Martingale Postgraduate Foundation (Martingale) exists to fund and support the next generation of talented researchers. We believe that family income should not be a barrier to the pursuit of excellence, and our mission is to enable and nurture talented individuals from low-socioeconomic backgrounds to thrive within world-leading postgraduate research.

Martingale’s flagship programme is the Martingale Postgraduate Scholarship, which supports students from low-socioeconomic backgrounds to pursue and excel in postgraduate degrees, by providing:

• A fully-funded Living Wage Scholarship to pursue a one-year Masters degree or a four-year PhD.
• All tuition fees and research expenses, including a tax-free stipend for living costs.
• Tailored support to apply for Martingale courses at our partner universities.
• Access to Martingale programmes, including leadership training and connections with top academic and industry professionals.
• Membership of a pioneering community of talented researchers.

In the three years since Martingale launched, we are now supporting over 100 Scholars to undertake postgraduate degrees across our ten partner universities and have committed over £7.7m in Scholarships. We are continuing to expand our offer, bringing on new partners each year.

As Partnerships Officer, you will play a central role in managing high-quality relationships with Martingale’s growing network of partners, while also supporting the governance and operational functions of the organisation. Working closely with the CEO, senior leadership, and our existing Partnerships Officer, you will help ensure that funders, supporters, and mission-aligned organisations feel valued, engaged, and recognised for their contribution to Martingale’s success.

A key part of your role will be to strengthen relationships with funders and university partners, building long-term commitment to Martingale’s mission. You will manage relationships with multiple departments across our ten partner universities, coordinating internally to ensure these partnerships run smoothly. Alongside this, you will support the operation of Martingale’s key governance bodies, including the Advisory Board, Student Advisory Board, Academic Advisory Committee and Scholarship Selection Committee, ensuring timely communications, accurate records, and positive engagement with members. You will also lead on partnerships with aligned charities that connect our Scholars to earlier stages of the STEM pipeline.

You will be responsible for communications and reporting across our supporter network, ensuring partnerships are effective and mutually beneficial. We are looking for a strong communicator with experience in partnership management and external relations. You may have demonstrated this through cross-organisational projects, even if it was not your primary role. You will bring excellent organisational skills, a proactive mindset, and a strong alignment with Martingale’s mission. We welcome applicants from a range of career paths who are excited to be part of a growing, fast-paced charity delivering meaningful impact.

Martingale Foundation is incubated by Purposeful Ventures who provide operational and strategic support. The Partnerships Officer will be employed by Purposeful Ventures.

About Purposeful Ventures

Our vision is for a fairer society where all young people thrive. We work with social entrepreneurs, organisations and philanthropists that share our vision. Through our work with these partners, young people are given opportunities in education and beyond, helping them reach their true potential.

Purposeful Ventures offers philanthropists and funders bespoke advice, using an evidence-based approach to help them to identify high-impact opportunities to fund. We then partner with visionary individuals and mission-driven organisations with strong theories of change. We help them turn great ideas into sustainable and successful ventures by offering fully individualised and very hands-on support, access to funding and a ‘high-challenge, high-support’ home. We do the minimum necessary and whatever it takes to succeed.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead on the delivery of the partner relations strategy, working with our 40+ partners to effectively build long-term successful relationships. In collaboration with the CEO, you will support new and existing funders, in-kind supporters, partner charities, and Ambassadors, ensuring they feel valued, informed and connected to Martingale’s mission.
• Strengthen and deepen relationships with partners through a structured and personalised programme of engagement, recognition, and reporting, including invitations to events throughout the academic year.
• Oversight of all university partnerships, including reporting, communications, and course confirmations. This will include working closely with all Martingale staff for effective management of key partnership contacts across development offices, multiple departments, and doctoral programmes.
• Oversee the smooth running of Martingale’s governance bodies, building on the existing governance framework to ensure continuity across the different groups.
• Liaise with the team to maintain accurate records of both financial and in-kind contributions.
• Lead on the development and delivery of the annual impact report, alongside bespoke reports for funders as appropriate.
• Accurate record keeping of partnership engagement on Martingale’s CRM.
• Build a range of case studies on Scholars, partner universities, funders, and other supporters to strengthen Martingale’s messaging to new funders.
• Work closely with the other Partnerships Officer to ensure fundraising campaign targets are met, providing relevant materials and support where needed.
• Support in the delivery of key Martingale events such as Solve for X and our annual Welcome Dinner
• The post holder will carry out any other duties as are within the scope, spirit, and purpose of the role as requested by the line manager.

Key Requirements:

Essential Criteria

• Right to work in the UK

Experience and skills

Essential

• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, with the ability to effectively communicate with diverse audiences.
• Experience in account management, managing external stakeholder relationships or partnerships successfully.
• Able to assimilate complex information quickly, identifying the pertinent points and making them accessible for a wider audience.
• Excellent project management skills with experience of managing multiple projects/workstream and priorities simultaneously, while maintaining attention to detail, prioritising, and meeting deadlines.
• Ability to network and build new connections.
• Advanced IT proficiency: Spreadsheet, Word Processing, CRM or Databases, Email, Web-based applications.

Desirable

• Experience of generating new and successful strategic partnerships.
• Experience working in the higher education sector with university students, staff, and academics.
• Experience using the Adobe suite to produce high-quality documents.
• Experience in working with governance boards and/or trustees.

Personal Characteristics

• Excellent interpersonal skills: able to build rapport and trusting relationships, able to work co-operatively in a multidisciplinary setting.
• A commitment to Martingale’s mission to support postgraduate students from low-socioeconomic backgrounds.
• Comfortable working in a rapidly growing and changing organisation with a degree of ambiguity – confident to create processes and ways forward where they might not yet exist.
• Creative and innovative: willing to think outside the box to maximise reach.
• Resourceful, able to act on initiative, hardworking, detail-oriented, and systematic.