External Relations Manager

About Mohamed Bin Zayed Foundation for Humanity

The Mohamed bin Zayed Foundation for Humanity (MBZFH) is a pioneering philanthropic organization headquartered in Abu Dhabi, committed to enhancing human potential and opportunities through initiatives in global health and inclusive development. Upholding the UAE's tradition of bolstering global health outcomes, MBZFH operates in areas such as health systems strengthening, healthcare infrastructure, workforce health, preventable diseases, maternal and child health, assistive technology, and community sustainability. The foundation aims to impact over 500 million individuals across more than 50 countries by 2030.

Role Summary

Reporting to the Director of External Relations, the External Relations Manager will enhance MBZFH’s partnerships, engagement, and visibility within global health, philanthropy, development, and UAE sectors. The position requires overseeing stakeholder management, preparing high-quality communication and briefing documents, and supporting events such as missions, forums, and leadership engagements.

Key Responsibilities

• Assist with implementing MBZFH’s external relations and stakeholder engagement strategy aligned with the foundation’s priorities and advocacy goals.
• Coordinate activities such as stakeholder mapping, relationship tracking, and engagement planning targeting governments, multilaterals, NGOs, foundations, private sector, research institutions, advocacy groups, and UAE partners.
• Identify and develop partnership and co-investment opportunities beyond grants, incorporating policy influence, advocacy, innovation, and systemic change.
• Collaborate with Programs and Infrastructure teams to align intelligence gathering and partnership outreach with their strategic needs.
• Manage calendars and create briefing materials including notes, talking points, meeting packs, and partner profiles for senior leadership.
• Support planning and execution of strategic events including convenings, missions, forums, pledging moments, focusing on coordination, messaging, logistics, and follow-ups.
• Contribute to external communication materials such as speeches, press releases, web content, social media, advocacy messaging, and thought leadership products.
• Work cross-functionally with teams in Programs, Strategy, Legal, Operations, and Executive Offices to ensure consistent and accurate messaging.
• Assist in reputational risk management and crisis communications preparation by providing messaging input and stakeholder intelligence.
• Monitor developments in global health, philanthropy, and development to identify opportunities, risks, and insights for MBZFH's positioning.
• Create and maintain knowledge management tools capturing intelligence from various engagements to institutionalize and share insights.
• Produce regular briefing summaries for leadership to translate external knowledge into strategic program and infrastructure decisions.

Qualifications and Experience

• 7 to 10 years of experience in external relations, stakeholder engagement, public affairs, communications, partnerships, diplomacy, international development, or philanthropy.
• Proven experience engaging senior external stakeholders from governments, multilateral organizations, global foundations, NGOs, international platforms, and preferably UAE or Gulf entities.
• Strong skills in stakeholder management, relationship building, political and cultural awareness, discretion, and sound decision-making.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication abilities including preparing briefs, talking points, speeches, meeting notes, partner profiles, and clear messaging translating technical content.
• Excellent organizational skills with attention to detail, able to manage multiple priorities and deadlines efficiently in a dynamic environment.
• Collaborative approach with the capacity to work seamlessly across multiple internal teams including programs, strategy, legal, communications, and leadership offices.
• Proactive problem-solving mindset with capability to navigate ambiguity, anticipate needs, maintain professionalism under pressure, and ensure follow-through.
• Comprehensive understanding of global health, inclusive development, humanitarian efforts, philanthropy, advocacy, or international cooperation is highly preferred.
• Fluent English proficiency is required; Arabic language skills are considered advantageous.

Additional Details

This is a full-time position, located onsite in Abu Dhabi, UAE, with occasional travel responsibilities. The appointment is for a renewable two-year contract.

Application Requirements

Applicants must submit a CV in English as a Microsoft Word document (.doc or .docx) not exceeding 10MB. Applications received beyond the deadline or in other languages and formats will not be considered. All submitted information will be kept confidential.