TTA: Senior Advisor, German Donors

 TTA: Senior Advisor, German Donors

• Berlin or nationwide in Germany| 17th June 2024
• full-time | 6th December 2024

Job Overview: 

The Senior Advisor – German Donors (GFFO, BMZ, KFW, GIZ, PATRIP foundation) is part of the Strategic Partnerships Team, which is responsible for relationship management of IRC’s key institutional donors. The Senior Advisor leads, guides and coordinates IRC’s funding focused engagement with the German institutional donors, collaborating closely with other teams which lead on policy, advocacy and technical engagement. The Senior Advisor maintains positive relationships with German agencies, in support of the delivery of our organisational strategy, Strategy 100.

Major Responsibilities:

Information and Knowledge Management (60%)

• Maintain  and coordinate relationships with key German government donor stakeholders.
• Maintain up-to-date knowledge of IRC’s position of German  Institutional Donors, including funding portfolio, business development pipeline, implementation and compliance issues, risks, influencing aims and senior level HQ-HQ engagement.
• Maintain up-to-date knowledge of donor strategies relevant to IRC’s work, such as funding priorities, geographical interests and political climate, providing analyses and synopses of press releases and other announcements, and disseminating this information internally.
• Support IRC senior management in identifying and mitigating funding and relationship risks related to German Donors.
• Map donor organisational structure, identify key targets, and maintain relationship records on IRC’s CRM system.
• Maintain tools and resources to support donor engagement and relationship building with donors.
• Contribute to the maintenance of donor tools and resources to support engagement and relationship building.
• Lead the Multi-Year Donor Engagement Strategies, including coordinating meetings with cross-department operational teams, and leading the donor strategic teams to steer our donor relationship and engagement.
• Work with key regional and programme development staff to support business development planning as it relates to German Donors.
• Coordinate across IRC teams, such as Country Teams, Advocacy and Policy to ensure consistent, accurate and timely messaging for donors.

External Representation (40%)

• Undertake direct representation with donor officials, and support the development of IRC’s donor relationships, including brokering meetings between donors and Regional and Technical Leadership, Country Directors, and supporting the preparation for these engagements, when requested.
• Participate in key meetings with German Donors, including Desk/Programme Officers, Heads of Unit, Director-General/equivalent, advisors and other officials, as required.
• Represent the IRC at external meetings, events, and forums, including delivering presentations/briefings to senior donor representatives, forums and sector groups, when required.

 High priority tasks during the TTA:

• Analyse and share guidance on regional funding guidelines published by donors
• Advise, guide and monitor the 2025 GFFO and BMZ funding cycle
• Advise and guide engagement with German Donor Agencies (HQ-HQ and CP-Embassies)
• Potential participation in KoA retreat (mid-September)
• Support potential DM visit in October
• Lead on regular MYDES meetings (operations/strategic)
• Maintain information flow between AMU-Advocacy-COMs and ExO
• Contribute to new donor strategies for GFFO and German Development Donors

Job Requirements:

Work Experience:

• Significant experience of business development, programme management, advocacy or other similar HQ-HQ strategic account / relationship management of German Donors.
• Extensive experience of building and maintaining networks with influencers and decision makers.
• Experience undertaking reviews of strategies, datasets and reports, and producing written and verbal guidance relevant to senior and operational staff.
• Proven track record of working successfully with virtual teams.

Demonstrated Skills and Competencies:

• Strong working understanding of the political environment and trends relevant to German Donors and knowledge of donor policies, priorities and financing mechanisms.
• Excellent written, verbal and presentation skills, including preparing briefings for senior colleagues and representing with donors.
• Ability to lead and manage projects, including working as part of remote/virtual teams.
• Good analytical skills and first-class attention to detail.
• Strong organisational and prioritisation skills.

Language Skills: 

Proficient in German (ability to have external meetings/discussions in language, including technical dialogue; ability to understand and summarise donor documents, announcements, etc. into English).

Preferred experience & skills:

• Demonstrable experience of driving coordinated advocacy, communications and fundraising programmes to access funding.
• Understand programmatic and financial contractual arrangements with donors and partners, including experience of negotiating with donors.
• Experience of working in developing countries, preferably in the context of a donor, NGO or International Organisation.

Working Environment: 

• Standard office working environment.
• Some international travel as needed up to 10%
• This role may require working remotely full or part time and part time remote employees may be required to share workspace.  

Responsibilities:

• Line management of a full-time Brussels-based paid intern who will assist with implementation of the above.

Applications to be submitted to [email protected] by Sunday 21st of May 2024.