Partnership Lead

Job description

**Partnership Lead**

**Job Purpose**

The Partnership Lead will play a key role in operationalising and overseeing the support for approximately 34 school hubs across England, contributing to local school improvement. They will also take the lead in operationalising the renewal of all schools across the Challenge Partners network.

Schools within Challenge Partners subscribe annually and join forces in local hubs, spanning England from Cornwall to County Durham. The hub works together over the course of the academic year pulling together a Hub Action Plan, which aims to tackle collectively agreed priorities using funding from Challenge Partners. Challenge Partners hubs provide the local element of our collaborative partnership.

The Partnership Lead will build and manage relationships with a wide range of stakeholders and hold responsibility for ensuring all hubs have everything they need to provide an excellent experience to schools. They will also support the renewal of all schools, through leading excellent Customer Care practices and operationalising the annual retention campaign, working with the Partnership Development Manager. They will work closely with the Partnership Experience Manager and the team of Partnership Coordinators to ensure excellent delivery.

Established in 2011, Challenge Partners is a well-respected nationwide network of practitioners who engage in hard-edged collaboration and mutual accountability to ensure every school community can benefit from the combined wisdom of the education system.

**Key Responsibilities**

Reporting to the Partnership Experience Manager, the Partnership Lead will have the following key areas of responsibility and will be expected to undertake other responsibilities commensurate with the role as requested:
**Partnership Delivery and Development**

Individual Partnership Delivery and Development responsibilities:

- Implement the annual cycle of hub work, including planning and implementing key partnership correspondence, activities and events.
- Support up to five hubs of their own, working closely with internal teams to ensure a high-quality experience for schools across all selected Challenge Partners activities.
- Lead the renewals campaign for all schools across the partnership, proactively escalating any renewal concerns, and monitoring and reporting renewals data.
- Oversee the monitoring of the Partnership inbox, ensuring all queries are dealt with by a member of the team promptly and effectively.
- Manage the Partnership budget; monitoring spending and signing off invoices within agreed budgets, including hub funding.
- Lead on ensuring an excellent experience for schools in Challenge Partners. This includes, but is not limited to, monitoring risks and mitigating/escalating as appropriate, and leading on Customer Care and Pricing Governance issues.
- Support the Partnership Experience Manager to deliver improvements to the quality of our hubs, ensuring all schools are getting excellent value. This includes, but is not limited to the engagement of new technologies, processes and ways of working.
- Lead on the implementation of new strategies for delivery in your areas of responsibility with Partnership Coordinator support.

Support all hub owners through matrix working to:

- Embed excellent account management, delivering outstanding support for our partner schools, multi-academy trusts and hubs.
- Maintain highly effective stakeholder relationships with Headteachers, trust CEOs, Senior Partners and Hub Managers.
- Induct new schools and hubs, making sure that all are appropriately onboarded to Challenge Partners.
- Implement Customer Care work, ensuring that all members of the team are able to monitor Customer Care cases and identify solutions.
- Deliver growth and renewals work, enabling schools and trusts to renew their subscription with Challenge Partners.

**Data Management and Systems**
- Ensure school data is accurately recorded on Salesforce (our CRM system) and work closely with the Data and Systems Lead to improve systems and processes.
- Monitor and report renewals data to inform renewals progress, predictions and strategy.
- Implementation of annual partnership evaluation work with the support of the Partnership Experience Manager.

**Event Planning, Organisation and Monitoring**
- Lead on the planning, logistics and delivery of an annual National Induction event for all new and rejoining schools, working with the Partnership Experience Manager and Leadership Team to agree event design.
- Liaise with speakers, venues and suppliers to ensure high quality delivery of the National Induction.
- Coordinate the team effectively to ensure excellent event delivery.
- Work closely with the marketing team to create a social media plan to showcase the National Induction.
- Monitor event quality and delivery, including dealing with and escalating issues to ensure positive solutions are reached.

**Line Management**
- Provide high