Manager, Corporate Strategy

About BII

British International Investment is the UK’s development finance institution, owned by the UK Government. With a mission to solve the biggest global development challenges, we aim to create a virtuous circle of investment and impact. Your contribution will be essential. 

It won’t be easy: we do the hardest work in the most complex markets. Be prepared to test your skills, get creative and say your piece as you take on high-profile work as part of a diverse team of exceptionally smart, passionate people. 

In return, you can take your career to all-new places in a culture that rewards curiosity and collaboration and balances high performance with wellbeing.

BII at a glance

Over 75 years supporting sustainable business growth in developing and emerging markets

£8.8 billion in net assets

1,400+ businesses invested in

950,000 workers in the businesses we support

650+ people in our diverse global team

3 key development objectives: Productive | Sustainable | Inclusive

The pitch 

The Corporate Strategy team works at the centre of BII, reporting to the CEO and working directly with the CEO and Board.  Its principal responsibility is to develop and support the execution of our five-year strategy. Within that, it has three main responsibilities:

• Strategic direction: developing BII’s five-year forward strategy; developing major organisational growth initiatives; and engaging the Board on matters of strategic importance to the firm, including through running an annual Strategy Day.
• Corporate planning and performance: including quarterly reporting to the Board; developing and reviewing our progress against the firm’s key performance indicators; developing the annual corporate plan; and evaluating the performance of the business or parts of it.
• Business improvement: partnering with the CEO and members of Executive Committee to shape new business strategies; restructure existing plans or resources; and drive strategic internal projects.

The Corporate Strategy team also provides direct support to the Chief Executive Officer and BII’s Board, acting as a CEO’s Office.

The Corporate Strategy team will sometimes lead its own work (particularly when working directly for the Board/CEO) but often works with or in support of other BII teams. It works across all the teams in BII including corporate functions (e.g. Company Secretary, Comms, HR, Legal, etc.), investment functions (ITS, FSG, I&C), or impact and transaction support functions (DI, E&S, Legal etc.).

Managers in the Corporate Strategy team are expected to work across all the functions of the team set out above but tend to major in one area or another. On a project basis, they generally report to the Head of Corporate Strategy as well as the relevant ExCo member leading the project.

Responsibilities

You will be expected deliver a wide range of strategy projects across all three areas of the Corporate Strategy remit, and to play a major role alongside other Managers in the team in the development of BII’s next five-year strategy. This will include, for example:

• Analysing business performance and developing business plans for organisational growth;
• Carrying out analysis into new or emerging areas of business, both quantitative and qualitative;
• Producing and presenting deliverables setting out findings and recommendations;
• Facilitating workshops, structured conversations, interviews and surveys;
• Engaging stakeholders to communicate change or build consensus;
• Project management, and occasionally planning and running events;
• Managing and coaching more junior members of staff;
• Supporting the team itself, for example through contribution to team meetings, away days and development of Corporate Strategy’s own plans.
• Some international travel may be required from time to time.

About you 

You will:

• Have extensive experience in the fields of economic development, sustainable finance (including climate, development and/or nature finance) and/or public finance policy;
• Be an excellent programme manager, able to run multiple workstreams to different deadlines and operate under pressure;
• Have excellent quantitative skills, including the ability to identify and interpret data, carry out data analysis, and present findings in a visually compelling way;
• Have relevant experience in a relevant financial services or professional services context, such as strategy or management consulting, investment banking or asset management, or policy;
• Have excellent written and presentational skills, including the ability to produce deliverables to a high quality and to present them in a compelling fashion;
• Be able to ‘see the big picture’ without getting lost in technical detail or irrelevant information; while also being able to reflect nuance, complexity and specificity in proposed solutions;
• Bring a structured approach to problem-solving and an ability to translate that into an actionable project plan;
• Have social and interpersonal skills, with the ability to influence stakeholders and build consensus;
• Be strongly motivated by BII’s development mission.

Candidates should be strongly motivated by BII’s development mission and ideally demonstrate some commitment to development or social goals through previous executive or non-executive activity.

Our cultural values

We look for team members who aspire, as we do, to work at our best and to be:

• Impact-led, commercially rigorous
• Tenacious in the face of challenges
• Collaborative and caring

British International Investment is committed to diversity and inclusion and welcomes all applicants regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation or educational background. 

Please provide a cover letter with your application

Salary: Competitive