviews will take place on Monday 16 and Tuesday 17 December 2024. The evaluation process will include a role-typical written task to be completed by shortlisted candidates in advance of this. We are looking for an individual able to start as soon as possible and ideally January/ February 2025.