Focus of the Role

The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI) is a not-for-profit organisation which supports governments on strategy, policy and delivery through its advisory practice and policy work. As the Institute grows, partnerships are a strategic path to deliver greater impact at greater scale by bringing expertise, resources and technologies that will accelerate economic and social development and secure lasting change for countries.

Job Introduction

The Strategic Advisor will work closely with the Executive Director, Strategic Partnerships and Initiatives, to design and incubate new strategic initiatives for TBI. The individual will work closely with Senior Leadership across TBI on the ideation and conceptualisation of these initiatives, support their incubation and ensure proper planning is in place to hand over implementation to the relevant teams in TBI. This is a fast-paced role for an exceptional candidate who is looking to apply their experience across a range of strategic initiatives.

The Strategic Advisor will work in a highly matrixed organisation and the ability to collaborate and deliver with colleagues across structures will be crucial. This role requires an individual who is highly collaborative, strategic, and motivated by results and impact.

This role sits within the Strategy & Partnerships (S&P) Department of TBI. S&P is one of three external facing business critical departments: Policy & Politics and Global Government Advisory. The S&P department leads and oversee the Institute’s strategic direction and growth, with specific responsibility for futureproofing growth, developing scalable partnerships, innovating in tech and securing financial resources to measurably advance the Institute’s operational goals and drive sustainable impact.

Relocation assistance will be provided for the successful candidate if required.

Key Responsibilities

Reporting to and working closely with the Executive Director, Strategic Partnerships and Initiatives, the Strategic Advisor will:

• Design and incubate special initiatives for senior leadership, drawing on inputs from across the organisation and its network
• Support the framing of strategic ideation and guide discussions from big ideas to actionable execution plans
• Support path to institutionalise successful initiatives, including handover to Advisory, Politics or Political team
• Conduct analysis and compile briefings for the Executive Director and senior leadership on market trends, partnership landscape, and new opportunities
• Work closely with other teams across TBI to understand the needs, opportunity impact and delivery models. This will include some travel and interaction with our global team
• Understand our partnership and client portfolio and contribute ideas for new opportunities to expand impact
• Develop guides and tools for TBI teams to execute, evolve and scale strategic initiatives and partnerships
• Work closely with TBI teams and partners to troubleshoot implementation challenges when they arise and lead teams toward solutions to deliver greater impact
• Contribute to impact reporting for SPI
• Other advisory support as requested by the ED and senior SPI leadership

Person Specification

• Comprehensive experience in a manager position in a consulting firm, public sector, or private sector organisation supervising and executing across multiple workstreams simultaneously
• Demonstratable strength in structured problem solving, top-down communication and portfolio thinking
• Experience in project design and management
• Experience with international development, public sector, and/or tech and digital transformation projects is highly desired
• The ability to operate in rapidly changing and growth business environment
• An ability to understand and communicate between public and private sector audiences
• A High EQ and excellent communication skills, from executive office level through to technical level, and who is adept at speaking to senior leadership, knows how to navigate ambiguous environments and is comfortable at managing up and beyond hierarchy
• Experience in working in entrepreneurial and matrixed environments and who is comfortable across cultures and geographies
• A natural networker and convener and can manage a multitude of relationships navigating a matrixed internal organisation
• Direct experience working in Lower and Middle Income countries (LMIC’s) is highly desired
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Open to travel and curious to learn from colleagues across our global team (10% – 20%)
• Keenly interested in the work of TBI and share in our mission and values

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.