Recruitment pack Senior Partnerships Officer
Senior Partnerships Officer
Direct report:
Fundraising Lead
Remuneration:
£39,942 per annum, pro rata
Hours:
Part-time; 3 days per week
Location:
This role is remote and requires you to be resident in mainland
Britain. You must have a safe and secure space to work from home.
There will be frequent travel within Britain, including overnight stays.
We are committed to inclusive recruitment and are happy to make reasonable adjustments at any stage of the process. We actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds, especially those underrepresented in the environmental sector, including people of colour, disabled people, those from low-income backgrounds, LGBTQIA+ communities and all other protected characteristics.
Organisational overview
Beaver Trust is a nature restoration charity, with a mission to restore beavers to regenerate our landscapes. Established in September 2019, we are run by a small team with a diverse skillset and extensive experience in beaver ecology and restoration, human-wildlife coexistence, and policy. We provide practical solutions to help people to co-exist with beavers and influence legislation in Scotland, Wales and at Westminster that rebuilds ecosystems, improves river health, and strengthens climate resilience in a time of ecological and climate crisis.
Summary job description
The Senior Partnerships Officer (SPO) will work closely with the Chief Executive (CEO) and Fundraising Lead (FL) to ensure the charity has sufficient funding to achieve its mission. This primarily involves developing new donor relationships and partnerships to grow our fundraising income stream. Beaver Trust’s fundraising strategy focuses on high-value grants, gifts and partnerships. We recognise that the lines between major donors, corporate partners and family foundations are often blurred. Therefore, we have chosen not to silo our work in this way and instead have created a new role focused on developing new relationships across all these income streams. The focus of the role is on ‘winning new business’ and will suit an entrepreneurial candidate with experience in business development, and/or building new corporate or philanthropic partnerships.
Key duties and responsibilities
New business development - acquiring prospective donors and partners
With support from the CEO and FL, develop and execute a new donor acquisition strategy.
Identify and research potential major donors, corporate partners and family foundations.
Develop tailored, proactive plans to reach and engage the people or organisations with the highest likelihood and capacity for support.
Key duties and responsibilities continued
Identify and attend relevant sector events to build a network of potential donors and partners.
Coordinate our development committee (‘Lodge Builders’ group); inspire and engage group members and follow up introductions.
Manage mid-level donor progression where appropriate.
Bring your knowledge, research, networking activity and plans together to create a pipeline of high value donations and partnerships.
Provide support to develop the CEO’s personal online presence, e.g. on LinkedIn, to make Beaver Trust’s work more visible.
Solicit gifts
The Senior Partnerships Officer is expected to build relationships to the point of successfully soliciting a first donation. Typically this will be five and six-figure gifts.
Judge the right time to ask for a donation and make the request confidently (with the support of the CEO or other members of the team when appropriate).
Develop compelling pitches and proposals.
Work with the FL to coordinate restricted giving asks.
Maximise income from major donors, corporate partners and family foundations to meet a fundraising target shared with the FL.
Relationship management & stewardship
Share relevant information about donors to support the FL and CEO in ongoing stewardship.
Contribute to the planning of, and attend, Beaver Trust networking and supporter events
Be part of the Beaver Trust fundraising team
Work with both the CEO and FL to:
Periodically review the fundraising income pipeline.
Set annual fundraising targets.
Create a plan for fundraising initiatives and required resources each year.
Other tasks
With input from colleagues, keep informed about all aspects of Beaver Trust’s programmes, impact and the latest evidence on the topic of beaver restoration to be able to inspire others and communicate the charity’s impact.
Represent the CEO and charity if required, including attendance at meetings and events.
Use the charity’s CRM system to maintain accurate documentation, data and tracking of fundraising opportunities.
Adhere to GDPR/PECR regulations, and fundraising best practice and regulations.
General expectations
Adhere to all charity policies.
Actively participate as part of the team.
Help to promote a positive, healthy and happy work environment and team culture.
Attend and contribute to regular meetings online and in person when required.
Work in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Privacy & Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) and the Fundraising Regulations.
Be responsible for the health and safety of yourself and others at work.
Undertake any other duties as reasonably required.
Keep up to date with input from colleagues on related research, activities and policies.
Demonstrate Beaver Trust core values in your work.
Person specification
Essential:
You will be entrepreneurial and a self-starter, driven to build a network of meaningful relationships with prospective donors and supporters. Able to work independently and make decisions with little supervision.
You will have excellent prospect research skills, and an understanding of the motivations of donors and how to use this insight to create persuasive propositions and deliver compelling pitches.
You will have professional experience of, and a demonstrable track record of successfully developing new major donor/client relationships or corporate partnerships, either in a charity or business environment. You will feel confident in asking for and securing gifts or financial commitments in person, by phone and by e-mail.
You will have outstanding interpersonal and communication skills and be able to interact confidently and persuasively in a range of settings with existing and prospective major donors and partners.
You will have experience of representing an organisation’s interests and advocating for them.
You will be capable of working collaboratively with colleagues to move donors, supporters and partner organisations along a donor journey, from initial contact and relationship building to soliciting a donation and ongoing stewardship.
You will have knowledge of all relevant fundraising, data protection and other regulations.
You will be resilient and a problem solver, able to withstand negative reactions and find solutions.
You will be able to demonstrate your ability to think strategically and translate ambitions into actionable plans and delivery.
Practical
Excellent time management and organisational abilities.
Highly competent use of IT skills, preferably Google Workplace, and high standards for visual content.
Flexibility in working hours and location, including frequent travel to London and elsewhere in Britain.
Able to accommodate frequent overnight stays.
Motivation and values
You will be aligned with Beaver Trust’s values, and have a deep interest in environmental issues, in particular nature restoration, climate resilience and biodiversity.
Desirable
Highly capable in the production of engaging, inspiring and well-written proposals.
Event management experience.
Knowledge of beavers and their place in our natural environment.
Benefits
25 days holiday, plus Christmas day through to New Year’s Day paid, plus 6 days of floating holidays.
Flexible approach to hours of work.
Travel, accommodation and subsistence expenses will be met by Beaver Trust in accordance with the Beaver Trust Expenses Policy.
Pension contribution of 3% of your total pay each month
One-off contributions toward the cost of an ergonomic office chair and toward purchases of essential devices (laptop, mouse and smartphone), monthly home working allowance, plus an annual contribution toward the maintenance and/or replacement of the essential devices.
Applications
Thank you for considering the role of Senior Partnerships Officer at Beaver Trust.
Please submit your application for the position in the form of your CV (two pages maximum) and a covering letter (one page maximum), highlighting your skills and experience and explaining your interest and suitability for the role.
Please note that any applications that exceed the maximum length will not be considered. We do not accept applications via LinkedIn or direct social media contact.
Applications to be submitted via: email to jobs@beavertrust.org (with “SPO” in the subject line)
Closing date for applications: 9am Monday 24 August 2026. We reserve the right to interviewth candidates and close the ad ahead of the closing date, should a strong candidate be identified.
Online interviews will be held on Monday 14 September 2026. You will be asked to give a shortth presentation to the interview panel and may also be given a task to undertake prior to or during the interview.
All shortlisted candidates will be contacted by Tuesday 1st September 2026. If you have not heard from us by this date, please accept our thanks for applying and assume that you were not shortlisted on this occasion.
Job offers will be subject to two satisfactory references and proof of right to work in the UK.
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