Senior Business Development and Partnerships Manager

About Us

Inspire is a charity based in East London. We inspire children and young people across London and beyond, using data to understand the barriers they face and connecting them with a range of employers and opportunities to open doors to their success.

We have over 30 years of experience in delivering high quality services and programmes to children, young people, schools, local authorities and employers. Working alongside our large network of employer volunteers, we design and deliver programmes that inspire and support children and young people to create a positive future for themselves in their journey from the classroom to workplace.  We provide them with independent careers guidance, high aspirations and strong employability skills.

The Opportunity

Are you passionate and enthusiastic about advancing social mobility and ensuring all young people have access to the opportunities and inspiration they need to achieve their full potential? If so, this role is for you.

We are seeking a Senior Business Development and Partnerships Manager to join us in a pivotal role in our Business Development Team. This is a new role for our charity that will make a significant contribution to delivery of our high quality services to children and young people, providing them with opportunities and inspiration to enable them to create a positive future for themselves and open doors to their success.

If you are self-motivated, enthusiastic and confident, with experience and a proven track record in successfully securing, managing and developing long term, five figure levels and above partnerships from initial prospect research through to contracting and ongoing management, then this role is for you. Working alongside our Director of Business Development and Partnerships, you will pro-actively manage business development activity, steward partnerships and raise funds for Inspire from a range of sources including corporate partnerships, community fundraising, trusts and foundations.

Key responsibilities of the role include:

Benefits

29 days annual leave plus 8 bank holidays

3 volunteering days per year

Family friendly policies

Hybrid working arrangements.

If you have the skills and desire to join our team, please see our job description for further details.

Inspire is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. The successful candidate will be required to apply for an Enhanced Disclosure via the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Application process

If you wish to apply for this role please provide your CV, a covering letter to demonstrate your skills and experience, and your answers to the following questions. Please keep your answers to a maximum of 250 words each:

1. Strategic Partnerships:

Describe a partnership you identified and secured that had a significant impact on your organisation’s growth. What was your strategy for engaging the partner and what measurable outcomes were achieved?

2. Pipeline Strategy & Prioritisation:

Highlight your experience in building a high performing pipeline that drives measurable income, how do you identify, evaluate, and prioritise new opportunities, markets, or partners? Please explain your decision making process — including the frameworks, criteria, and tools you use to qualify leads, assess commercial potential, and determine where to focus your efforts.

Use of AI

We use anonymised recruitment methods for shortlisting and do not use AI when reviewing applications or making hiring decisions. We understand some people may use AI when creating their application, however we value authenticity. Please ensure your application is an accurate, honest reflection of your own experience and skills - we want to get to know you during our recruitment process.

Closing date

While this application process has a closing date, we will review applications as we receive them and invite shortlisted applicants to interview on a rolling basis. We would therefore encourage you to submit your application as soon as you are able. xekaoyc

Unfortunately, due to the number of…