Director Of Partnerships
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Nudge Education is looking for a Director of Partnerships to lead a clear, data-informed and values led strategy for national and regional growth, helping more children and young people access bespoke support through stronger commissioner relationships, clearer propositions and a better resourced pipeline.
About Nudge Education
Nudge Education exists to ensure that no child is left behind. We support children and young people who are out of school, chronically disengaged, or at risk of sustained disconnection from education for a wide variety of reasons, including unmet SEND needs, SEMH needs, school avoidance, trauma, disrupted placements, exclusion and wider breakdowns in trust and belonging within education.
Our current offer includes 1:1 interventions, 1:1 tutoring, mental health interventions, online tutoring and mentoring, and an online school that is soon to launch. Across the wider commissioner materials, Nudge is described as taking a whole-child, transition-focused approach, rooted in safe and welcoming learning experiences, person-centred intervention and close partnership with local authorities, schools, families and agencies.
This means the partnerships function has to do more than generate demand. It has to create clarity around a broadening offer, shape growth in a way that remains credible, and ensure Nudge continues to be understood as both specialist and scalable.
Job Description
The Director of Partnerships will develop and lead a partnership strategy that increases the number, quality and sustainability of the relationships through which Nudge reaches children and young people.
The role is responsible for helping Nudge grow in a way that is strategically aligned, clearly communicated, operationally realistic, regionally informed, nationally ambitious and values-led. It should bring together commissioner insight, service understanding, procurement strategy, market positioning, partner development, pipeline discipline and internal alignment so that growth is both purposeful and sustainable.
Core Responsibilities Growth and partnership strategy
• Develop and lead a partnership strategy that increases Nudge's reach, impact and income in line with mission.
• Identify where growth potential is strongest nationally and regionally.
• Build and sustain strong relationships with local authorities, schools, academy trusts, commissioners and aligned sector partners.
• Develop strategic alliances that expand reach, credibility or access to new opportunities.
Commissioner offer and proposition development
• Create greater clarity in how Nudge presents its offer to commissioners.
• Strengthen value propositions across core service lines and priority cohorts.
• Ensure Nudge can clearly explain what it offers, who it is for, how it works, why it works, what makes it different and how it aligns to commissioner need.
• Work with service, regional and operational leaders so external messaging is rooted in delivery reality, not just aspiration.
Procurement, frameworks and pipeline leadership
• Design and execute a procurement strategy focused on the contracts, frameworks and opportunities most likely to support meaningful growth.
• Build stronger discipline across the pipeline, including qualification, stage clarity, ownership, forecasting, conversion tracking and bid/no-bid decisions.
• Improve visibility so the pipeline becomes an actively managed system rather than a set of informal live conversations.
• Use judgement to prioritise opportunities that are mission-aligned, winnable, sustainable and realistic to deliver.
National and regional growth planning
• Build a strategic view of national growth opportunities, including frameworks, multi-region relationships and higher-value commissioner routes.
• Build a complementary regional growth view that reflects local authority demand, service feasibility and delivery readiness.
• Work closely with regional leads so local intelligence informs strategy, not just late-stage bidding.
• Create better alignment between national-level partnership ambitions and regional execution realities.
Cross-functional resourcing and capacity alignment
• Ensure that the right people are involved at the right stage of the opportunity lifecycle.
• Work with service leads, regional leads, marketing, finance, operations and executive colleagues to create better internal synchrony around growth.
• Reduce reliance on reactive or last-minute effort by making the resource needs of the pipeline more explicit.
Data, insight and board reporting
• Oversee the collation and administration of partner data across the organisation.
• Use internal and external data to inform targeting, prioritisation and strategic decisions.
• Develop business cases that identify opportunities, constraints, risks and growth options for Nudge Education and Nudge Minds.
• Provide strong executive and board-level reporting on progress against objectives, key results, emerging priorities and strategic choices.
Marketing, communications and thought leadership
• Shape integrated communications and marketing activity aimed at winning new partners and sustaining existing ones.
• Strengthen how Nudge shows up externally so the message is clearer, more consistent and more compelling.
• Identify and prioritise thought leadership, events, sponsorships and sector visibility opportunities that improve reach and credibility.
• Manage relevant communications and marketing budgets in line with strategic priorities.
Key working relationships
• Reporting to CEO - for strategic oversight, direction, challenge and accountability.
• Regional leads - for local authority intelligence, local context, commissioner opportunity and delivery feasibility.
• Service leads - for offer clarity, cohort understanding and delivery insight.
• Operations leadership - for capacity planning, mobilisation risk and practical growth readiness.
• Marketing / communications - for proposition clarity, campaigns, collateral and sector visibility.
• Finance / data support - for budgets, commercial sense, data quality and reporting.
Package and benefits
• Salary of £45,000 - £65,000 depending on experience.
• Hybrid working protocols with office base in Newcastle-upon-Tyne or Brighton.
• Generous stakeholder pension contributions.
• Health and wellbeing packages including gym memberships.
• Up to 40 days holiday per year.
• Up to 3 paid charity / development days.
Closing Date 20th April 2026