Community Lead, Business Engagement, Asia-Pacific

The World Economic Forum, committed to improving the state of the world, is the international organization for public-private cooperation.

The Forum engages the foremost political, business and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas.

Why we are recruiting:

As a partnership organization , the World Economic Forum, through the Business Engagement Team, develops a solid base of foremost partner companies around the world, and engages them in initiatives, projects and events delivering positive impact through public-private collaboration.

The Asia-Pacific Business Engagement team engages business companies from the region.

Reporting Lines and Interactions:

The Community Lead, Business Engagement – Asia Pacific will report to the Head of Business Engagement – Asia Pacific.

Externally, the Lead will work with a broad range of senior executives of Southeast Asia partner companies of the Forum. Internally, this person will work with counterparts from the Asia Pacific government engagement team, other colleagues on the wider Business Engagement team and relevant Platform teams.

Breakdown of main responsibilities:

• 40% on partner management and retention: the Community Lead will be in charge of a portfolio of 15+ partner companies of the Forum from Southeast Asia countries. The Community Lead will be in charge of designing and executing their respective Forum engagement plan, in a way that ensures trust, satisfaction and retention of these partner companies.

• 40% on new business development: the Community Lead will actively recruit new Forum partner companies from Southeast Asia countries; understand the strategic interests of the companies and business leaders, seek common interests with the Forum, prepare proposals and close partnership contracts

• 20% on market research and thought leadership: monitor and evaluate key developments in the region that impact businesses, and coordinate with other teams at the Forum to shape tailored programmes for the businesses in the region

The successful candidate will be assessed on:

• Increasing the portfolio of Forum partners in Southeast Asia

• Achieving high partner retention and partnership upgrade rates, as well as high levels of engagement

• Delivering in collaboration with Forum colleagues projects and initiatives of value to partner companies that advance public-private collaboration in the region

Preferred Requirements and Experience:

• Master’s degree in Business, International Relations, Public Administration, Economics or other relevant field

• 8-10 years’ professional work experience; ideally in consulting or a client-facing function with proven strengths in business development and account management

• Possess a strategic understanding of business needs and business context in Southeast Asia; and ideally, have an established network of senior contacts in the region that can be leveraged for business development and account management

• Proven ability to work efficiently with C-suite executives and their entourage; have the presence and credibility, both online and offline, to build trusted relationships with Chairpersons and Chief Executive Officers

• Outstanding verbal and written communication skills in English, fluency in a local language would be an advantage

• Proven ability to quickly summarise and synthetise heavy loads of information that are of relevance to partner companies and effectively communicate with them

• Proficiency in MS Office/Excel/PowerPoint and recent digital platforms; Salesforce a plus

• Self-entrepreneurial, flexible, and adaptable to fast-changing context and situations

Why work at the Forum:

The Forum believes that progress happens by bringing together people from all walks of life who have the drive and the influence to improve the state of the world by building awareness and cooperation, shaping mindsets and agendas, and driving collective action. Join us and become a driver for positive change!