Senior Technical Advisor, Partnerships

IREX•Washington, DC

16h•$109,500 - $125,000

About The Position

IREX seeks a Partnerships Senior Technical Advisor to support donor funded programs. The role will strengthen the organization's ability to build, manage, and grow strategic relationships with companies, employers, industry associations, corporate foundations, and other private-sector partners. The role will help connect private-sector engagement to stronger program outcomes, expanded workforce and economic opportunities, organizational growth, and revenue generation. Working primarily with IREX’s program teams and in partnership with strategy and business development, the Partnerships Expert will support programs to identify and develop high-value private-sector partnerships while also cultivating a targeted portfolio of strategic corporate relationships with potential funding, fee-for-service, technical collaboration, market access, and partnership opportunities. The role will serve as a connector across teams, helping IREX develop practical partnership approaches, strengthen program design and delivery, coordinate relationship management, and build a stronger organization-wide approach to private-sector engagement.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree.
At least 10 years of progressive professional experience in private-sector engagement, partnership development, business development, corporate social impact, economic growth, workforce development, philanthropy, or a related field.
Demonstrated experience building and managing relationships with companies, business associations, foundations, employers, investors, or other private-sector stakeholders.
You must have unrestricted authorization to work in the United States.

Nice To Haves

Experience developing partnership strategies, value propositions, and collaborative initiatives that create value for multiple stakeholders.
Understanding of how private-sector engagement can contribute to workforce development, economic opportunity, education, leadership, or social-impact objectives.
Experience identifying and pursuing funding, sponsorship, fee-for-service, partnership, or business-development opportunities.
Strong project management and relationship-management skills, including managing multiple priorities and stakeholders.
Excellent communication, facilitation, presentation, and writing skills.
Experience supporting proposals, strategic initiatives, fundraising, or organizational growth efforts.
Ability to work effectively across technical, programmatic, operational, and business-development teams.
Proficiency with Microsoft Office, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Copilot.

Responsibilities

Help programs identify where private-sector and employer engagement could strengthen program design, delivery, sustainability, or results.
Support programs to identify, prioritize and connect with potential companies, employers, industry associations, accelerators, and other relevant partners.
Help teams develop clear value propositions, partner roles, commitments, and measures of success, and facilitate introductions where appropriate.
Cultivate and manage a select portfolio of high-priority companies, corporate foundations, business associations, and other private-sector prospects with potential financial or strategic partnership value for IREX.
Develop tailored engagement strategies and value propositions that connect IREX’s capabilities with prospective partners’ business and social-impact priorities.
Help turn promising relationships into concrete opportunities for funding, fee-for-service work, in-kind support, technical collaboration, or other strategic value.
Maintain accurate and current information on the prioritized private-sector pipeline, including relationship ownership, engagement status, and next steps, and support regular review with the Catalyst Hub and relevant program teams.
Develop practical tools and guidance for partner identification, prioritization, outreach, due diligence, partnership design, and management.
Establish and maintain minimum standards for collecting, documenting, and updating partnership data, including partner engagement, commitments, contributions, relationship ownership, and results.
Promote coordinated relationship management by clarifying ownership and helping IREX present a coherent approach to companies that engage with multiple teams or programs.
Identify recurring partnership needs and opportunities across programs and develop shared approaches that reduce duplication and can be reused in future programs and proposals.
Capture and share partnership models, lessons, and evidence to strengthen IREX’s private sector engagement over time.
Ensure that private-sector engagement contributes both to stronger program practice and to IREX’s broader growth, diversification, and revenue-development objectives.