Senior Business Development Officer at African Population And Health Research Center (APHRC)

Duties/Responsibilities

The ideal candidate is expected to bring relevant experience on sourcing for opportunities and strategic partnerships, interpretation of solicitation documents and requirements, and how to rapidly translate input from technical experts into compelling narrative text. To achieve high-quality results, the proposal writer will be expected to work collaboratively and iteratively with both technical and non-technical proposal team members.

Proposal Development (80%)

• Lead in identifying strategically aligned funding opportunities.
• Cultivate and maintain traditional and non-traditional funders.
• Enhance and maintain a tailored business intelligence platform.
• Review and analyse solicitation requirements to ensure donor requirements are thoroughly understood and due attention given to these in proposal development.
• Serve as technical proposal writer for assigned opportunities, collaborating with the Principal Investigator/Technical Lead, Program Accountant(s), Grants Officer(s), Communication Lead and other contributors to produce compliant and compelling content that will yield the highest possible evaluation score from the funder.
• Review background information and interview stakeholders to understand the critical win themes, unique value propositions, organizational approaches, and standards to highlight in proposal narratives.
• Oversee the production of professional quality and aesthetically pleasing proposals.
• Serve as a reviewer/editor for proposals drafted by other team members, as time and expertise permits.
• Draft materials for teams engaging with funders for oral presentations and/or co-creation activities (e.g. slide decks and succinct responses to funder questions/feedback).

Knowledge Management (20%)

• Collaborate closely with Knowledge Management staff and technical teams to produce and update thematic capability statements and program past performance references.
• Review and strengthen proposal writing tools and systems.
• Contribute to the body of marketing materials available for partner and funder engagement.
• Ensure proposal-writing resources are archived, uploaded and available on the Center’s Electronic Document Management System (EDMS) for ongoing reference.
• Maintain a database of documents routinely required for proposal submissions, as per specifications of the Center’s key funders.

 Qualifications, Skills, and Experience 

• Master’s degree in fields related to the Center’s work plus at least 5 years’ experience in a similar role, successfully cultivating donors (bi-lateral and/or multi-lateral funding agencies).
• Demonstrated knowledge of business information systems including electronic data management systems.
• Demonstrated record of writing successful proposals.
• Ability to prepare written documents in fluent, donor-responsive English. Fluency in French will be an added advantage.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate and collaborate effectively with individuals and teams at all levels, both internally and externally.
• Demonstrated commitment to fostering and maintaining an environment of diversity, equity and inclusion.
• Ability to synthesize large amounts of information into a compelling and compliant narrative.
• Strong knowledge of procurement procedures and technical proposal requirements for the Center’s key funders.
• Strong time management and organization skills, with ability to independently schedule and prioritize multiple tasks.

Closing: October 07, 2022