Position Overview

The Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data (the Global Partnership), hosted at the United Nations Foundation, is a fast-growing international network working to ensure data drives equitable and sustainable development.

The fragmented data ecosystem means that often relevant data and tools are available but are not being used by all those who need it. To tackle the increasingly complex development challenges we need to share data, tools and resources, and work together to unlock their potential. Our network connects over 700 organizations across 40 countries, including governments, civil society, companies, intergovernmental institutions, academia and media. Together we broker solutions to the world’s biggest problems, exchange knowledge and build capacities, and amplify lessons from our country-level work to advocate for policy change and share learning widely.

This role is in the Secretariat and is responsible for the overall management and health of the global network of partners. As we face increasingly frequent and complex crises, it is now more important than ever that we work together in an all-of-society approach to tackle the world’s biggest problems. This role will help bring together the thriving network of diverse actors to do just that.

This role is within the External Relations Division, overseen by the Senior Director of External Relations. The Division is composed of two pillars: Communications; and Strategy, Network and Development. The Engagement Manager sits within the Strategy and Development pillar and will collaborate with our global team of 30 professionals to foster constructive partnerships and experiences. The Engagement Manager will directly manage a Partner Network Associate.

Working closely with the Senior Strategy and Development Manager and Senior Director of External Relations, the Engagement Manager will be responsible for developing a partner engagement strategy to ensure we are making the most of the network and creating an energetic data for development community. This is particularly critical as we embark on the start of a new organizational strategy at the end of 2023. This role will also design and maintain mechanisms for more systematic partner engagement, work with the Partner Network Associate to create connections between partners and strategize on how to more systematically engage new stakeholders.

This position will be remote.

Essential Functions

• Develop and drive a stakeholder and Partner Engagement strategy that sits within an External Relations strategy.
• Develop a value proposition for the Global Partnership and drive partner engagement based on identified needs.
• Oversee the onboarding of new partners and deepen engagement with existing partners from across sectors and all over the world, supporting them to collaborate with the relevant Secretariat colleagues and other key stakeholders.
• Manage the Partner Network Associate, including supporting them in their work on analyzing annual partner feedback, partner outreach via our listserv and newsletter, onboarding of new partners, and continuously improving the organization’s customer relations management system.
• Drive different mechanisms for partner engagement, such as working groups, project-specific collaborations, as well as national, regional, and global events.
• Work closely with our Learning Manager to ensure learning offers are structured appropriately to support partner’s learning journeys.
• Develop opportunities to highlight partners’ work that support the goals of the Global Partnership.
• Keep abreast of what partners like and dislike and what the Global Partnership offer constitutes for them.
• Research, analyze and track the data for development landscape and partners’ unique contributions to create connections among partners where opportunities arise.
• Contribute digital content for the website on the network and solicit new content and updates from partners.
• Helping new partners find ways to collaborate with the organization or its other partners.
• Lead partner engagement in our Data for Development Festival, which occurs every two years in a different region.
• Other duties as assigned.

Selection Criteria

• Bachelor’s degree in a related field required (e.g., development, international affairs, policy, economics, business, technology, management, data science)
• 5-7 years of work experience in international development, data and technology, or foreign policy, with progressively responsible positions with project management functions.
• Demonstrated skills managing multi-stakeholder projects or processes and fostering partnerships.
• Experience of working with networks or in stakeholder engagement preferred.
• Ability to manage staff and support staff growth.
• Leadership and team building skills, particularly working with distributed teams.
• Knowledge of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
• Ability to flexibly manage multiple tasks with attention to detail and deadlines.
• Knowledge of customer relations management systems (e.g., Aptivo, Salesforce), Google suite, user research preferred.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Fluency in English required. Working level Spanish, French, or other languages preferred.
• Ability to work well with individuals from numerous different cultural and institutional backgrounds.
• Ability and willingness to travel internationally at least four times per year.
• Ability to collaborate with colleagues to deliver under time pressure e.g., UN General Assembly period.

Benefits & Compensation

For full-time, benefit eligible employees, UNF offers an excellent range of benefits, including:

• a choice between two health plans through UnitedHealthcare (PPO or HDHP with HSA)
• dental insurance
• vision insurance
• flexible spending accounts
• 403b retirement savings plan with a generous matching contribution
• group term and supplemental life insurance
• short-term disability
• long-term disability
• health club discounts
• commuter subsidy
• back-up care
• employee assistance program

Additionally, all benefit eligible employees have 12 paid holidays, 20 vacation days, 10 sick days, 3 personal days, and 8 weeks of family leave care.

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*This posting has a closing date of July 26, 2023.*

The United Nations Foundation is proud to be an equal opportunity and affirmative-action employer. The United Nations Foundation provides equal employment opportunity to all employees and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.