Senior Manager - Strategic Partnerships

• Location: Remote, with a preference for candidates based within GMT-5 to GMT+3 to support collaboration with colleagues, partners and advisors in Europe and North America. Candidates must be based in a country where R-Cities can employ them, either directly through one of its entities or through Employer of Record arrangements.
• Reports to: Lead - Communications and Strategic Partnerships
• Direct reports: None
• Contract: This is a long-term position. Contract type and term depend on the employment arrangement. Full-time, 40 hours per week.
• Closing date: Monday, 24 August 2026, 10.00 CET. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis.

About R-Cities

The Resilient Cities Network (R-Cities) supports over 100 cities across more than 40 countries, helping them withstand, adapt, and thrive amid 21st-century challenges. Building on over a decade of work begun with The Rockefeller Foundation, R-Cities partners with governments, communities, and funders to address acute shocks and chronic stresses, delivering programs that strengthen climate resilience, equity, public health, and sustainability. It operates through a US 501(c)(3) nonprofit and a Netherlands-based Stichting.

About the Strategic Partnerships Team

The Strategic Partnerships Team leads R-Cities' fundraising, business development, strategic partnerships, and donor cultivation. It works across the organization to connect R-Cities' strategy, city priorities, and program expertise with funding opportunities and long-term partnerships that advance the organization's mission and financial sustainability.

The role

As Senior Manager - Strategic Partnerships, you own the organization's partnership pipeline and coordinate the development of high-quality funding opportunities, from early prospect identification through proposal submission and award. You build the intelligence, systems, and internal coordination needed to position R-Cities proactively with philanthropic organizations, corporations, multilateral institutions, and other strategic partners.

Working closely with the Co-Managing Directors, Portfolio Leads, and communications and finance colleagues, you translate R-Cities' strategy, city priorities, and program ideas into compelling partner propositions. The challenge is to combine external awareness and relationship-building instincts with strong operational discipline: identifying the right opportunities, enabling timely decisions, coordinating multiple contributors, and maintaining a clear view of pipeline health, fundraising prospects, and organizational capacity.

What you will do

Partnership development and positioning (30%)

You own:

• A prioritized approach to identifying and cultivating prospective philanthropic, corporate, multilateral, and institutional partners aligned with R-Cities' strategy.
• Prospect research and partner intelligence, including analysis of funding priorities, decision-makers, relationship history, and potential routes to engagement.
• Briefings, background materials, and positioning recommendations for senior leadership engagement with priority partners.
• Ongoing stewardship and coordination for assigned strategic partner relationships, ensuring clear follow-up and continuity across the organization.

You contribute to:

• Senior-level cultivation, negotiation, and relationship management led by the Co-Managing Directors and other organizational leaders.
• The development of thought pieces, presentations, and external materials that strengthen R-Cities' positioning.

Proposal and opportunity development (30%)

You own:

• The end-to-end coordination of concept notes, expressions of interest, proposals, and other funding submissions, with clear workplans, responsibilities, deadlines, and quality control.
• The development and editing of compelling funder-facing narratives that translate technical ideas, city priorities, and organizational strategy into clear propositions.
• Submission processes and funder requirements, ensuring complete, consistent, and timely materials.

You contribute to:

• Program design, results frameworks, budgets, delivery plans, and risk assessments led by Portfolio Leads, program teams, and finance colleagues.
• Funding negotiations and due diligence following successful submissions.

Pipeline management and fundraising performance (25%)

You own:

• The partnership and proposal pipeline system as the organization's reliable source of information across prospecting, cultivation, submission, negotiation, award, and close-out.
• Regular pipeline reporting, analysis, and forecasting for leadership, including progress against fundraising targets, opportunity value, probability, timing, constraints, and next actions.
• The identification and resolution of process bottlenecks, information gaps, and coordination risks across the opportunity lifecycle.

You contribute to:

• Organizational revenue planning, prioritization of fundraising effort, and decisions about capacity and investment.
• Grant handover and close-out processes that preserve relationship history and inform future opportunities.

External intelligence and organizational learning (15%)

You own:

• Monitoring and synthesis of developments across philanthropy, climate resilience, urban development, health, finance, and related partnership ecosystems.
• Accessible institutional records on partner engagement, proposals, feedback, outcomes, and lessons learned.

You contribute to:

• Strategic discussions on emerging opportunities, donor interests, peer activity, and changes in the external environment.
• Cross-team learning that strengthens future positioning, program development, and partnership practice.

(Percentages are estimates)

What you bring

This role suits someone who moves comfortably between external intelligence, strategic judgment, persuasive writing, and detailed coordination. You write well, turning technical material into clear and persuasive propositions, and you keep many contributors, deadlines, and dependencies in order without losing the detail. You assess prospects and situations with sound judgment and work independently where priorities and processes are still forming. You build trust across teams, and you develop early conversations into lasting partnerships.

Essential:

• At least five years of experience in strategic partnerships, business development, fundraising, resource mobilization, or program development.
• Experience coordinating multi-contributor funding submissions, such as proposals, concept notes, or expressions of interest, through to submission and to deadline.
• Direct experience working with philanthropic, institutional, corporate, or multilateral funders.
• Experience writing or editing funder-facing materials in English, such as proposals, concept notes, or partner briefs.
• Experience producing prospect research, opportunity assessments, or funding analysis to inform decisions.
• Experience working across functions and with senior stakeholders in an international or distributed organization.
• Experience using a CRM or comparable partnership and pipeline management system.

Valued:

• Fundraising, partnership, or proposal development experience in urban development, climate adaptation, resilience, public policy, health, finance, or international development.
• Fundraising or partnership experience with city governments or city networks.
• Fundraising or partnership experience within membership-based organizations.
• Experience leading a funding submission developed across organizations, either your organization's part or the submission as a whole.
• Experience contributing to proposal budgets.
• Experience designing results frameworks.

Additional information

Given the global nature of the organization, this role calls for flexibility to work across time zones with colleagues, advisors, and partners, and may involve occasional international travel to support audits, team collaboration, and partner engagement. R-Cities offers a competitive, location-adjusted package commensurate with qualifications, experience, and local market conditions. Employees are engaged through local employment arrangements and receive the statutory benefits applicable in their country of employment, alongside additional benefits supporting wellbeing, professional development, and flexible remote working.

How to apply

Interested candidates are invited to submit a CV outlining relevant experience, together with a cover letter explaining their interest in the role and how their experience aligns with the position and R-Cities' mission.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, and we encourage candidates to apply early. The deadline for applications is Monday, 24 August 2026, 10.00 CET Shortlisted candidates can expect a multi-stage selection process, which may include interviews with members of the leadership team, a practical exercise or case study, and reference checks.

If you have questions about the role, please reach out to Lenny de Jong, Senior Manager – Global Operations, (careers@resilientcitiesnetwork.org).

Equal Opportunity Employer

R-Cities is committed to equitable and inclusive recruitment practices. We encourage applications from candidates of all backgrounds and lived experiences, and we strive to create a fair and respectful selection process for all applicants.

R-Cities provides equal employment opportunity to all employees and applicants without regard to race, color, religious creed, sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, political affiliation, ancestry, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, and all other classifications protected by law in the locality and/or state in which we operate.