Proposal Content Specialist at Nature Conservancy

The ideal candidate is a proven technical writer, experienced in developing compelling narratives. The candidate is passionate about conserving nature in Africa and across the planet and excels at working with diverse teams on time-sensitive and demanding projects. Ideally, the successful candidate has worked in an international or cross-cultural setting where they were involved in or led the design of projects with theories of change, logical frameworks, and other critical components of a successful public funding project proposal. The successful candidate will be eligible to work in and based in any country where TNC has a registered office internationally, with a preference for one of our Africa region country programs (e.g., Gabon, Angola, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, South Africa) or the United States. For this position there will be no relocation, work visa, or immigration assistance.

In this position the successful candidate will:

• Write high-quality public funding proposal narratives, applications, and supporting documents in collaboration with TNC colleagues and external stakeholders.
• Work with subject matter experts to translate technical solutions into clear, compelling, and compliant proposal documents.
• Work with TNC Africa Business Development and other colleagues on the coordination and management of writing, editing, finalization, and submission of proposals and applications with internal teams and partners.
• Revise content drafts in response to feedback in collaboration with the proposal team.
• Take responsibility and accountability for meeting proposal content deadlines, goals, and objectives.
• Persuasively communicate TNC’s mission and programs to potential public funders.
• Assemble and submit proposal documentation, including technical documents, commitment letters, CVs, institutional capacity statements, past performance reviews, budget narratives, gender and safeguards documents, and other required documents.
• Prioritize to keep multiple projects moving in a timely manner and meet deadlines while upholding strong internal and external relationships.
• Execute tasks and resolve complex issues with supervision, acting independently within approved scope.
• Manage and/or coordinate the work of peers and consultants.
• Contribute to evaluation of the proposal development process and develop corrective strategies as needed.
• May conduct desk research that informs proposal and programmatic effectiveness.
• May provide other writing support for public award implementing teams, such as review of technical reports and plans.
• Be willing to travel and work flexible hours - most staff this position collaborates with are based in African and North American time zones.

WHAT YOU'LL BRING

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field and 4 years of related experience or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Fluency in English.
• Experience writing, editing and proofreading content in English for public awards, preferably writing winning proposals valued at a minimum of US$1 million.
• Experience conducting project or proposal design meetings or workshops, building theories of change, and translating technical ideas into clear, compelling, logical writing.
• Experience working effectively in cross-functional, multi-country teams.
• Experience preparing project proposals for written, in-person, and virtual presentation, including experience in visual design and formatting.

DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Demonstrated knowledge of the conservation trends and practices in Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Multi-lingual skills and multi-cultural or cross-cultural experiences are appreciated, particularly as pertinent to the African continent.
• Self-motivated, detail-oriented, and highly organized.
• Experience communicating with external partners, funder agencies, and related entities.
• Familiarity with best practices and trends for effective proposal and project design. 
• Demonstrated experience writing successful large-scale (> USD 3mil) public funding proposals, especially proposals to United Stated Agency for International Development (USAID), Germany International Climate Initiative (IKI), Global Environment Facility (GEF), and Green Climate Fund (GCF), and/or other major public funders.
• Experience in manipulating, analyzing, and interpreting data.
• Experience formatting content to improve appearance and uptake for a variety of professional audiences.
• Experience successfully implementing and/or managing multiple tasks and projects.
• Experience working effectively in a matrixed organization.
• Ability to make sound decisions based on analysis, consultation with others, experience, and judgment.