Business Development Lead

Job Title: Business Development Lead

Reporting to: CEO / Business Development Trustee

Location: Remote with ability to meet corporate partners in London (and around the UK when required)

Commitment: 2–4 days per month

Sector: Youth education charity

Focus: Corporate partnerships, CSR sponsorship and volunteer mentoring within banking and financial services

Remuneration: Paid consultant, freelance or part-time arrangement: Up to £250 per day (experience depending)

About One Degree

One Degree is a youth education charity supporting disadvantaged and underperforming GCSE students through personalised mentoring, targeted teaching and flexible online academic support.

The charity is entering a controlled phase of growth and is seeking to strengthen its corporate partnership base, particularly within banking, financial services and related professional-services sectors.

Role purpose

The Business Development Lead will work closely with the CEO and Business Development Trustee to build a sustainable pipeline of corporate partners.

The role will focus on developing relationships that can generate

CSR and corporate sponsorship;

multi-year funding partnerships;

employee fundraising;

volunteer mentors;

skills-based volunteering;

corporate introductions and wider strategic support.

The aim is not simply to generate one-off donations, but to build long-term corporate relationships that combine funding, employee engagement and measurable social impact.

Key responsibilities

Develop and maintain a targeted pipeline of banks, asset managers, insurers, fintech companies and other financial-services organisations.

Identify relevant CSR, ESG, social-impact, community-investment and employee-engagement opportunities.

Research decision-makers and identify the strongest routes into prospective partners.

Develop tailored corporate partnership propositions.

Secure introductory meetings and manage follow-up.

Work with the CEO and Trustee to prepare pitches, proposals and presentations.

Build sponsorship propositions around: student mentoring; school cohorts; programme delivery; technology; employability and careers; and wider organisational growth.

Develop corporate volunteer-mentor opportunities that are attractive and practical for financial-sector employees.

Convert existing networks and introductions into structured partnership discussions.

Maintain a clear partnership pipeline showing: prospects; contacts; stage; potential value; next action; and probability.

Support stewardship and renewal of existing corporate partners.

Explore employee fundraising, matched giving and corporate campaigns.

Identify opportunities for corporate employees to contribute as mentors, speakers, career volunteers or ambassadors.

Help create a repeatable corporate-partnership process that can grow with the charity.

Key priorities in the first 6 months

Map priority banking and financial-services organisations.

Build a qualified corporate prospect list.

Develop a clear One Degree corporate partnership proposition.

Progress renewal and extension opportunities with existing corporate supporters.

Secure new meetings with senior CSR, ESG, HR, volunteering, community-investment and foundation leads.

Develop a stronger pipeline of prospective corporate sponsors.

Increase the number of suitable corporate volunteer mentors.

Establish a structured approach to partnership reporting and stewardship.

Leading to: Secured sponsorship of 50 x One Degree students every 6 months

Person specification

We are looking for someone who ideally has

experience in business development, partnerships, fundraising, CSR or corporate engagement;

strong knowledge of banking, financial services or professional services;

existing corporate networks or confidence building relationships with senior decision-makers;

experience developing and progressing a sales or fundraising pipeline;

excellent written and verbal communication;

strong presentation and relationship-management skills;

confidence making direct approaches and asking for meetings, introductions and support;

ability to work independently with limited monthly time;

a commercial mindset combined with an understanding of charitable impact.

Experience working directly within banking or financial services would be particularly valuable.

Success measures

Success would be assessed through

quality and value of the corporate pipeline;

number of qualified corporate meetings;

new corporate sponsorship secured;

existing partnerships renewed or expanded;

number of volunteer mentors sourced through corporate partners;

development of multi-year rather than purely one-off relationships;

quality of corporate stewardship;

and creation of a repeatable partnership-development process.