Global Partnerships Architect (Part-Time/Remote)

CIMMYT; Ciudad de México; Remote; MXN 2,044,000 - 4,089,000; Part time

Job summary

CIMMYT is seeking an experienced consultant for its partnership and grant management portfolio. This half-time roster position involves developing, strengthening and implementing frameworks, policies and procedures across multi-country programs.

Engagements are home-based with short missions to Texcoco, Mexico; candidates will collaborate with Finance, Grants, Legal, Donor Relations, and IT/ERP teams to deliver donor-ready materials and robust controls.

Qualifications

• Minimum 10 years of experience in partnership, grants or program management within international organizations, research institutions or NGOs, including donor-funded, multi-program environments.
• Demonstrated experience designing or strengthening financial controls, due diligence frameworks, or partnership/grant management systems, including in response to audit findings or risk assessments.
• Proven track record of independently producing institutional-quality policies, frameworks and procedures under tight timelines.
• Strong financial acumen: ability to interpret partner budgets, financial reports and funding structures and translate them into practical controls and monitoring tools.
• Working knowledge of grant and contract management systems (e.g., ERP platforms such as Microsoft Dynamics 365, contract management platforms such as Icertis) and of dashboard tools for portfolio oversight.
• Experience conducting organizational diagnostics, including stakeholder interviews and process mapping across dispersed, multi-country teams.
• Excellent written English and document design skills, with the ability to produce board- and donor-ready material.
• Experience with CGIAR, agricultural research or Global South–focused development organizations is an advantage.

Responsibilities

• Conduct diagnostics of existing partnership management systems, processes and practices across programs, including stakeholder interviews, process mapping and systems landscape reviews.
• Translate diagnostic findings and risk assessments into prioritized design requirements and recommendations.
• Develop institutional partnership management frameworks covering value proposition, strategic priorities, partner segmentation, governance, decision rights, and roles and responsibilities.
• Draft operational procedures across the partnership lifecycle: partner selection, risk-based due diligence, contract management, financial and performance monitoring, technical quality assurance, relationship management and close-out.
• Design practical tools for staff, such as financial monitoring templates, due diligence risk-tiering and organizational capacity assessment tools, partner risk registers, tracking tools and close-out checklists.
• Define functional and data requirements for embedding procedures into ERP and contract management systems, and for portfolio-level oversight dashboards.
• Prepare implementation and change management roadmaps, including phased rollout, piloting, training needs and interim workarounds.
• Coordinate with Finance, Grants, Legal, Donor Relations, program leadership and IT/ERP teams, and provide regular written progress updates to senior management.
• Prepare handover packages and support knowledge transfer to the CIMMYT staff responsible for implementation.

Skills

Partnership management

Financial acumen

Exceptional English writing

Stakeholder engagement

Tools

Microsoft Dynamics 365

Icertis

Power BI

Job description

CIMMYT is seeking an experienced consultant for its partnership and grant management portfolio. This half-time roster position involves developing, strengthening and implementing frameworks, policies and procedures across multi-country programs.

Engagements are home-based with short missions to Texcoco, Mexico; candidates will collaborate with Finance, Grants, Legal, Donor Relations, and IT/ERP teams to deliver donor-ready materials and robust controls.