RP26 Roster - Partnership Management Consultant

CIMMYT

20h • Remote

About The Position

CIMMYT is seeking qualified internal and external candidates for its Talent Roster of Partnership Management Consultants. Roster inclusion does not constitute an offer or guarantee of employment; future opportunities depend on project requirements, organizational priorities, and donor funding. CIMMYT will reconfirm a candidate’s interest and availability when a suitable opportunity arises and may conduct a brief role-fit assessment before appointment.

Consultancies are based within the Office of the Chief Transformation Officer and support the design and strengthening of institutional partnership management across CIMMYT’s research programs and Chapters. The work focuses on how CIMMYT selects, contracts, monitors, and manages implementing partners and collaborators throughout the partnership lifecycle, and does not cover donor relations or resource mobilization. Engagements are typically home-based and part-time (approximately half-time), with short missions to CIMMYT headquarters in Texcoco, Mexico. Consultants work independently to produce institutional-quality frameworks, procedures, and tools for handover to CIMMYT staff for implementation.

This is an individual consultancy. CIMMYT offers a competitive fee commensurate with experience and assignment scope, and covers travel costs for headquarters missions in accordance with CIMMYT policy. The engagement does not include staff benefits. It offers the opportunity to shape how an international agricultural research organization works with partners across the Global South.

Requirements

• At least 10 years of experience in partnership, grants, or program management within international organizations, research institutions, or NGOs, including donor-funded, multi-program environments.
• Demonstrated experience designing or strengthening financial controls, due diligence frameworks, or partnership/grant management systems, including in response to audit findings or risk assessments.
• Proven ability to independently produce institutional-quality policies, frameworks, and procedures under tight timelines.
• Strong financial acumen, including the ability to interpret partner budgets, financial reports, and funding structures and translate them into practical controls and monitoring tools.
• Working knowledge of grant and contract management systems, such as ERP platforms (e.g., Microsoft Dynamics 365) and contract management platforms (e.g., Icertis), and dashboard tools for portfolio oversight.
• Experience conducting organizational diagnostics, including stakeholder interviews and process mapping across dispersed, multi-country teams.
• Excellent written English and document design skills, with the ability to produce board- and donor-ready materials.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with CGIAR, agricultural research, or Global South-focused development organizations.

Responsibilities

• Conduct diagnostics of partnership management systems, processes, and practices across programs, including stakeholder interviews, process mapping, and systems landscape reviews.
• Translate diagnostic findings and risk assessments into prioritized design requirements and recommendations.
• Develop institutional partnership management frameworks covering value proposition, strategic priorities, partner segmentation, governance, decision rights, and roles and responsibilities.
• Draft operational procedures for partner selection, risk-based due diligence, contract management, financial and performance monitoring, technical quality assurance, relationship management, and close-out.
• Design staff tools, including financial monitoring templates, due diligence risk-tiering and organizational capacity assessment tools, partner risk registers, tracking tools, and close-out checklists.
• Define functional and data requirements for embedding procedures into ERP and contract management systems and for portfolio-level oversight dashboards.
• Prepare implementation and change management roadmaps, including phased rollout, piloting, training needs, and interim workarounds.
• Coordinate with Finance, Grants, Legal, Donor Relations, program leadership, and IT/ERP teams, and provide regular written progress updates to senior management.
• Prepare handover packages and support knowledge transfer to CIMMYT staff responsible for implementation.

Benefits

• Competitive consultancy fee commensurate with experience and assignment scope.
• Travel costs for missions to CIMMYT headquarters covered in accordance with CIMMYT policy.
• Opportunity to shape how an international agricultural research organization works with partners across the Global South.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Part-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed