Job Opportunities at Tony Blair Institute for Global Change

Job Introduction

The Strategic Advisor will work closely with the Executive Director, Strategic Partnerships and Initiatives, to design and incubate new strategic initiatives for TBI. The individual will work closely with Senior Leadership across TBI on the ideation and conceptualisation of these initiatives, support their incubation and ensure proper planning is in place to hand over implementation to the relevant teams in TBI. This is a fast-paced role for an exceptional candidate who is looking to apply their experience across a range of strategic initiatives.

The Strategic Advisor will work in a highly matrixed organisation and the ability to collaborate and deliver with colleagues across structures will be crucial. This role requires an individual who is highly collaborative, strategic, and motivated by results and impact.

This role sits within the Strategy & Partnerships (S&P) Department of TBI. S&P is one of three external facing business critical departments: Policy & Politics and Global Government Advisory. The S&P department leads and oversee the Institute’s strategic direction and growth, with specific responsibility for futureproofing growth, developing scalable partnerships, innovating in tech and securing financial resources to measurably advance the Institute’s operational goals and drive sustainable impact.

Relocation assistance will be provided for the successful candidate if required.

Key Responsibilities

Reporting to and working closely with the Executive Director, Strategic Partnerships and Initiatives, the Strategic Advisor will:

• Design and incubate special initiatives for senior leadership, drawing on inputs from across the organisation and its network
• Support the framing of strategic ideation and guide discussions from big ideas to actionable execution plans
• Support path to institutionalise successful initiatives, including handover to Advisory, Politics or Political team
• Conduct analysis and compile briefings for the Executive Director and senior leadership on market trends, partnership landscape, and new opportunities
• Work closely with other teams across TBI to understand the needs, opportunity impact and delivery models. This will include some travel and interaction with our global team
• Understand our partnership and client portfolio and contribute ideas for new opportunities to expand impact
• Develop guides and tools for TBI teams to execute, evolve and scale strategic initiatives and partnerships
• Work closely with TBI teams and partners to troubleshoot implementation challenges when they arise and lead teams toward solutions to deliver greater impact
• Contribute to impact reporting for SPI
• Other advisory support as requested by the ED and senior SPI leadership

Person Specification

• Comprehensive experience in a manager position in a consulting firm, public sector, or private sector organisation supervising and executing across multiple workstreams simultaneously
• Demonstratable strength in structured problem solving, top-down communication and portfolio thinking
• Experience in project design and management
• Experience with international development, public sector, and/or tech and digital transformation projects is highly desired
• The ability to operate in rapidly changing and growth business environment
• An ability to understand and communicate between public and private sector audiences
• A High EQ and excellent communication skills, from executive office level through to technical level, and who is adept at speaking to senior leadership, knows how to navigate ambiguous environments and is comfortable at managing up and beyond hierarchy
• Experience in working in entrepreneurial and matrixed environments and who is comfortable across cultures and geographies
• A natural networker and convener and can manage a multitude of relationships navigating a matrixed internal organisation
• Direct experience working in Lower and Middle Income countries (LMIC’s) is highly desired
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Open to travel and curious to learn from colleagues across our global team (10% - 20%)
• Keenly interested in the work of TBI and share in our mission and values

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Job Introduction

The Director, Global Partnerships, will build and manage a team to manage a portfolio of high impact, global partnerships. The Director will be expected to grow the team and operating model, in line with a growing portfolio. Under the guidance of the Executive Director, the team will develop strategy and execute and incubate landmark partnerships at pace, eventually handing off to other departments to mainstream and sustain. Success will be measured by the quality and impact of landmark partners engaged to deliver. The Director and their team will work in highly matrixed organisation and the ability to collaborate and deliver with colleagues across structures will be crucial.

Priority portfolios for our landmark partnerships include TBI’s flagships:

• Under The Tomorrow Partnership, we partner with governments, experts and innovators to bring about transformative change by supporting leaders, countries and communities to harness the power of technology for good
• Our “Future of Britain” policy work aims to find the ideas and policies needed to prepare countries for a new era. Find out more on our flagship The Future of Britain at https://www.futureofbritain.com/

TBI is looking to hire two Directors at this level to manage our expanding portfolio of landmark partnerships. Who can bring specialised skills, networks and interests in at least one of the following priority areas: technology and innovation, digitisation, life sciences, progressive politics, and/or government delivery. The portfolio under each Director’s leadership may change/evolve over time. The post holder should be a natural convener and networker able to creatively find synergies and pathways for partnerships.

