Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships Lead: Critical Minerals

Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships Lead

Critical Minerals Mission

UK based/hybrid

Role Overview

Shaping a circular economy for critical and strategic minerals and materials is one of the most urgent and high-impact levers we have to advance the clean energy transition, secure digital infrastructure, and enable resilient industrial systems. The global economy is undergoing a massive transformation – electrification, digitisation, and decarbonisation are driving exponential demand for critical minerals like lithium, cobalt, nickel, copper, and rare earths.

In 2025, the Critical Minerals Mission at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation was launched to accelerate the transition towards a circular economy for critical minerals (CMs) / Critical Raw Materials (CRMs) in the context of decarbonisation across energy (including renewable generation and storage), transport (including electric vehicles, batteries, and charging infrastructure), and industrial processes, as well as the expansion of the digital economy (including electronics, data centres, and related technologies).

To date, the Mission is growing rapidly and has proved to be impactful in a short amount of time. It has launched significant thought leadership, convened leading industry players, governments and international institutions, and hosted flagship events and industry projects. In the next stage of expansion and development, we are looking for an ambitious leader to serve an important role with multidisciplinary responsibilities across strategy, business development and operations, framed around the Mission’s top strategic initiatives.

As the Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships Lead, you will act as senior deputy to the Critical Minerals Executive Lead, helping shape the Mission’s strategic direction, external positioning and most important system-shaping initiatives. You will turn EMF expertise into authoritative propositions, personally steward strategically important relationships, and build new senior relationships across priority sectors and geographies.

You will report to the Critical Minerals Executive Lead and will work with the existing technical and commercial programme leaders in the team to shape credible, delivery-ready opportunities. You will also hold significant formal line management responsibility for several team members, including setting direction, allocating resources, developing colleagues and managing performance. You will be an integral part of the leadership team of the Mission and work collectively with others to contribute to our strategic, programmatic and financial success.

Role & Responsibilities

• Leading flagship strategic initiatives. Originate and lead initiatives that shape markets and accelerate circular approaches to critical minerals, taking them from concept to launch and bringing together executive sponsors and partners across multiple organisations. An early priority is likely to be helping drive the roll-out and delivery of the Critical Minerals Mission’s Cross-Industry Leadership Agenda.
• Building initiatives for impact. Turn promising ideas into credible, actionable initiatives by developing compelling propositions, building coalitions and establishing the governance, resources and funding pathways needed to succeed. Set clear milestones and decision points for complex, multi-party initiatives, taking accountability for measurable progress and exercising judgement on when to scale, reshape or stop.
• Shaping the Mission’s proposition and thought leadership. Shape how the Mission’s ideas resonate with business, policymakers and funders, owning the quality and external credibility of the Critical Minerals proposition. Bring your recognised expertise in at least one relevant industry area to develop distinctive, evidence-based thought leadership from day one, strengthening the Foundation’s authority and informing senior engagements and initiative design.
• Building strategic senior relationships. Build and personally lead a portfolio of strategically important relationships with C-suite executives, board-level leaders, senior policymakers and major funders. Translate sustained engagement into opportunities that advance the Mission’s priorities, progressively overseeing relationships held across the team. Personally originate and develop high-value opportunities, working closely with the Foundation’s Revenue team to take them forward commercially.
• Influencing industry and policy agendas. Represent the Foundation through substantive roles in influential industry, policy, investor and finance forums, including advisory boards, leadership coalitions and senior roundtables. Help shape the conversations and decisions that matter for circular approaches to critical minerals, securing institutional participation and translating engagement into meaningful action.
• Providing deputy mission leadership. Help lead the Mission as senior deputy to the Critical Minerals Executive Lead, exercising delegated authority in senior decision-making, external engagements and cross-Foundation forums. Provide leadership across Mission priorities, bringing sound judgement and alignment with the Foundation’s wider strategy. Alongside fellow Mission leaders, take an active role in shaping the team’s direction and culture, with formal line-management responsibility for developing colleagues, cultivating talent and maintaining accountability for delivery.

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Your profile

• Senior leadership experience. A strong record (10 years+) of setting strategic direction and taking accountability for significant programmes, initiatives, business areas or advisory practices in one or more relevant fields. These could include critical minerals, the energy transition, batteries and energy storage, electronics, digital infrastructure, circular economy or a closely related area.

• Recognised sector expertise and external credibility. Deep expertise in at least one of the Mission’s priority areas, with the credibility to contribute an authoritative perspective from day one. This could be demonstrated through influential thought leadership, advisory appointments, industry leadership, substantive contributions to policy or business decisions, senior speaking roles or equivalent professional recognition.

• A personal track record of originating and building major initiatives. Demonstrable experience taking initiatives from strategic conception through executive sponsorship, mobilisation and launch or implementation. In particular, we are interested in individuals with a record in coalition-building and partnership design, bringing together organisations with different interests, incentives and operating models around a shared proposition.

• Strong commercial and financial judgement. Experience translating stakeholder needs and strategic opportunities into compelling, fundable propositions with credible delivery models. You will have a record of originating or shaping opportunities that generated revenue, secured funding or led to significant institutional commitments.

• Independent ownership of senior relationships. An established network in one or more relevant sectors, alongside a record of independently building and personally stewarding complex, high-value relationships over time.

• Executive judgement and deputy leadership. Experience acting as a deputy to a senior executive, director or equivalent leader, or exercising comparable delegated authority. You will bring sound judgement, discretion and the confidence to make decisions and represent the Mission independently within agreed priorities.

• Formal people leadership and team development. Significant experience line-managing and developing colleagues, ideally within multidisciplinary teams. This should include setting direction, allocating work and resources, coaching individuals, providing candid feedback and managing performance.

You do not need experience across every sector covered by the Mission. We are looking for depth and credibility in at least one relevant area, combined with the curiosity, judgement and adaptability to work across the wider portfolio.

Apply by clicking the green icon where you will be asked to upload a CV and covering letter.

Closing date: 28th October 2026

Desired starting date: as soon as possible.

Salary package: This is a senior position within the Foundation and the salary package will be highly competitive within the NGO sector. Generous holiday allowance (25 days plus UK Bank Holidays plus discretionary organisational extra days leave at Christmas and Easter), generous parental leave; enhanced pension options/private health scheme after 6 months; wellbeing programme.

Location: A remote UK location will be considered for this role.

What we do

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation develops and promotes the idea of a circular economy. We work with, and inspire, business, academia, policymakers, and institutions to mobilise systems solutions at scale, globally. Our mission is to accelerate the transition to a circular economy.

Our vision is a new economic system that delivers better outcomes for people and the environment. Business models, products, and materials are designed to increase use and reuse, replicating the balance of the natural world, where nothing becomes waste, and everything has value. A circular economy, increasingly built on renewable energy and materials, is distributed, diverse, and inclusive.