Director, Institutional Partnerships

ABOUT VILLAGEREACH

VillageReach transforms health care delivery to reach everyone, so that each person has the health care needed to thrive.  We develop solutions that improve equity and access to primary health care.  This includes making sure products are available when and where they are needed and primary health care services are delivered to the most under-reached.  Radical collaboration with governments, the private sector and other partners strengthen our ability to scale and sustain these solutions. Our work increases access to quality health care for more than 70 million people in Africa. VillageReach in incorporated in Washington State and has offices in Seattle (USA), Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Malawi, and Mozambique

Summary

The Director, Institutional Partnerships is a new position, which will lead and strategically advise on VillageReach’s global relationships with bilateral, multilateral and top corporate funders. This position will collaborate with organizational leadership to build, maintain, and grow a healthy pipeline of opportunities towards a goal of increasing VR’s competitiveness and raising $50M in multi-year funding. The Director, Institutional Partnerships will lead or advise country teams on building relationships with national level funders including USAID, PEPFAR, CDC, FCDO, the EU, International Development Banks (e.g. World Bank, IMF, ADB), and use strategic thinking, judgment, and relationship building skills to generate partnerships for VillageReach.  

Description

Essential Duties and Responsibilities include the following. Other duties, responsibilities, and activities may change or be assigned at any time.

• Maintain and grow a portfolio of top institutional donors in the United States, Europe, EMEA and Asia  
• Stay current on giving trends and upcoming funding opportunities to help position VillageReach for strategic opportunities.
• Collaborate with Advocacy Team to align development efforts with USG policy objectives 
• Support African teams to build regional and national engagement strategy for bilateral and multilateral donors, including strong organizational position with Ministries of Health, EPI, and NGO partners
• Create strong position for VillageReach with NGO partners, including Primary Recipients and other Primes and advise organizational leaders on successful partnership and consortium opportunities  
• Lead planning for meetings with institutional donors and guide end-to-end relationship management to ensure strong planning and follow-through (answering donor questions, sending impact info, etc)
• Develop compelling investment cases/concept notes that are aligned with donors’ interest and advise on  
• proposal development 
• Maintain extensive knowledge of VillageReach solutions and strategies to create links between VillageReach priorities and partners’ and donors’ priorities.
• Represent VillageReach at conferences, meetings and other opportunities to interact with key collaborators to strategically influence new programming decisions and develop and negotiate strategic partnerships.
• Promote VillageReach values of Diversity & Inclusion, Innovation, Collaboration and Excellence

Competencies:

The following competencies reflect what is expected of all VillageReach employees; including examples of how one might demonstrate each of these competencies in one’s role.

• Personal Motivation and Drive: Is self-directed in one’s approach to work, but asks for help when needed; holds oneself accountable; undertakes self-development activities; seeks to build and master new skills; looks for and takes advantage of opportunities within the organization
• Collaboration & Effective Communication: Establishes and maintains effective relations with coworkers, partners & stakeholders and external parties; works collaboratively with others to accomplish organizational and team goals and objectives; works actively to resolve conflicts; expresses ideas and thoughts effectively; selects and uses appropriate communication methods and maintains meaningful communication with virtual coworkers and other parties to keep them informed
• Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion: Takes personal responsibility for and supports others across the organization in creating and sustaining a diverse work environment where individuals are welcomed, valued, respected and supported; personally committed to attaining cultural competency including self-awareness of one’s own attitudes about culture and cross-cultural interactions; exhibits the willingness and ability to engage openly and respectfully around issues of race, colonialism, identity and culture; upholds equity in access to sharing of information, ideas, and opportunities throughout VillageReach
• Commitment to Excellence: Produces a high output of work, both in terms of quality and quantity; looks for ways to improve and promote quality; monitors work to ensure quality; has a personal commitment to the mission of VillageReach
• Solution Orientation & Innovation: Focuses on results and desired outcomes and how to best achieve them; gets the job done; sees opportunities for creative problem-solving while staying within the parameters of good practice; sees old problems in new ways and has novel approaches to solving those problems; contributes original and/or resourceful ideas to their area of responsibility; is able to consider and articulate risks and consequences of proposed innovations and factor these into decision-making

Requirements

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

This position currently has no supervisory responsibilities but may in time directly supervises 1 employee. Carries out supervisory responsibilities in accordance with the organization’s policies and applicable laws.  Responsibilities include interviewing, hiring, and training employees; planning, assigning and directing work; monitoring performance; rewarding and disciplining employees; and addressing complaints and resolving problems.

