About the Role
Overstories is looking for a Development & Partnerships Lead — a sharp, organised, and deeply motivated professional to help build and manage the commercial and relationship engine of the organisation. You will own the back-end infrastructure of our sales pipeline, from pipeline management to CRM, outreach coordination, proposal/pitch deck prep, and deal-sizing analysis.
Your job is to make sure our Founder walks into every meeting with potential new clients fully prepared, every follow-up gets done, every opportunity gets developed, and nothing falls through the cracks.
You will work across all three of Overstories' growth streams: client development, philanthropic fundraising, and strategic partnerships. That's a lot of surface area across various disciplines, so this role is for someone who is intellectually curious, energised by variety, comfortable not always having a playbook, and driven to figure things out independently.
This is a rare opportunity to join a purpose-driven impact agency at an early stage and help build it from the inside. It's the kind of position where the job description is a starting point rather than a ceiling of what you’ll do; we definitely have an all-hands-on-deck startup dynamic here. If you're the kind of person who says "that's not my job" — this isn't the role for you. If you're the kind of person who asks "how can I help?", read on!
What You'll Do
Pipeline Management
Build and maintain Overstories' CRM — keeping every contact, conversation, and opportunity organised and current
- Track the status of prospects across client, donor, and partnership pipelines and flag what needs attention before anyone has to ask
- Develop simple, scalable systems and processes to keep the pipeline running smoothly as we grow
- Help define what the revenue targets need to be — how many deals, of what size, to hit our goals this year
Research & Preparation
- Prepare a KYC (Know Your Contact) brief for every meeting the Founder enters: background, priorities, connection points, suggested talking points
- Research prospective clients, donors, and partners — who they are, what they care about, what would land
- Use Kindsight and other prospect research tools to identify philanthropic capacity and alignment (training provided)
- Monitor the conservation, culture, philanthropy, and impact landscape for new opportunities, relevant news, and sector intelligence
Outreach & Follow-Up
- Draft outreach emails, follow-up messages, proposals, and meeting recaps — always in the right voice for the audience
- Own all post-meeting follow-up so nothing slips: materials sent, next steps confirmed, relationships maintained
- Support conference and event participation — helping to negotiate, prepare, and maximise every opportunity for leads and visibility
- Keep existing relationships warm through consistent, thoughtful communication
Philanthropic Support
- Support the development of Overstories' donor pipeline alongside its client pipeline — foundations, family offices, and aligned individual donors
- Help prepare materials for philanthropic asks: case documents, impact summaries, funding proposals
- Assist with grant tracking, deadlines, and reporting requirements
Partnerships Coordination
- Identify and track potential strategic partners — media organisations, cultural institutions, outdoor brands, aligned NGOs and agencies
- Support partnership development and help draft collaboration briefs, partnership decks, and MoUs
- Manage the relationship calendar to ensure key partnerships stay active and reciprocal
What You Bring
You have 2–3 years of experience in a business development, partnerships, fundraising, communications, or client-facing role — or you are a recent graduate with an internship record that shows you can handle pace, complexity, and initiative. We don't need decades of experience. We need great instincts, curiosity and drive.
You may have come from the corporate world and found the pace exciting but the hierarchy frustrating. You may have been at a foundation, family office or NGO and felt held back by slow processes and limited scope. Either way, you're ready for somewhere that wants to see what you can do differently, and wants to let you run.
- Exceptional organisation. You have a system for everything, and you follow through without being chased. Loops get closed.
- Strong written communication. You can write a crisp research brief, a warm outreach email, and a clear proposal — and you know the difference between them.
- Genuine curiosity. You care about conservation, culture, and the organisations working at this intersection. You don't need to be an expert yet, but you need to want to be.
- AI-native and tool-savvy. You already use AI tools as part of your daily workflow. You don't wait to be taught. You're always looking for a smarter, faster way to do things.
- Emotionally intelligent. You can read a room and adapt your communication for NGO directors, philanthropists, agency creatives, and brand partners alike.
- Proactive and self-directed. You don't need a script. You don't need to be told twice. You're comfortable with ambiguity and you figure things out.
- Startup-ready. You understand that early-stage means wearing many hats, nothing is beneath you, and building the plane while flying it is part of the job.
- Industry knowledge: Existing familiarity with the conservation, philanthropy, or impact sector. Knowledge of the advocacy, wildlife conservation and/or climate nonprofit and family office landscape.
- Collaboration: Experience working in a team with active communication. You thrive in a collaborative environment and are eager to receive feedback.
Additional (bonus) experience:
- Activist at heart: You've been involved in changemaking— a campaign internship, canvassing, advocacy organising, political work, movement building, community building, something. You know firsthand how hard it is to build momentum, to get doors opened, to turn interest into action.
- Familiarity with analysis tools: Experience with Kindsight, Salesforce, HubSpot, or similar CRM or prospect research tools
- Industry experience: Prior internship or role at a creative, PR, or communications agency.
- Relationships: strong open lines of communication with a network that you would be able to bring with you
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