Corporate Partnerships Manager

About the role

£42,000

This is a chance to own and grow a portfolio of corporate partnerships worth around £1 million a year, backing the Indigenous peoples and local communities who are protecting rainforest. You’ll hold established relationships, including global brands, with real autonomy: leading a multi-year renewal with one partner, developing an employee engagement idea with another, or turning a £20,000 relationship into something much broader. It is a genuinely commercial fundraising role, and a strong step up for someone with corporate partnerships management experience who wants more responsibility.

Why this role, now

We have just completed a new five-year strategy. It commits us to getting more resources, and more decision-making power, to rainforest communities – and to doing it faster. That takes reliable, growing, multi-year income, and corporate partnerships are one of the main ways we will fund it.

There has never been a more crucial time for this work. Rainforest is still being cleared, and the climate and nature commitments business has made are being tested for credibility. Your portfolio makes a significant contribution to the sustainable income behind that plan, and there is real headroom to grow it: an established base, growing appetite from business for credible climate and nature partnerships, and partners who already know us well. Six-figure partnerships are the near-term ambition, and the longer-term prize is transformational partnerships beyond that – work you’ll help shape with the Senior Manager.

What we’re looking for

Ideally, you’ll need experience of managing corporate charity relationships and the confidence to take a portfolio and run with it. That could come from charity corporate partnerships, commercial account management, CSR, sales or business development – we are interested in the track record, not the sector. In return you’ll be trusted with real income and senior relationships from early on.

• Experience managing corporate partnerships or accounts, with income responsibility you can evidence
• A track record of renewing, growing or upselling relationships, not just delivering against them
• Confidence with senior stakeholders – you can hold a commercial conversation with a partner’s marketing, sustainability or leadership team
• A real interest in climate, nature and the rights of rainforest communities

What you’ll get from the role

• Ownership of significant income – a portfolio worth around £1 million a year, and the autonomy to run it
• Senior stakeholder management, negotiation and renewal experience with major brands
• Account planning, forecasting and budget management you can evidence anywhere, plus broad experience across Programmes, MarComms, Advocacy, Finance and Data
• Line management experience, with coaching, clear objectives, honest feedback and industry training behind it
• Exposure to transformational partnership development alongside the Senior Manager, and a collaborative team with flexible working

Taken together, this role gives you many of the building blocks for moving into senior corporate partnerships leadership in future.

What you'll be doing

Owning and growing your portfolio 

• Own a named portfolio of corporate partners – their income, retention, renewals, growth, risks and overall health
• Write and run account plans for your priority partners: what good looks like, what growth looks like, and how you’ll get there
• Look for the growth in every partnership – upsell, multi-year commitments, deeper engagement, broader value – rather than simply servicing accounts
• Lead renewal conversations early and confidently, securing extensions and multi-year commitments
• Forecast your portfolio income accurately, keep the CRM sharp, and spot at-risk accounts early so you and the Senior Manager can act
• Manage the income and expenditure budget for your portfolio: plan the spend, keep within agreed limits, report against budget, and make sure the cost of servicing a partnership stacks up against its value
• Make sure accessibility, equity and inclusion are built into how we steward and grow partnerships

Leading and developing 

• Line manage the Partnerships Officer/Executive: agree clear objectives and priorities, give regular honest feedback, and support them to produce high-quality work
• Work alongside our Trusts and Foundations Manager, sharing partner insight and joint opportunities
• Coach and develop the Partnerships Officer/Executive, with an agreed development plan and relevant industry training
• Work with the Senior Manager on the corporate partnerships strategy and annual plan they own, bringing the portfolio insight, growth ideas and partner intelligence that shape income targets and where we invest

Relationships that go deep 

• Build relationships at every level of a partner organisation, from day-to-day contacts to senior decision-makers and the internal champions who make things happen
• Understand what each partner is trying to achieve, commercially and socially, so the partnership pays off for their business and for rainforest communities
• Run ethical and reputational due diligence on new and renewing partners – fit with our mission, greenwashing risk, wider conduct – and take it through sign-off with the Senior Manager, or the wider leadership team where the call is a bigger one
• Work closely with the Corporate New Business Manager: take on new partners at handover, share what your partners are telling you about the market, and pass back the warm routes they open up – networks, referrals and introductions

Bringing partnerships to life

• Shape and coordinate the activity that makes a partnership real: employee engagement, fundraising, communications, advocacy and partner fundraising products, all of it aimed at deepening the relationship, keeping it and growing it
• Pull in the right colleagues across Programmes, MarComms, Advocacy, Finance and Data to deliver what we have promised partners, on time and well

Insight and influence

• Work with colleagues across Cool Earth, and with partners, to gather honest feedback and use it to sharpen your approach
• Share what you are seeing with the wider fundraising and engagement team: partner insight, donor behaviour, what is working and what is not
• Work with MarComms on partner-facing communications, content and impact reporting that help you steward and renew
• Keep up to speed on the issues and policies affecting Cool Earth’s work, and spot the openings they create for partnerships
• Represent Cool Earth in partner meetings and at events, then bring the insight back and connect it to work across the organisation
• Other tasks as needed – we work collaboratively, share the load and get behind each other’s priorities when it matters

About Cool Earth

Cool Earth backs the Indigenous peoples and local communities who are protecting rainforest, putting money and decision-making power directly into their hands. We are a close, collaborative organisation with an international footprint, so the work you do is visible and the impact of a partnership is traceable to real places and real people.

