With 75 years of experience, our focus is on helping the most vulnerable children overcome poverty and experience fullness of life. We help children of all backgrounds, even in the most dangerous places, inspired by our Christian faith.
Come join our 31,000+ staff working in nearly 100 countries and share the joy of transforming vulnerable children’s life stories!
Key Responsibilities:
Homeworking position.
Open in countries where World Vision International (WVI) is registered to operate.
JOB PURPOSE
World Vision International (WVI) is seeking a dynamic Senior Advisor, Global Partnerships to join our global Advocacy and External Engagement (A&EE) team. In this role, you will lead engagement with private sector actors, faith-based investors and other emerging global partners, positioning WVI at the intersection of business, investment and child-focused advocacy.
You will explore and develop high-impact partnerships that put children at the centre and advance WVI’s strategic influence, with a particular focus on private and blended finance stakeholders, faith-based investment, environmental, social and governance and sustainable finance as vehicles for improving child wellbeing.
This is a unique opportunity to shape how a leading INGO engages with the private sector and innovative financing actors to achieve systems change and mobilise private capital that deliver measurable results for all children.
The role focuses on advocacy, external engagement and strategic positioning with private-sector and innovative finance stakeholders who are playing an increasingly important role in shaping international cooperation Resource mobilization and transaction development remain the responsibility of other World Vision fundraising functions, with which this role works in close collaboration.
MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES
Private Sector & Faith-Based Investment Engagement
- Lead WVI’s advocacy engagement with faith-based investors, business actors and ESG/sustainability networks, including participation in the Child Lens Investing Framework (CLIF) community and related forums in coordination with Vision Fund International (VFI).
- Cultivate strategic partnerships in consultation with Grants Acquisition and Management (GAM) and Global Marketing and Communications (GMC) teams, position WV strategically and influence private sector actors, impact investors and innovative finance players who can accelerate systems change for children.
- Develop an organizational positioning and influencing strategy with private sector actors, including specific engagement plans, using regular environment scans and stakeholder power mapping to identify priority actors, emerging opportunities and clear entry points for influence.
- Align influencing work with private and blended finance audiences with Global GAM fundraising plans, ensuring WVI presents a coherent proposition and compelling content to shared external stakeholders.
- Intentionally and regularly exchange information and analysis with with GAM teams (ultimately accountable for resource development) to ensure effective collaboration and coherent positioning with relevant stakeholders.
- Work with the Global Policy and Influence team to quality assure content for private and blended finance audiences and to ensure complementarity with work to influence public finance.
Coalition Engagement
- Serve as relationship manager for 1–2 strategic global coalitions or networks involving private sector actors, investors or multi-stakeholder bodies.
- Negotiate and operationalize strategic plans, broker opportunities for amplifying children’s voices and facilitate engagement of WVI senior leaders and other staff across entities where partners operate.
- Build trust, demonstrate WVI’s capabilities and impact and position WVI for influence and income. Ensure appropriate representation at the right time and with the right message to advance external engagement objectives.
- Capture learning from strategic partnerships and coalition engagement, translating insights into practical guidance for future private sector, faith-based investment and multi-stakeholder collaboration.
- Identify opportunities to leverage coalitions to influence global financing agendas affecting children.
Thought Leadership and Capacity Building
- Provide insights and partnering thought leadership across the A&EE Ministry (at all levels) and WVI more broadly around engaging with private and blended finance stakeholders.
- Regularly scan relevant influencing spaces where Field Offices and Support Offices are active, ensuring global partnering work remains grounded in locally led approaches.
- Collaborate with WVI staff managing similar relationships in other teams and offices, aligning efforts, sharing lessons and building organizational capacity for partnership work.
- Contribute to organisational capacity building efforts around private sector and innovative finance engagement.
- Coordinate with other relationship managers to produce and share content relevant to their partner portfolios.
REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE/QUALIFICATIONS FOR THE ROLE
- Master’s or Doctoral Degree, MBA or equivalent, in Business, Finance, International Development, International Relations, Public Policy, Economics or a related field.
- At least 10 years of experience in partnership management, private sector engagement, or business development, with demonstrable expertise in private finance, faith-based investment, ESG/sustainability or impact finance contexts.
- Familiarity with innovative finance modalities and relevant stakeholders, including blended finance, social impact bonds or microfinance.
- Experience working with or directly engaging private companies, investors or financial institutions and a strong understanding of how they operate and make decisions.
- Experience in lobbying, including policy influence and private finance engagement, with the ability to distinguish influence-oriented partnerships from programmatic delivery partnerships.
- Proven track record of building and managing high-level external relationships, including with senior executives, investors and multi-stakeholder coalitions.
- Demonstrated ability to influence without formal authority and to build compelling business cases for senior leadership.
- Outstanding interpersonal, relationship-building and communications skills; strong written and spoken English.
- Experience in coordinating across complex, matrixed organisations. Entrepreneurial spirit and comfort with ambiguity.
- Experience developing partnership strategies that connect influence and income objectives across complex stakeholder environments.
- Demonstrated experience engaging senior executives from corporations, financial institutions or investors.
- Proficient use of Microsoft Office tools including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, MS Teams and OneDrive. Familiarity with AI tools such as Copilot and Claude.
PREFERRED KNOWLEDGE/QUALIFICATIONS FOR THE ROLE
- Expertise in the Child Lens Impact Investing (CLIF), faith-based investing or Christian philanthropy ecosystem.
- Experience in livelihoods, resilience, food systems or climate as secondary technical areas.Senior management experience in the private or investment sector.
- Experience working in Christian organisations.
- Negotiation and facilitation skills; familiarity with collective impact or system leadership approaches.
Language Requirements:
- Fluency/high level of professional and technical spoken and written English. Fluency in another language (French, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic or Mandarin) would be an added advantage.
Travel and/or Work Environment Requirement:
- Work setting: Homeworking.
- Capability to participate in extended virtual meetings.
- The position requires the ability and willingness to travel nationally and/or internationally up to 30% of the time.
Applicant Types Accepted:
Local Applicants OnlyWorld Vision is a Christian humanitarian organisation with a mission centred on following Jesus Christ in service to the world´s most vulnerable children. Therefore, in all locations to the fullest extent legally permissible, the successful applicant will affirm our core documents, observe conduct compatible with Christian principles, serve at a high level of professional ethics and strive to act in accordance with cultural sensitivities. Furthermore, regular attendance with team and office devotions, chapel and prayer gatherings are expected in line with policies in the World Vision host location and its departments.
