Partnerships & Network Lead / Jobtech Alliance at Mercy Corps

The Position

• The Jobtech Alliance Partnerships & Network Lead plays a lead role on the first workstream outlined above, while contributing to improved performance of Jobtech Platforms across the continent. S/he is responsible for building the community as a fundamental anchor for all other activities of the Jobtech Alliance, and building out complementary workstreams. Firstly, this involves managing community outreach and onboarding, engagement (including online and offline channels), and events. Secondly, it involves providing 1:1 support to platforms to ensure that they get the most of the Jobtech Alliance, as well as identifying and managing further workstreams and partnerships that contribute to the growth and enhancement of the ecosystem and community.

Who You Are

• You are a creative extrovert who has phenomenal EQ, and are deeply passionate about startups and employment in Africa. You are strategic and can build things from scratch, and know the difference between a good and a dud partnership. You have a skill at facilitating, and are a natural connector. You are highly organized, and can keep the day-to-day ticking while working on ambitious new projects.

Key Responsibilities
COMMUNITY & PARTNERSHIPS STRATEGY (15%)

• Lead the overarching community management strategy & develop new ideas about how to improve both size of membership and quality of engagement. You’re the primary KPI holder for quantity of members and quality of engagement.
• Develop processes for community management and maintain the Jobtech Alliance Playbook around community engagement. Establish our model to enable us to better share useful resources / collaborations with platforms on a 1:1 basis.
• Evolve strategy, and identify opportunities for partnerships, special projects, or services that would improve the enabling environment of the ecosystem

COMMUNITY OUTREACH, RECRUITMENT AND ONBOARDING (10%)

• Drive membership of the Jobtech Alliance community through mapping of startups in the sector, outreach and promotion, direct engagement with startups, and creative outreach campaigns
• Review Platform Member applications on a regular basis, and conduct onboarding with new startups
• Other activities, as guided by his/her community engagement strategy

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND EVENTS (25%)

• Maintain social media channels (LinkedIn and Twitter) with quality and engaging content (including user-generated) to promote high levels of learning and engagement. Where possible, develop more creative content based on Jobtech Alliance blogs and other learning
• Manage Jobtech Alliance website, email, and other communications channels
• Organize and host meet-ups for the Jobtech Alliance community in different markets
• Organize and manage webinars hosted by Jobtech Alliance and partners
• Go-to organizer for bigger events, including the Africa-wide Jobtech Summit

PLATFORM SUPPORT (25%)

• Maintain 1:1 relationships with community-members, and maintain a finger on the pulse of what the community needs
• Identify unique needs of platforms, and play a ‘connector role’, sharing useful Jobtech Alliance resources, introductions to other Platform Members, or beyond

PARTNERSHIPS AND SPECIAL PROJECTS (25%)

• Based on emerging opportunities, and feedback from the community, identify partners and lead special projects which improve the enabling environment for inclusive jobtech platforms in Africa
• This could improve projects including (but not limited to): partnerships with useful service providers, the building of open-source tools solving key problems for start-ups, pilots with external actors, policy roundtables, and more.

Supervisory Responsibility

• None

Accountability
Reports Directly To: Program Director / Jobtech Alliance
Works Directly With: Startups, External partners, BFA Communications team, Results, Learning & Research team, Venture Building Managers, Finance team.
Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders

• Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our program participants, community partners, other stakeholders, and to international standards guiding international relief and development work. We are committed to actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

Minimum Qualification & Transferable Skills

• A minimum of 5 years of experience in community engagement, project management, and/or leadership roles in the startup space in Africa
• Experience working in jobtech platforms strongly preferred, as a founder/leader a plus
• Experience building communities in the startup space in Africa, and/or with diverse stakeholder management.
• Experience managing and growing social media channels, demonstrating creativity in content and engagement . Flawless written English and evidenced track record of developing compelling content in written form and beyond.
• Demonstrated capacity to come up with ideas and build things from scratch that are rolled out with multiple stakeholders.