Oxford Policy Management (OPM) seeks to appoint a Country Director – Europe to provide strategic and operational leadership as Managing Director of our European office.  This is a permanent position based in Berlin.  

We are an international development consultancy working to improve lives through sustainable policy change in low- and middle-income countries. Our vision is for fair public policy that benefits both people and the planet.

Through our global network of offices, we work in partnership with national stakeholders and decision makers to research, design, implement and evaluate impactful public policy. We draw on our local and international sector experts to provide the very best evidence-based support. We deliver projects with expert knowledge and experience, and can be relied upon for excellence in all aspects of project delivery. We work collaboratively, with ambition, to help deliver impactful public policy that will bring about lasting change.

Based in Berlin, OPM Europe contributes to our mission by growing our footprint with development partners in Europe, in particular the European Union, and the German Government. In collaboration with our network of global offices, OPM Europe develops specialised client knowledge, wins and delivers highly impactful projects, and contributes to cross-company learning. In addition to housing a team of highly specialised bidding and account management colleagues, technical expertise within the office spans multiple sectors; including climate and nature, poverty and social protection, and research and evidence. Working in close collaboration with colleagues around the globe, the team spearheads relationships with our European, EU and German government clients, delivering outstanding work across multiple sectors.

As OPM's Country Director - Europe, your responsibilities will include:

Strategic Leadership  

• Working closely with the Director of Strategy and Growth to develop and implement European sales and business development strategies that align with overall business objectives.  
• Developing strong and effective working relationships with Practice Leads, Senior Technical Leads, and Country Directors to achieve shared strategic goals. 
• Designing and implementing our business development strategy, as relates to European funders. 
• Developing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the European office; providing regular and ad-hoc reports to the Director of Strategy and Growth and the wider Senior Management Team (SMT) on the progress of strategic initiatives and performance against targets.  

Business Development and Commercial Management  

• Embedding a systematic understanding of European client priorities throughout business development strategy. 
• Cultivating and building networks with client targets, furthering OPM Europe’s standing as a supplier of choice. 
• Leading major bidding activities. 
• Applying and improving industry best practices in business development and bidding, including standardised processes, gates, and tools. 
• Taking responsibility for the priority pipeline of opportunities, driving strategic bid decision-making, and managing overall business development processes, in line with the OPM Europe strategy and budget. 
• Sustaining market intelligence and insights by collating information on European industry trends, innovations, relationships, and partnerships, and preparing regular and ad-hoc reports. 
• Establishing and nurturing strategic partnerships to drive long-term business growth. 
• Acting as OPM’s primary external representative with European clients and partners. 
• Implementing corporate pricing strategies and managing contract negotiations to optimize profitability and ensure that commercial agreements align with the company's long-term objectives.  

Compliance, Operations and Finance  

• Ensuring OPM Europe remains compliant with all relevant laws, regulations, and the company's statutes; monitoring compliance on an ongoing basis. 
• Acting as the company’s legal representative and Managing Director ( (Geschäftsführung) for the Berlin office, including as signatory authority for the office and through management of commercial register filings. 
• Supervising risk identification, mitigation and management for all in-country and client operations, including as regards tax and legal compliance.
• Ensuring the office is run in a cost efficient and sustainable manner; strengthening financial sustainability of the office through effective budget administration. 
• Providing oversight with regards to human resource management and ensuring that we meet our duty of care towards OPM Europe employees and external partners.  

People Management  

• Leading and mentoring the business development team to achieve revenue targets, foster client relationships, and support broader management objectives.  
• Providing effective stewardship to colleagues based in Berlin, who report to other offices.  
• Creating an equitable, effective, and enjoyable working environment.  

Marketing and communications  

• Disseminating OPM Europe’s achievements at client meetings and key conferences.  
• Working closely with the Marketing and Communications team to maintain a proactive presence on social media and co-developing social media marketing campaigns targeting European clients.  
• Ensuring that all bids submitted to clients are compelling, visually appealing, and well-written, while recognizing that each bid—whether won or lost—represents OPM's brand.  

• We enable colleagues’ capacity to grow professionally through enhanced learning resources, opportunities to work cross functionally, and space to engage with a range of internal and external industry events.
• Our non-hierarchical culture values support, collaboration, intellectual curiosity, and a rich diversity of perspectives.
• We provide an exceptionally generous annual leave entitlement and a hybrid working model to encourage and enable healthy work/life balance.
• Wellbeing resources including a global Employee Assistance Programme and access to the UnMind app.
• Competitive salary and contributory pension scheme.

We are strengthened by the diversity of colleagues across our global business and are committed to being an equal opportunities employer, promoting a diverse and inclusive workplace for all. 

Our recruitment practices reflect our ambition to make the international development sector more inclusive and firm belief that our work delivers the best outcomes when we actively include a diversity of perspectives and experiences. 

If you share our vision for fair public policy that benefits both people and planet, we would love to hear from you.  We review and interview applicants on a rolling basis and encourage you to apply via our careers site at the earliest. 

Unfortunately, we are unable to provide visa sponsorship for this role and candidates must have a pre-existing right to work in Germany for their application to be considered.

Oxford Policy Management is committed to promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion at every level of the business.  Should you require adjustments to make the application process more accessible please inform us through completing this form or scan the QR code below.