These roles report to the Executive Director, Strategic Partnerships and Initiatives and sit within the Strategy & Partnerships (S&P) Department of TBI. S&P is one of 3 external facing business critical departments – the other two being Policy & Politics and Global Government Advisory. The S&P department leads and oversees the Institute’s strategic direction and growth, with specific responsibility for futureproofing growth, developing scalable partnerships, innovating in tech and securing financial resources to measurably advance the Institute’s operational goals and drive sustainable impact. The post-holder, under the guidance of the Executive Director, can expect to work closely with the Executive Chairman on our global and landmark partnerships.

 

Relocation assistance will be provided for the successful candidate if required.

 

Key Responsibilities

Reporting to and working closely with the Executive Director, Strategic Partnerships and Initiatives, responsibilities will include but are not limited to:

• Develop partnerships strategy for a dedicated portfolio of landmark global partnerships that meets TBI’s ambition
• In line with strategy, develop and enhance our network, relationships, and partnership with leading innovators, technology and life science companies, implementation partners, and thought leaders which enhance our understanding of emerging innovation and improve our offer to governments. This should cover global providers as well as prioritise solutions providers in and from the Global South
• Set and deliver annual OKRs for the division
• Work closely with other teams across TBI to understand the needs, opportunity impact, and delivery models. This will include some travel and interaction with our global team;
• Hire, lead, develop and support a high performing team to account manage and deliver impact through scalable partnerships
• Lead prospecting, solicitation, partnership development and stewardship for key accounts
• Working with TBI’s CRM and related tools, develop and maintain a clear, organised means for tracking partnership pipeline and engagement
• Lead the team responsible for managing the strategy, incubation, relationships, and iteration of landmark partnerships for maximum impact
• Work closely with TBI teams and partners to troubleshoot implementation challenges and lead teams toward solutions to deliver greater impact, escalating to c-suite leadership as appropriate
• Oversee transfer of mature partnerships to teams for their effective delivery and scale
• Pay special attention to what the portfolio offers as a platform for TBI and our participating partners
• Lead partner impact reporting for your portfolio and manage to key performance indicators for portfolio
• Represent TBI at external events
• Serve as a strong leader for TBI’s culture and values
• Thoughtfully manage your team and grow talent

Key internal relationships: S&P department leaders; Exec Director, Global Client Solutions and subject-matter Directors; Regional Directors and Country Directors, Global Advisory; Executive Directors and Directors Policy & Politics; key country teams; Legal department.

Person Specification

This is a senior leadership role requiring an exceptional candidate who is looking to expand their experience across a growing portfolio:

• Extensive experience as a lead for partnerships and/or high level relationship management, and working with contracts
• Bachelor’s or postgraduate degree or equivalent practical experience
• Strategic thinker who can challenge the status-quo and develop plans for successful delivery of challenging objectives
• The ability to operate in rapidly changing and growth business environment
• Proven ability to oversee numerous projects and initiatives, delegating and performance managing the details
• A track record of cultivating and maintaining partnerships and alliances across diverse organisations
• A natural networker and convener and can manage a multitude of external relationships navigating a matrixed internal organisation
• Brings experience in the mechanics of partnerships, related financial models and can ensure the partnerships cultivated operationally function across portfolio need
• Proven leadership capacity -- able to set strategic direction, inspire teams to collaboratively achieve exceptional objectives, and not afraid to be hands-on to achieve results
• Skilled communicator and influencer, from executive office level through to technical level, is adept at speaking to senior leadership
• Impact focused, you will have a background of delivering operationally with a positive impact
• Demonstrated ability in problem analysis and problem resolution at both strategic and functional level
• Proven experience of providing creative and innovative approaches in developing new initiatives/systems that contribute towards set goals
• With experience and a strong network of actors in at least one of the following prioritised areas for TBI’s partnership portfolios: tech & digitisation; life sciences and health innovation; progressive politics; and/or government delivery
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• A proven self-starter and is entrepreneurial in spirit
• Open to travel and curious to learn from colleagues across our global team (10% - 20%)
• Keenly interested in the work of TBI and share in our mission and values

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Job Introduction

The Engagement Manager roles are a critical leadership role for the success of the Tomorrow Partnership. Each Engagement Manager will work closely with leadership in TBI and with a landmark tech partner to build the landmark partnership, trouble-shoot challenges, expand its impact, and evolve our strategy.

