Partnership Development Manager

We're looking for an organised, proactive and resilient Partnership Development Manager to join our New Business Team located at our Head Office in Islington.

£35,000.00 - £75,000 per annum dependent on experience, working 35 hours per week.

Want to feel like you have an exciting future? You'll feel at home here.
Making you feel at home here means helping you thrive in every way. That's why we offer a wide range of benefits, award-winning Learning & Development and a culture that welcomes all. These aren't token gestures - we've thought long and hard about how best to support our team. After all, our people are doing something amazing: helping to transform lives every day.

Our benefits include:

• Annual leave increasing up to 30 days with length of service
• Free DBS
• Exclusive discounts and cashback via Reward Gateway and opportunity to buy a Blue Light Card
• Fully paid induction programme and further training
• ILM courses and Apprenticeship Programmes
• Cycle to work scheme
• Employee Assistance Programme for 24-7 confidential support
• Online wellbeing resources
• A generous pension - we will contribute up to 4% and life assurance cover up to £10,000 (T&Cs apply)
• Quarterly Staff Awards to reward & recognise our amazing staff's commitment and contribution

All applicants must be legally eligible to work in the UK by the start of employment as Look Ahead are not able to offer sponsorship.

Look Ahead supports thousands of people across London and the South East with a diverse range of needs, helping them to make individual choices, achieve goals and take control of their own lives by providing tailor-made support, care and accommodation services. We have ambitious plan to grow and develop our services to meet the needs of our existing and new partners over the next three years. To support this we are seeking a highly motivated individual to work within our Business Development team in order to build strategic relationships and oversee the end-to-end business development process including creating high-quality, and commercially sustainable business proposals.

This postholder will play a vital role as Look Ahead works to maintain and gain service contracts aligned to our ambitious Business Development Strategy and business plan. We are looking for a dynamic individual who can work closely with operational colleagues and other teams to support every part of the business development process including partnership building, strategic positioning, service design and bid writing and management. We are open to different levels of experience and the salary band has been set intentionally wide to reflect this.

The shift pattern for this role is as follows: M7,T7,W7,T7,F7

What you'll do:

Summary of Responsibilities:

• Relationship Management: Building relationships with commissioners and stakeholders in supported accommodation and health in a dedicated geographic area covering all of our client groups - learning disabilities, mental health, homelessness, young people
• Commercial Business Partnering: Work with operational colleagues in designated patch to support the end-to-end business development process including contract extensions and renegotiations.
• Tender Management: Monitoring, managing, and drafting high- quality submissions, for Local Authority and Health Trusts, frameworks and Dynamic Purchasing Systems, focusing primarily on own patch but contributing to and supporting tender exercises coordinated by other members of the business development team as required.
• Strategic Positioning: Analysing evaluation criteria and advising on bid competitiveness and commercial strategies, including presenting proposed models and contract prices at internal risk panels to gain Senior Leadership approval
• Service Development: work with external and internal partners to develop new service models in response to formal tenders and organic opportunities, building in innovation and enhancing client specific value propositions
• Writing & Content: Developing compelling content and working with the operations team to prepare detailed delivery models
• Financial viability and assessment - work with finance to assess financial viability of the proposed service and support financial modelling
• Business Intelligence: Leads on Business Intelligence in their specialist area by keeping abreast of commissioning intentions and entry feasibility studies for new commercial models
• Sourcing Opportunities: Proactively sources business development opportunities and developing creative ideas and service models alongside operational managers and customers
• Innovation: Analyses and puts forward business cases and options for different ways of delivering services to meet commissioner needs

This is not an exhaustive list of all the duties and responsibilities that may be required from time to time and is subject to change in accordance with the needs of Look Ahead.

About you:

• A genuine interest in housing and social care and a commitment to Look Ahead's mission
• Excellent organisational and prioritisation skills, particularly in terms of working under pressure and responding to multiple and competing demands on your time
• Imaginative and resourceful - able to contribute to the development of new ideas for services
• Good interpersonal skills with the ability to work well with internal and external contacts
• Prefers working as part of a group or team
• Willingness to spend time in services in order to develop understanding of Look Ahead's work and mission in order to effectively communicate this to partners and potential partners
• Has a practical and logical mind
• Thrives on change and enjoys dynamic diverse environments
• Enjoys working with a wide range of people
• Excellent attention to detail
• Experience of working in partnership with finance team and able to understand/ willing to learn financial modelling
• Resilient

What you'll bring:

Essential:

• Eligible to live and work in the UK
• Educated to degree level or equivalent work experience
• Extensive business development, fundraising or sales experience
• Experience of bid writing
• Able to write clearly and persuasively
• Experience of project managing bid submissions
• Able to think strategically and creatively and articulate innovative ideas
• Proficient knowledge of Microsoft Office, word, excel, powerpoint and Co-Pilot
• Able to work flexibly, including assisting other staff in the Business Development Team with their work when priorities dictate.

Desirable:

• A qualification in social care/psychology/policy would be an advantage
• Specific knowledge of mental health, learning disabilities, homelessness, young people and complex needs would be a distinct advantage
• Ability to be able to understand complex financial breakdowns would be an advantage.

About us:

Look Ahead is a leading, not-for-profit care and support provider in London and the South East. Our vision is to build better lives through social care and housing in local communities. As an organisation we deliver over 100 services, providing support to thousands of customers each year. Our mission is to co-design and deliver services that offer innovative social care solutions and support people to thrive. We work across mental health, homelessness and complex needs, young people and care leavers and learning disabilities so there are plenty of opportunities to grow and progress your career with us.

We have a strong social purpose and we live and work by our values:

• We focus on Excellence and innovation.
• We are Caring and Compassionate.
• We are Inclusive and Trusted.
• We work in Partnership and are One-Team.

Look Ahead is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and adults at risk, and expects all employees, workers and volunteers to share this commitment.

If your application for this role is unsuccessful, but we feel that you would be suitable for another role, we may contact you to discuss alternative opportunities. If this occurs you would not need to submit another application for the alternative role.

We reserve the right to close this advert early if we are able to appoint to the vacancy before the advertised closed date.

We are committed to diversity and inclusion at work and are accredited with Silver in the Inclusive Employers Standard 2021. We are a proud member of the Employers Domestic Abuse Covenant and encourage applications from a diverse range of applicants of all backgrounds.