Partnerships lead – Data Solutions (Nairobi) at Ona

Purpose

We are looking for a partnerships lead who will be responsible for developing and maintaining high-level relationships with clients. The partnerships lead will play a key role in assisting the CEO and Kenya Country Director to develop and pursue new business opportunities. This includes meeting with potential clients to present Ona’s services and working with clients to go from concept to finalized proposal.  

This role will report to the CEO and will be based in Nairobi, Kenya. 

Key roles and responsibilities

Business development 

• Assist in meeting with new clients and explain Ona’s offerings. This requires an ability to quickly translate requirements into a formalized proposal and budget.
• With the sales and marketing teams, ensure customer success by helping existing clients continually benefit from Ona’s services. 
• With the leadership and marketing teams, develop a software and data solutions strategy for the Kenyan market.
• Proposal writing 
• Proposal process coordination with feedback / inputs from the technical / data solutions / content / Project Management teams.
• Costing development.
• Proposal process coordination with feedback / inputs from the technical / data solutions / content / PM teams.
• Deal closure 
• Contract negotiations
• Contract closure (in partnership with the legal team).
• New business process formalization – including inclusion / exclusion criteria for the types of business we will / will not go after.
• Handover process management and documentation to Operations / Production teams.

Relationship building & management

• Utilizing existing networks to help increase donor, implementation and partner relationships that will benefit Ona, and be a good fit for the organisation’s products and services.
• Identification – in partnership with the senior management team – of key relationships we’d like to build in each FY, and apportioning dedicated time and resources to meet people and start new relationships where needed.
• Utilize a CRM tool such as Base / Zendesk Sell (or similar), to monitor and track strategic communications to key partners / stakeholders.

Marketing & communications

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills used to promote the work of the organization, through promotional articles / blogs / stories.

Public speaking, organizational positioning, networking

• Attend conferences and meetings where he/she will represent and “be the face” of ONA.
• Preparing presentations / talks that are captivating – being comfortable on a stage, pitching and presenting the organization’s work.
• Relationship building – good networking is something that has to be planned, managed, and followed through post the networking events. 
• Positioning of the organization – being an ambassador / thought leader / role-model and someone speaking from a humble position with expertise and confidence.
• Connector of dots – this role is about being a strategic fixer.  i.e. you have a partner or a government or a donor that approaches you with a problem, or you have identified a massive gap in country X in terms of problem Y. The job of this person is to be able to connect the dots, and find a suitable link with Ona’s products and services, with the problem identified.

Strategic involvement

• Involvement in the Strategic Direction Setting for the organization, and uncovering opportunities through well-defined goals and objectives, by harnessing people, infrastructure, innovation, finance, and product / service quality.

People management

• Mentor team members, hold 1on1s, review work, help with non-technical challenges, e.g. communication, timeliness, participate in their career growth path.
• Ensure direct reports have what they need to succeed and are happy, inquire and understand the grievance of direct reports, communicate those to the leadership team.
• Responsible for suggesting, implementing, and monitoring changes to team and organization structure. 
• Participation in the hiring process of new employees across the organization. 
• Identify potential candidates within the team that best fit our roles (e.g. team leads, senior engineers.

Team and company ambassador

• Provide training to clients and/or colleagues and/or in events or exhibitions where you are representing the company in any capacity.
• Cross team communication within the organization.
• Collaborate with key stakeholders within and across departments.

Key requirements 

Essential

• A Bachelor’s degree in a tech related field;  Masters degree is desirable.
• 8+ years experience in developing tech enabled solutions for development organisations. 
• 4+ years experience leading business development initiatives for data driven solutions. 
• Demonstrated success in proposal development, conversion and implementation.
• Project Management expertise – a track record of successfully delivering projects on budget while maintaining a high level of customer satisfaction.
• Knowledge of principles and processes for providing data driven solutions to development organisations.  

Skills 

• Critical Thinking – Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.

• Deductive reasoning – Able to take big, sometimes nebulous, projects and tasks and break them down into granular details that can be accomplished by the team.
• Multi-tasking – Able to prioritize dozens of high value tasks across multiple projects simultaneously, in an environment where priorities are constantly changing. Able to stay organized and deliver in this environment.
• Self-starter who is motivated to move the team and project ahead without direct instruction.
• Exceptional communication skills – Ability to communicate accurately, clearly, and effectively in both written and spoken English.