The Engagement Manager will report directly to the Director, Global Partnerships, and can expect to work closely with senior leadership across TBI, including the Executive Director, Strategic Partnerships and Initiatives; the Director, Global Innovation Unit; and the Director, Tech and Digital Transformation. On a day-to-day basis, the Engagement Manager will work closely with colleagues across our embedded Global Advisory Country Teams serving senior political leaders and in our Advisory Global Client Solutions Team. GCS brings the best of TBI across sectors and partnerships at scale to support country teams deliver impact and house solutions manager for incubated, “market-ready” partnerships.

The Engagement Manager will work in highly matrixed organisation and the ability to collaborate and deliver with colleagues across structures will be crucial.

This role sits within the Strategy & Partnerships (S&P) Department of TBI. S&P is one of three external facing business critical departments – the other two being Policy & Politics and Global Government Advisory. The S&P department leads and oversees the Institute’s strategic direction and growth, with specific responsibility for futureproofing growth, developing scalable partnerships, innovating in tech and securing financial resources to measurably advance the Institute’s operational goals and drive sustainable impact.

Relocation assistance will be provided for the successful candidate if required.

Key Responsibilities

The Engagement Manager has sight of and captures the status of all comms/activities between the landmark tech partner and TBI, ensuring we are escalating issues as needed and driving progress against shared goals and objectives. This role is critical in helping define and align the necessary “flying formation” to ensure the partnership and necessary leaders (in TBI and at the tech partner) get the critical info at the right time to keep us advancing at pace.

Strategy setting

• Support joint partnership goal setting (OKR’s and quarterly reviews) to define shared objectives
• Identify new strategic opportunities for the partner and TBI’s joint offer
• Support TBI Solution Managers on strategy and relationships with the tech partner, as required
• Support strategic review and evolution of the partnership strategy and engagement to accelerate impact, including as part of TBI’s wider partnership ecosystem
• Provide direct support to emerging growth opportunities, particularly in new markets and with new products, with opportunity for travel to project countries to support client engagement
• Lead process of assessing new market and client opportunities for the partnership

Relationship Management

• Working closely with counterpart relationship manager at the tech partner, develop and manage systems for coordination across multiple teams and projects, including trackers and regular leadership meetings
• Manage coordination systems for TBI, ensuring timely inputs from all TBI Solutions Managers for the partnership and TBI teams
• Develop and consolidate inputs for partnership meetings
• Support the collation and gathering of client/product and user requirements
• Working with appropriate teams in TBI and with the partner, tell a joint story of impact for the partnership
• Escalate issues to Director, Global Partnerships, and ED, SPI

Partnership Delivery

• Lead weekly project meetings with tech partner and relevant TBI colleagues which align key actors to progress, blockers, and next steps
• Develop, improve and maintain partnership management tools (currently in Monday.com) which enable joint visibility on tasks/tickets and progress/backlogs. Encourage and lead a culture of agile ways of working for our team
• Work closely the Director, Global Innovation Unit, and his team on co-development of solutions with the landmark tech company
• Trouble-shoot and escalate issues across delivery with the tech partner’s counterpart and within TBI to the relevant leadership

 

