Head of Partnerships

Role

The Charter Cities Institute is a nonprofit building the ecosystem for charter cities. Our vision is to empower new cities with better governance to lift tens of millions of people out of poverty. We are hiring a Head of Partnerships. The primary functions carried out by the Head of Partnerships are: (1) developing partnerships with multilateral agencies, governments, firms involved or interested in building new city developments, and other institutions necessary to make charter cities a reality; (2) structuring and managing technical assistance projects that are required to get new city developments off the ground; and (3) leading and managing the Partnerships Team and working with CCI leadership to formulate and execute on CCI’s organizational objectives.

The Charter Cities Institute (CCI) is a small team, so the Head of Partnerships will need to be comfortable handling a wide variety of tasks, e.g., developing a partnerships strategy, reaching out to potential partner organizations, attending events and conferences to talk about charter cities, and delivering high-quality technical assistance work to public sector and private sector partners, among others. As many of our new city and charter city projects will be based in the Global South, the position will involve travel to these regions, especially to Africa.

The ideal candidate will have experience working with multilateral agencies or with other companies or organizations involved in development projects in the Global South. Experience leading or working on projects or technical advisory that involve urban development, large infrastructure projects, and/or structuring public-private partnerships are particularly relevant (though not strictly required). Success is measured by (1) the ability to leverage additional resources for charter cities and CCI, and (2) getting more charter city projects moving dirt and operational.

Responsibilities of Head of Partnerships

• Strategy: The Head of Partnerships will be responsible for developing short-, medium-, and long-term partnership strategies with the ultimate aim of getting more charter cities built across the Global South. They will work with the Executive Director and leadership team to identify partner organizations and execute action plans in a timely manner.
• Identify: The Head of Partnerships will identify organizations to develop partnerships with. Priority institutions include (1) multilateral institutions involved in international development (e.g., World Bank, UN, AU, etc); (2) private sector firms interested or involved in new city development (e.g., global infrastructure firms, new city developers, city planning firms, etc); and (3) financial institutions interested in investing in charter cities as an asset class (e.g., private equity firms, infrastructure funds, development finance institutions, commercial/investment banks, sovereign wealth funds, etc). The Head of Partnerships will need to identify not just organizations, but specifically the individuals or sub-units within organizations that are potentially the most interested in charter city and new city development.
• Cultivation: After identifying potential partners, the Head of Partnerships will need to develop an outreach and engagement plan to convert potential partners into formal partners. The Head of Partnerships will work with the leadership team to ensure our technical assistance offerings can meet the needs of potential partners and deliver value on an ongoing basis. These offerings include five key areas: (i) legal advisory (i.e., on national enabling charter cites legislation), (ii) technical/urban planning advisory (i.e., on the physical/built environment of these cities), (iii) commercial feasibility or economic impact assessments, (iv) project management (i.e., for coordination across many project stakeholders), and (v) marketing/branding services for new city projects.
• Technical Assistance: The Head of Partnerships will be responsible for structuring and managing technical assistance engagements to ensure deliverables are completed for our partners in a timely, efficient, and high-quality manner. Experience leading or managing technical advisory services for international development organizations or for consulting firms (especially on large urban development projects or PPP projects) is therefore desirable.
• Revenue: The Head of Partnerships will help drive revenue not only from the above technical assistance work, but also through direct outreach and networking with corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives and other potential funding sources interested in charter cities.
• Events: The Head of Partnerships will work with the leadership team to help plan and execute events. In particular, the Head of Partnerships will help identify potential speakers, curate panels, and invite relevant guests to events. In addition, the Head of Partnerships will work with partner organizations to plan joint events, offer CCI sponsorship, engage in cross promotional efforts, place CCI leadership on panels or in speaking roles at events, or other activities that could boost the CCI brand.
• Represent: The Head of Partnerships will represent CCI at various events, participate in speaking opportunities, and seek other ways to boost the brand and impact of CCI.

Background

• Masters degree in international development, economics, law, real estate finance, business, or a related field
• 7+ years experience working in consulting, international development, or other relevant private sector experience (especially on urban development projects, large infrastructure projects, and/or structuring PPPs)
• Experience working with, building, managing, and leading a nimble team

Qualities

The ideal candidate will have/be:

• A set of relationships that can be leveraged for co-authorship, technical advisory services, events, grants, and other collaborations to spread awareness about charter cities. In particular, relationships across the African continent are especially helpful given many of CCI’s projects are currently located there.
• Strong writing skills, including not only experience producing well-written technical outputs, reports, and policy documents, but also experience simplifying and translating complicated subjects into clear and concise language easily digestible by policymakers and potential financiers.
• Entrepreneurial. The ideal candidate will channel their entrepreneurial energies both internally — pinpointing processes and other areas that can be improved and taking initiative to make those improvements — as well as externally — continually seeking out new opportunities to push the charter cities movement forward.
• An effective communicator, including representing CCI at events, conferences, workshops, and policy dialogues and presenting CCI’s work outputs and research findings.
• A high level of attention to detail, as CCI’s projects and activities often involve many moving pieces and stakeholders.
• Intellectual curiosity and has a passion for charter cities.

The Charter Cities Institute greatly values our office culture. Our staff is intellectually curious and enjoys exploring a wide variety of topics, not all of which are directly related to charter cities. We’re a small team, so we frequently go out to lunch as a group, and get drinks together a few times per month (though this is not required).

The role is for a full time position. While the preference is for the leadership team to be located in Washington, DC, we are open to remote work arrangements for strong candidates who cannot feasibly relocate. The role will also involve international travel. The Charter Cities Institute offers health insurance, dental insurance, and 401k. Please apply below or send a cover letter, a resume, and a writing sample (all in PDF) to [email protected].

Salary – negotiable based on experience