Senior Strategy and Partnerships Associate

Pele Energy Group; Sandton; On-site; ZAR 600 000 - 800 000; Full time

Job summary

A leading energy company is seeking a Senior Strategy & Partnerships Associate in Sandton, South Africa. This role involves managing partnerships, project delivery, and ensuring excellent communication across teams. The ideal candidate will have a Bachelor’s degree and 3–5+ years of relevant experience, demonstrating strong project management and communication skills. This position plays a crucial role in supporting strategic initiatives and ensuring reliable execution across various projects.

Qualifications

• 3–5+ years’ experience in project delivery, operations, partnerships, PR/communications coordination, or consulting.
• Experience working cross-functionally with stakeholders.
• Experience in renewable energy, sustainability, development, or ESG is advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Translate high-level direction into clear workplans and tasks.
• Project manage strategic initiatives end-to-end.
• Coordinate with multiple internal teams and external suppliers.
• Support execution of partnership commitments.

Skills

Project management

Communication

Detail-oriented

Proactive

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Communications, Public Policy, Business, Development, Energy, or related field

Job description

Overview

The Senior Strategy & Partnerships Associate will serve as the Strategy & Partnerships Manager’s operational 2IC, with a strong emphasis on delivery, execution, follow through, and cross-functional coordination. The role supports high-value partnerships, communications workstreams, strategic campaigns, major events and organisational projects across the Pele Energy ecosystem.

The ideal candidate is a doer — someone who can take instruction, break it into actionable steps, move work forward across multiple teams, ensure deadlines are met, and maintain a high standard of quality and professionalism in all outputs.

The Strategy & Partnerships function is central to Pele’s visibility, partnerships, reputation, and strategic execution. This role ensures that high-level ambitions translate into organised, timely, high-quality delivery.

The Senior Associate becomes the engine room behind the S&P Manager — ensuring that nothing falls through the cracks, everything moves forward, and the business experiences steady, reliable execution across its most strategic initiatives.

Project Delivery & Execution

• Translate high-level direction from the Strategy & Partnerships Manager into clear workplans, tasks and timelines.
• Project manage strategic initiatives end-to-end, ensuring delivery on time and to specification.
• Coordinate with multiple internal teams and external suppliers simultaneously.
• Track deliverables, follow up with stakeholders, resolve bottlenecks, and escalate issues where needed.
• Maintain structure, order, and momentum across complex workstreams.

Partnerships Support & Delivery

• Support the execution of partnership commitments
• Manage meeting prep, agendas, minutes, follow-ups and partner reporting.
• Ensure internal teams deliver their components of partnership work on time.
• Assist with drafting partnership documents: briefs, reports, presentations, and concept notes.
• Maintain partner relationships with prompt communication and reliable follow-through.

Communications, PR & Brand Alignment

• Work closely with Marketing/PR/Design to ensure all external outputs are aligned, timely, and accurate.
• Manage execution of key campaigns, project launches, site visits, crisis comms workflows, and corporate messaging rollouts.
• Assist in preparing talking points, briefs, event scripts, or content needed for internal and external engagements.

Event & Stakeholder Coordination

• Provide operational support for major events.
• Ensure the coordination of the event team and quality of logistics, stakeholder lists, invitations, briefing packs, run-of-show documents, and on-the-day execution.
• Work with internal teams and suppliers to ensure seamless delivery.

Research & Documentation

• Conduct quick-turn research to support preparation for meetings, events, partner engagements, and public platforms.
• Draft high-quality summaries, briefing notes, and supporting documents for executive use.
• Maintain organised files, trackers, and shared resources for the S&P team.

Internal Support & 2IC Function

• Act as a point of contact for departments requiring S&P input or coordination.
• Step into meetings on behalf of the S&P Manager when required.
• Ensure that processes are followed, timelines respected, and communication flows smoothly across teams.
• Provide structured guidance to junior staff or interns where appropriate.

Competencies

• Delivery & Execution
• Strong project management capability
• High attention to detail
• Excellent follow-through and ability to close the loop
• Confident in chasing deadlines and managing stakeholders
• Comfortable managing many moving parts at once

• Communication & Coordination
• Clear, professional communication skills
• Strong writing and documentation
• Ability to work across functions and seniority levels
• Maintains calm, order, and clarity under pressure

• Work Ethic & Behaviour
• Proactive and reliable
• Strong sense of ownership
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced, high-expectation environment
• Intuitive understanding of when to escalate and when to self-manage

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Communications, Public Policy, Business, Development, Energy, or related field.
• 3–5+ years’ experience in project delivery, operations, partnerships, PR/communications coordination, or consulting.
• Experience working cross-functionally with stakeholders.
• Experience in renewable energy, sustainability, development, or ESG is advantageous.
• Strong writing skills and ability to produce polished documents quickly.

Success Measures

• Reliable, timely delivery of all S&P workstreams
• Improved coordination between departments
• High-quality meeting preparation, follow-ups, and documentation
• Successful execution of events, partnerships, campaigns and projects
• Partners and internal teams experience smooth engagement and strong responsiveness