Senior BD Advisor, Capture & Engagement - East Africa at International Rescue Committee

Sector: Awards Management

Employment Category: Regular

Employment Type: Full-Time

Open to Expatriates: Yes

Location: Nairobi, IHUB, Kenya

Job Description

 THE AWARDS MANAGEMENT UNIT

Established in 2015, the Global Awards Management Unit (AMU) is a global unit spanning New York, Washington DC, London, Berlin, Bonn, Geneva, Nairobi and Amman. It has responsibility for identifying, securing and managing all funding from statutory donors, and was designed as an end-to-end business process owner and support structure for IRC’s grant lifecycle. The Unit is organized into five teams, called ‘pillars’: Strategic Partnerships & Analytics; Program & Grants Support; Compliance & Policy; Business/Program Development; and Training & Curriculum Development.

The Global AMU is a bridge between donors and program teams: providing expert technical advice to program teams, while maintaining portfolio-level visibility to ensure consistency and compliance, and manage risk. This unit ensures that donor compliance policies and procedures are implemented consistently, and supports all staff working across the grants management cycle for all restricted funding from global government sources. The unit operates within a matrix management system across the teams in the US, Germany, the UK and based in our global programs, driving functional integration between all relevant units and staff.

THE PURPOSE OF THE ROLE

The Senior Business Development Advisor – Capture & Engagement will support IRC’s efforts to strengthen our positioning, engagement and capture efforts to support IRC’s growth strategy for public donors, particularly for longer term and development funding.  The Sr. Advisor will be responsible for leading successful capture planning on a portfolio of opportunities in coordination with regional, country, and technical teams.

The Senior BD Advisor is responsible for identifying and qualifying leads for multi-year complex funding opportunities with bilateral and multi-lateral public donors.  This position works with IRC Regional and Country Offices and technical experts to maintain donor mapping, outline long-term positioning strategies, identify and qualify leads and complete capture milestones. The Sr. Advisor will support Country Offices in expanding their networks with key donor representatives, country and regional partners, national development professionals, as well as international candidates and peer organizations.  This position plays a key role in the adoption of IRC’s best practice capture and engagement processes and tools as well as coaching and formal training to IRC staff.  The ideal candidate will have a successful track record of working on new business efforts in international development with USAID, FCDO, and/or other multilateral and bilateral donors.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Provide leadership in working with country and technical teams to identify, assess, and co-lead with country and technical teams positioning, engagement and capture management and planning for specific USG, FCDO, and other competitive bids.
• Collaborates with regional, country and technical teams to develop and implement long-term positioning strategies, raising IRC’s profile key national and global stakeholders including donors, peers, local organizations, national government ministries, and other key national stakeholders.
• Manage capture process on select opportunities with country and technical teams utilizing industry practices and IRC processes and tools, bringing in a deep understanding of donor preferences and interests, geographic stakeholder knowledge, and competitive partnerships into IRC’s win strategies.
• In coordination with other AMU staff, maintain up to date knowledge of USG, FCDO, EU, and other donor funding priorities in geographical interests relevant to IRC’s area of work and provide guidance to country, regional, and technical teams.
• Evaluate effectiveness of capture and proposal processes and tools; recommend revisions to ensure continuous improvement.
• Facilitate and support relationship building with key global, national, and local stakeholders including assisting countries and technical units to develop plans, pitch documents, and other materials to support raising IRC’s profile.
• Coordinate the evaluation and assessment of opportunities including the development of competitive analysis, conduct SWOT analysis, and identify win themes and risk mitigation plans.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in relevant field, including international relations, political science, public administration, and communications or other related field.
• Five years plus of experience leading positioning, engagement, and capture work and/or developing proposals.
• Experience working with USAID, FCDO, EU institutions, and/or other European donors.
• Experience and a successful track record leading capture process within complex subject, multi-year, multi-partner proposals with minimal supervision.
• Subject-matter expertise and experience in a sector relevant to IRC is a plus (e.g. health, education, governance, WASH, etc.) is a plus.
• Excellent written and oral communication; able to convey complex concepts clearly and concisely in writing and orally.  
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate equally effectively with colleagues in ‘remote’ and diverse teams, including as team leader for proposals; outstanding interpersonal skills, including the ability to effectively manage a variety of relationships in a multicultural environment;
• The ability to work productively and accurately while under pressure in a fast-paced, demanding environment;
• Flexible work attitude: the ability to work in a team environment and independently and ability to meet unexpected demands, prioritize and multi-task;
• Ability to travel internationally (up to 20% of time);
• Fluency in English.  Proficiency in at least one other language (French, Arabic, and/or Spanish) is a plus.