Education & Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree required, Master’s degree preferred or combined education and experience with and a minimum of 8-10 years of relevant professional experience in international development, with strong experience raising funds from multilaterals and bilaterals  
• Track record winning funding from top funders including: Gavi, The Global Fund, USAID, World Bank and other bilaterals and multilateral
• Proven experience evaluating, negotiating and working in consortiums with Primes and partner NGOs
• Strong leadership, administrative, management, presentation, reporting, communication, and diplomacy skills, including experience in high-level collaborations and partnerships
• Critical thinking, solutions-oriented ability to creatively align organizational and funder priorities
• Excellent writing skills with ability to translate complex information into clear language

Other Qualifications:

• Comply with VillageReach’s COVID-19 vaccination policy which requires full vaccination for in-person work or travel.
• Established cultural competency in partnering with racial, cultural and linguistically diverse groups.
• Demonstrated understanding of challenges with working in rural, underserved and low-income context; experience living in and/or working in a low-income country a plus.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite (Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, Excel) and comfortable in a fast-paced technical environment.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced organization and manage a high-volume workload work with flexibility, efficiency, enthusiasm, diplomacy, and cultural sensitivity.  
• Willingness to travel as needed (up to 4 weeks/year)
• Proximity to Washington, D.C. highly preferred 
• Experience in global health highly preferred  
• English fluency required. French-fluency preferred

Environment and Physical Demands:

VillageReach has no private offices, employees work in a shared, open environment with task and conference rooms accessible to employees for privacy and meetings. The noise level in the work environment is usually quiet. Due to the time zone differences between our USA office and our Country Offices and location of other global staff, we have established core collaboration hours between 6am Pacific Time and 18:00 South Africa Time (GMT+1) Monday through Thursday. All staff, regardless of location are expected to be available between these hours. During Daylight Savings Time, this allows for 12 hours per week (3 hours/day) of collaboration time and during Standard Time, 8 hours (2 hours/day). We do not hold cross-office meetings on Friday.

Approximately 90% of the workday is spent sitting/working on a computer.

COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY & INCLUSION:

VillageReach is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer committed to workforce diversity. We believe that diverse, equitably weighted perspectives foster an organizational capacity to create novel solutions that improve health in the most under-reached and hard-to-reach areas. To align our values, innovations and impact, VillageReach is committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse global workforce.

APPLICATION INFORMATION:

This is an immediate hire and therefore resumes will be reviewed on a rolling basis until filled. To apply, please submit your resume and a cover letter to our online portal: http://www.villagereach.org/join-us/ In your cover letter, please address (1)Why you are interested in this position, (2)What is one reason you think you’d be a good fit for this position and, (3)what is one strength you would bring to this position?

Hiring Process:

The hiring process will include the following steps:

1. Review submitted applications
2. Conduct 20-30 minute screening interviews for shortlisted candidates
3. Conduct skills and value-based interviews for 3-5 candidates.
4. Request that top candidates submit a practical assessment (designed to take no more than two hours to complete). Sometimes the assignment will occur before the interview.
5. Conduct final interview if necessary
6. Request references 
7. Make offer 
8. Conduct background check

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted, but candidates who proceed to step 2 will be notified if they are not chosen for step 3.

Safeguarding:

VillageReach is committed to promoting the welfare of children, young people, adults, and beneficiaries with whom it engages. We expect everyone working with us to share this commitment through our code of conduct.All offers of employment will be subject to satisfactory references and appropriate screening checks, which may include criminal records. VillageReach participates in the Misconduct Disclosure Scheme and, in line with this Scheme, we will request information from job applicants’ previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse, and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment. By applying, the job applicant confirms his/her understanding of these recruitment procedures.

Benefits

Compensation:

VillageReach has an established compensation structure that is based on the relevant market and internally transparent. The range for this position is $114,900 to $142,300. We hire people into the established range based on one’s experience and education and considering internal equity. We do not inquire about salary history. Please refer to our compensation overview on our website for more information and for more information on employee benefits.