Requirements

Essential – experience and knowledge

• Experience managing corporate partnerships, client accounts or comparable commercial relationships, with income responsibility you can evidence
• Strong evidence of stewarding, renewing and growing significant, high-value relationships – retention and growth you can point to
• Experience influencing and negotiating with stakeholders at all levels, including senior decision-makers
• Experience developing partnership plans, proposals and pitches, and working within partnership agreements
• Strong commercial awareness – you understand how partnership income is structured and what makes a deal work for both sides
• Experience managing an income and expenditure budget, and reporting against it
• Experience assessing partners for ethical fit and reputational risk, and the judgement to walk away from the wrong partnership
• Working knowledge of a CRM, and awareness of the Fundraising Regulator’s Code of Practice and GDPR as they apply to corporate partnerships

Essential – skills and attributes

• Strong account planning, budget management, forecasting and financial reporting, with accurate pipeline and CRM discipline
• Able to run several partnerships and competing deadlines at once without losing the detail
• Excellent written and verbal communication, including proposals and impact reporting for a corporate audience
• Uses data and partner insight to decide how a partnership should grow
• Collaborative – comfortable working with programmes, communications, advocacy, finance and data colleagues
• Genuine commitment to climate, nature and the rights of rainforest communities

Desirable

• Charity or not-for-profit experience
• Line management experience, though readiness to take it on is enough
• Experience of employee engagement or staff fundraising programmes
• Experience managing six-figure corporate partnerships
• Knowledge of technical partnership structures – commercial participator arrangements, brand or licensing deals, and VAT considerations
• Experience working with international partners or across time zones
• Salesforce or a similar CRM

Practical requirements

• Willingness to travel within the UK for partner meetings and occasional events
• Flexible Working

Benefits

As well as using your career as a force for good, there are loads of reasons why Cool Earth is a great employer.

• Flexible Working - we work flexible hours with the opportunity to work from home, the office, or even overseas.
• Mental Health & Wellbeing - our EAP offers a 24/7 helpline, counselling services, and self-guided mental health programmes for you and your family.
• Learning & Development - every employee has a L&D budget, plus organisation-wide workshops and trainings.
• Time Off - we offer generous and enhanced time off policies including holiday, sickness, medical and family leave.
• Support Good Causes - you can take extra time off work to volunteer for good causes and donate to other charities tax-free through our payroll giving scheme.

Location

This role is advertised as remote, with occasional travel for partner meetings and events.

Optional access to our Cornwall or London offices.

Flexible Working

We envisage this role being undertaken on a full-time basis due to the size of the portfolio and line management responsibilities. However, we are open to applications seeking a 0.8 FTE working arrangements, or other flexible working arrangements.

Equal Opportunities

At Cool Earth we are committed to equal opportunity and celebrate the unique backgrounds, identities, and experiences of all applicants and employees. We don't discriminate based on factors like gender, race, age, physical abilities, religion, or sexual orientation.

Our application process is designed to be accessible and inclusive, and we value your contributions regardless of these characteristics.

If you require any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process, please let us know. We are committed to making our recruitment process as accessible and inclusive as possible.

Frequently cited statistics show that women and underrepresented groups are more likely to only apply to jobs if they meet 100% of the listed qualifications. We encourage you to apply even if you feel that you do not meet all of the above requirements.

Safeguarding

Cool Earth is dedicated to strengthening the rights and resilience of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) living in rainforests. Cool Earth believes that a child, young person, or adult should never experience abuse of any kind. Protecting their safety and their freedom is integral to our work and our values.

Cool Earth is committed to keeping the IPLCs we work and engage with safe from any harm that could be caused by coming into contact with our organisation. This includes potential harm arising from the conduct and behaviour of staff, partners, or affiliates of Cool Earth, or the design and implementation of our programmes and activities.

We maintain a strict zero-tolerance approach towards any attitudes, behaviours or actions that put others at risk of harm.

Therefore, all offers of employment are subject to satisfactory references and appropriate screening checks as per the Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. For more information see our Job Applicant Privacy Notice.

Closing Date: Applications will close on Monday 23rd November 2026. However, we will review applications and interview on a rolling basis, so please apply early as the vacancy may close before the advertised date.

Please note that we are unable to provide visa sponsorship for this role. Applicants must have the legal right to live and work in the UK for the duration of their employment.