Internal Enabling Systems

• Support TBI’s leadership to enhance the organisational strategy within TBI which supports the growing partnership
• Advise TBI leadership on the health of the portfolio and provide briefings for leadership on the partnership
• Develop and support internal TBI communications on the partnership, including to work with TBI and the partner’s teams to oversee the development of materials and resources that deepen TBI’s understanding of our joint offering and value proposition for governments
• Proactively identify challenges internal to TBI and lead teams to solutions
• Coordinate sit reps for TBI leadership on the partnership (eg weekly update for Executive Chairman, OKR reviews, DEI outputs, etc), working with relevant delivery leads across the Institute responsible for their updates and delivery
• Set agenda and content for weekly internal leadership meeting on the landmark partnership, to be chaired by the ED, SPI
• Input into TBI’s impact reporting on the partnership through appropriate channels and support TBI’s strategic communications on the partnership

 

Person Specification

This is a high profile role requiring an exceptional candidate who has:

 

• Comprehensive experience as working on the delivery of technology solutions. Product development and delivery for public sector clients would be a bonus
• Bachelor’s or postgraduate degree or equivalent practical experience
• Demonstrated project management experience, with ability to keep multiple trains running on track
• A natural networker and convener who can manage a multitude of relationships navigating a matrixed internal organisation
• Strategic and can challenge the status-quo and develop plans for successful delivery of challenging objectives
• The ability to operate in rapidly changing and growth business environment
• Proven ability to oversee numerous projects and initiatives, delegating and performance managing the details
• Brings experience in the mechanics of partnerships
• Ability to translate technical concepts into language that others understand and can relate to
• Impact focused, you will have a background of delivering operationally with a positive impact
• Demonstrated ability in problem analysis and problem resolution at both strategic and functional level
• Proven experience of providing creative and innovative approaches in developing new initiatives/systems that contribute towards set goals
• Skilled written and verbal communicator and influencer
• A proven self-starter and is entrepreneurial in spirit
• Open to travel and curious to learn from colleagues across our global team (10% - 20%)
• Keenly interested in the work of TBI and share in our mission and values

About The Institute

The Tony Blair Institute (TBI) is a mission-driven not for profit organisation. We exist to equip political leaders and governments to build open, inclusive and prosperous societies. We work hard, every day, to make a difference. When governments work well they are able to create economic and social change in a way that promotes fairness, social justice and opportunity. We work relentlessly to support leader and governments with the challenges they face. Giving them practical solutions and actionable insights, that once implemented, can be transformative for their people

We do this within two connected divisions:

Government Advisory

Our Government Advisory teams work directly with political leaders and governments around the world to implement reforms that improve the lives of their citizens. It works with a variety of partners and its outputs cover a range of disciplines and projects across countries in Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and South Asia.

Policy Futures

Our Policy Futures work encompasses three broad areas:

• Renewing the Centre: developing a bold and innovative domestic policy programme to help renew the centre ground of British politics;
• Tech and Public Policy: exploring the policy challenges and opportunities presented by the technological revolution; and
• Extremism Policy Unit: creating solutions designed to tackle the threat of extremist ideologies in the UK and around the world.

As an organisation, the core beliefs we all embrace are:

• Open and Progressive: you’ll believe in the value of teamwork
• Bold and Pragmatic: you’ll approach everything you do with integrity and authenticity
• Optimistic Changemaker: you’ll be focused on results.

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Job Introduction

The Director, Partnerships Support, is a senior leadership role at TBI which will build the backbone for us to achieve our ambition: the culture, the team and the enabling of systems. The role holder will be a dot connector across TBI who can ensure that our whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

The Director will build and manage a global team with representation in TBI’s geographic hubs and with the skills and experience to guide our teams as they establish strategic partnerships. The Director and their team will support TBI’s business units to manage and delivery partnerships effectively, in line with the strategic priorities and partnerships that are identified by TBI teams. These partnerships will enable our teams to go farther faster and be the ‘go to’ organisation for progressive leaders and governments for whom we deliver: Policy, Strategy Delivery, with Tech as a horizontal.

The Partnerships Support Unit, led by the Director, will support teams with prioritisation, quality assurance, ensuring dual value for partners and our clients, and expanded impact. Teams themselves will be responsible for identification and strategy behind these partnerships. Success will be measured by expansion of strategic partnerships engaged by TBI’s divisions and their contribution to TBI’s expanded impact and value to political leaders and governments.

The Director will work in a highly matrixed organisation and the ability to collaborate and deliver with colleagues across structures will be crucial. This role requires a leader who is highly collaborative and motivated by the success of the organisation’s mission.

