Program Officer, Partnerships

CARE International is a major humanitarian agency delivering emergency relief and long-term international development projects.

The Program Officer, Partnerships is central to CARE USA's global partnership efforts within the Program Strategy & Innovation (PSI) division, providing crucial support to the AVP and Director of Partnerships. This position is responsible for managing the strategic partnership pipeline, coordinating due diligence and agreement processes, maintaining partnership knowledge systems, and ensuring all active partnerships advance efficiently and to high standards. Beyond direct partnership management, the role also supports broader workflow processes and tracking systems across the Program Strategy & Partnerships function, including bid pipeline management. The officer will work closely with leadership to ensure global partner engagements, encompassing corporate foundations, development finance institutions, social impact investors, and private sector alliances, are effectively managed, documented, and progress smoothly from identification to implementation. The ideal candidate is highly organized, proactive, and adept at managing complex, multi-stakeholder workflows, capable of producing high-quality written materials and collaborating across various functions and time zones to keep fast-moving partnership tracks on schedule.

1. Maintain and update CARE's global partnership tracker, ensuring all active tracks reflect current status, outstanding actions, and ownership.
2. Support the AVP and Director of Partnerships by managing workflow processes and tracking systems across the broader Program Strategy & Partnerships function, including bid pipeline management and other relevant trackers.
3. Provide weekly pipeline status summaries to leadership, highlighting risks, blockers, and time-sensitive issues requiring escalation.
4. Coordinate follow-up actions, meeting logistics, and documentation for all active partnership and workflow tracks to ensure continuity.
5. Maintain a consolidated portfolio view by partner type, engagement stage, and alignment with PSI signature programs to facilitate informed decision-making.
6. Conduct targeted desk research to support partner identification, landscape mapping, and opportunity assessment as directed.
7. Manage the tracking process for MOUs, partnership frameworks, and agreements, monitoring status, flagging outstanding legal or signature items, and escalating issues promptly.
8. Liaise with CARE's Legal and Compliance teams to support due diligence workflows, compile necessary documentation, and manage review timelines for timely and complete submissions.
9. Oversee review cycles for concept notes and partnership proposals, consolidating inputs from PSI technical leads, managing timelines, and ensuring documents are finalized by deadlines.
10. Maintain a coordination log for all active concept notes, proposals, and agreements, documenting decisions, approvals, and next steps.
11. Support budget development and Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) framework processes related to partnerships by tracking inputs, consolidating versions, and managing review and approval workflows.
12. Coordinate the creation of partnership-facing materials such as pitch decks, one-pagers, briefing notes, and talking points, managing timelines, routing for review, and ensuring timely delivery before meetings or events.
13. Prepare and distribute pre-meeting briefings and post-meeting action logs for all partnership engagements involving the Director or AVP.
14. Assist in drafting partner communications, progress reports, and proposal narratives as directed.
15. Contribute to developing communication materials, case studies, and success stories that highlight the impact of CARE's strategic partnerships for both internal and external audiences.
16. Establish and manage a Partnership Learning Hub to organize, document, and share best practices, tools, templates, and lessons learned across PSI and with key stakeholders.
17. Design and maintain partnership tools and templates to enhance the partnership management capabilities of PSI technical teams.
18. Disseminate key findings and learning from partnership activities through presentations and written summaries at internal CARE forums.
19. Analyze partnership portfolio data to identify patterns, surface insights, and support adaptive management by leadership.

1. Bachelor's degree in International Development, Business, Public Policy, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and work experience.
2. Minimum of 5–7 years of experience in partnership coordination, program management, or external relations within the international development or social impact sector.
3. Proven experience managing complex multi-stakeholder workflows, timelines, and deliverables across multiple concurrent projects.
4. Experience coordinating legal or compliance review processes, including MOUs, partnership frameworks, or grant agreements.
5. Strong proficiency in partnership or project tracking systems, document management platforms, and productivity tools (e.g., Salesforce, Asana, SharePoint, or similar).
6. Excellent written communication skills, with a demonstrated ability to produce high-quality materials for external audiences, including briefings, one-pagers, and proposals.
7. Demonstrated ability to build and manage relationships with diverse actors across the international development sector.
8. Ability to prioritize and manage diverse tasks across multiple projects to meet competing time and resource constraints with minimal supervision.
9. Master's degree in a relevant field.
10. Familiarity with CARE's technical focus areas, such as gender equality, climate, food systems, and women's economic empowerment.
11. Experience supporting fundraising, proposal development, or resource mobilization processes.
12. Knowledge of blended finance, ESG-aligned partnerships, or private-sector engagement models.
13. Experience maintaining workflow or tracking systems for a broader team or function.
14. Proficiency in French and/or Spanish languages.