Client Development Lead

Focus of the Role

Are you excited by the prospect of transforming developing and emerging nations through advising senior political leadership on topics across policy, delivery, and strategic communications? Do you have experience consulting or working in the public sector and leading teams of consultants or government advisors?

Our main objective in this strategically important role is to help develop TBI’s market entry strategies into priority markets. This is a mid to senior management role requiring an exceptional candidate with relevant expertise, strategic patience, and a sharp eye for  opportunities where TBI can be additive to government efforts. 

Key Responsibilities

• Strategy and Planning: design, maintain and continually improve: (i) business development pipeline for global expansion; and (ii) plans and landscape analysis of potential needs, priorities, and opportunities for TBI to support transformation in priority countries
• Government Relations: support the broader TBI team in establishing effective, credible and trusted relationships with senior officials in government
• Government Madate: Support in securing mandates with at least one key counterpart as regular contact, in service of our mission, to support political leaders to achieve results that benefit the people of the country and where possible, in service of our tech for development initiative
• Execution and Monitoring: establish, review and maintain project goals, plans, proof points and KPIs

Key outcomes of the role

• Understanding TBI global expansion priorities to identify value creation opportunities
• Generate business development and ground work for government advisory expansion outside of Africa
• Develop and execute a steady pipeline of policy and strategy content- assessing government reform and modernization programs in priority markets, and identifying opportunities for the Institute to offer support
• Have an active role in developing relationships with client counterparts, and be proactive in exploring and assessing additional areas of alignment for TBI offer to partner governments
• Support the Regional Director in developing project design options in partnership with government counterparts
• Develop presentations and other required documents
• Plan early in-country setup and  expanison plans
• Project design in line with research, best practices, and the Regional Directors’ guidance
• Establish, review and maintain high level in-country demand generation goals and plans
• Alignment with overall TBI regional programme and collaboration with  Project Leaders and Regional Director
• Alignment with the Institute’s Tech for Development programme, and where necessary, working closely with our central Tech for Development team and Global Director, Tech for Development to harness value creation opportunities

Person Specification

We are looking for an experienced leader:

• With a minimum of 6 years’ experience in management consulting, government or government advisory
• With experience in public sector, policy or technology industry consulting
• With direct experience in leading commercial pitch deck development (similar to in management consulting), drawing upon unique insights, and subsequently delivering and iterating that content directly for Head of State, Minister or Ministerial teams
• With strong analytical skills and a high capacity for conceptual thinking, able to develop cutting edge business models and frameworks to strengthen offering
• Who is a communicator and influencer, from board level through to technical level and is adept at managing up and beyond hierarchy, including background in collaboration with senior executives and delivering formal presentations to senior management
• Who can skillfully and confidently influence and negotiate and maintains a positive relationship with all parties during project design
• Who has a track record of delivering value through distinctive ideas, constructive advice, and by being committed to rolling up their sleeves to get things done
• With the ability to work in ambiguous and vague environments, driving activity independently
• Who has worked or consulted in developing and emerging economies and is sensitive to a diverse range of cultural and regional norms, and will foster a positive spirit of collaboration between our countries and our tech transformation offer
• Who is able to thrive in a hypothesis-driven environment where inductive rather than deductive reasoning is the norm
• With a proven ability to manage stakeholder relationships, and provide “thought leadership” to teams, owning the responsibility for the quality of engagements
• With a combination of management and a “hands-on” delivery experience is critical
• With a bachelor’s or postgraduate degree or commensurate practical experience

About The Institute

The Tony Blair Institute (TBI) is a mission-driven not for profit organisation. We exist to equip political leaders and governments to build open, inclusive and prosperous societies. We work hard, every day, to make a difference. When governments work well they are able to create economic and social change in a way that promotes fairness, social justice and opportunity. We work relentlessly to support leader and governments with the challenges they face. Giving them practical solutions and actionable insights, that once implemented, can be transformative for their people  

We do this within two connected divisions: 

 Government Advisory 

Our Government Advisory teams work directly with political leaders and governments around the world to implement reforms that improve the lives of their citizens. It works with a variety of partners and its outputs cover a range of disciplines and projects across countries in Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and South Asia.

 Policy Futures 

Our Policy Futures work encompasses three broad areas: 

• Renewing the Centre: developing a bold and innovative domestic policy programme to help renew the centre ground of British politics; 
• Tech and Public Policy: exploring the policy challenges and opportunities presented by the technological revolution; and 
• Extremism Policy Unit: creating solutions designed to tackle the threat of extremist ideologies in the UK and around the world. 

As an organisation, the core beliefs we all embrace are: 

• Open and Progressive: you’ll believe in the value of teamwork 
• Bold and Pragmatic: you’ll approach everything you do with integrity and authenticity 
• Optimistic Changemaker: you’ll be focused on results 

TBI believes embracing diversity and inclusion make us a better place to work.  It’s our goal to reflect everyone in society and we actively welcome applications from individuals and groups who are under-represented in the workplace. We celebrate difference be it ethnicity, religion, age, gender or gender identity, sexual orientation or disability. We will only ever assess you on your abilities and fit for a role. We’re happy to discuss any adjustments you need to ensure a level playing field during recruitment and, if you\'re successful, discuss any adjustments you might need to thrive in your role.