This role reports to the Executive Director, Strategic Partnerships and Initiatives and sits within the Strategy & Partnerships (S&P) Department of TBI. S&P is one of 3 external facing business critical departments – the other two are Policy & Politics and Global Government Advisory. The S&P department leads and oversee the Institute’s strategic direction and growth, with specific responsibility for futureproofing growth, developing scalable partnerships, innovating in tech and securing financial resources to measurably advance the Institute’s operational goals and drive sustainable impact.

Relocation assistance will be provided for the successful candidate if required.

Key Responsibilities

Reporting to and working closely with the Executive Director, Strategic Partnerships and Initiatives, the Director of Partnerships Support will set the strategy, design and execute the systems, and manage a team for a functioning internal Partnerships Support Unit in TBI. Specific responsibilities, many to be executed through the unit, include:

 

• Lead and manage the Partnerships Support Unit – a diverse and globally distributed team of at least six high performing individuals
• Develop internal systems for TBI teams to set their partnership strategies, build pipelines, develop and execute highly impactful partnerships
• Develop a simple and effective system of tracking the evolution of our partnership portfolio and its impact across the whole of TBI
• Working closely with the Executive Director, build out the concept of TBI as a platform for impact via partnerships, ensuring that our whole is greater than the sum of its parts and unlocking value from the platform for our partners and our government clients
• Work closely with other teams across TBI to understand the needs, opportunity impact, and delivery models. This will include some travel and interaction with our global team
• Working with TBI’s CRM and related tools, develop and maintain a clear, organised means for tracking partnership pipeline and engagement
• Manage digital platforms and tools to track partnerships across the organisation, ensuring it provides value for teams to access information and learning, as well as for reporting and evaluation
• Develop partnership marketing tools and collateral to support teams
• Develop guides and tools for TBI teams to execute and scale their partnerships
• Support teams to evolve and scale strategic partnerships
• Host internal specialised expertise on coalition-building, alliances, and campaigning
• Work closely with TBI teams and partners to troubleshoot implementation challenges when they arise and lead teams toward solutions to deliver greater impact
• Advise Executive Director on overall health and strategic nature of TBI’s partnership portfolio; provide recommendations related to diversity, reach, and impact
• Set and deliver annual OKRs for division
• Represent TBI at external events
• Serve as a strong leader for TBI’s culture and values
• Thoughtfully manage your team and grow talent

Key internal relationships: S&P department leaders; Exec Director, Global Client Solutions and subject-matter Directors; Regional Directors and Country Directors, Global Advisory; Executive Directors and Directors Policy & Politics; key country teams; Legal department.

Person Specification

This is a senior leadership role requiring an exceptional candidate who is looking to expand their experience across a growing portfolio:

• Extensive experience as a lead for partnerships and/or high-level relationship management and working with contracts
• Bachelor’s or postgraduate degree or equivalent practical experience
• Demonstrated leadership of teams, preferably across multiple geographies
• Demonstrated experience building and leading internal systems in a streamlined and effective way
• Strategic thinker who can challenge the status-quo and develop plans for successful delivery of challenging objectives
• The ability to operate in rapidly changing and growth business environment
• Proven ability to oversee numerous projects and initiatives, delegating and performance managing the details
• A track record of cultivating and maintaining partnerships and alliances across diverse organisations
• A natural networker and convener who can manage a multitude of relationships navigating a matrixed internal organisation
• Experience in the mechanics of partnerships, related financial models and can ensure the partnerships cultivated function operationally across the portfolio
• Proven leadership capacity -- able to set strategic direction, inspire teams to collaboratively achieve exceptional objectives, and not afraid to be hands-on to achieve results
• Impact focused, you will have a background of delivering operationally with a positive impact
• Demonstrated ability in problem analysis and problem resolution at both strategic and functional level
• Proven experience of providing creative and innovative approaches in developing new initiatives/systems that contribute towards set goals
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• A proven self-starter and is entrepreneurial in spirit
• Open to travel and curious to learn from colleagues across our global team (10% - 20%)
• Keenly interested in the work of TBI and share in our mission and values