Senior Technical Advisor for Education, New Business Development Unit at IREX

Your Background & Skills 

• Bachelor’s degree required; graduate degree preferred. 
• 10+ years of relative experience in international development. 
• 5-8 years of new business development experience and an established network of international development client, partner, and practitioners contacts in sectors relevant to IREX's core areas. 
• 3-5 years of experience in international education strongly preferred, with preferred experience in pre and in-service teacher training, curriculum development, positive youth development, and workforce development programming. 
• Experience designing and writing winning proposals for donor funded projects, a preference for a positive track record designing and drafting proposals in response to USAID-funded program solicitations. 
• Positive approach to iterative proposal drafting, able and willing to effectively incorporate varied inputs into proposal drafts. 
• Strong experience and knowledge of best practices in international education. 
• Seasoned team player with a dedication to collaborative program design and proposal development processes that inclusively leverage the expertise and diverse perspectives of stakeholders globally. 
• Willingness to travel to developing countries, estimated at up to 20% of the time. 
• Ability to conceptualize and write winning proposals for projects funded by the Department of State, USAID, and other donors. 
• Technical expertise in international education (primary to higher education) strongly preferred. 
• Ability to manage proposal development efforts and ensure quality and timely submission. 
• Ability to remotely cultivate new partnerships and build complementary consortia for effective program implementation.  
• Strong donor, partner, and peer collaboration and negotiation skills. 
• Expertise in Positive Youth Development (PYD) approaches that support youth to contribute to their full potential strongly preferred. 
• Outstanding interpersonal, intercultural and collaboration skills. 
• Analytical and strong writing skills. 
• Fluent, professional, written and spoken English required; other languages encouraged. 
• You must have unrestricted authorization to work in the country where you reside.  

Your Daily Tasks 

• Lead or support the entire proposal development process, from capture to submission.  
• Write technical narratives, concepts, expressions of interest, or other documents.  
• Identify and meaningfully engage potential international and local partners in proposal development processes. 
• Promote IREX's participation and represent IREX in conferences, industry functions, and donor-driven fora. 
• Assess education programs and initiatives in the sector with the purpose of enhancing the competitiveness of IREX’s proposals. 
• Conduct market and donor assessments. 
• Identify and assess new and emerging solutions deployed in education programs. 
• Identify and assess gaps in IREX’s education capabilities and proactively address those gaps in collaboration with the IREX’s Strategy and Development Group and in coordination with IREX’s Global Programs. 
• Lead initiatives, including direct educator engagement activities on the ground, to position IREX as a dynamic provider of solutions to some of the most pressing education problems globally. 
• Harmonize all IREX’s education development efforts to ensure they are in full alignment with strategy and are grounded in rigorous competitiveness analysis.  
• Lead proposal development efforts to ensure quality and timely submission using consistent business development processes. 
• Help create dynamic and forward-leaning solutions in IREX’s funding proposals to donors. 
• Write technical narratives, concepts, expressions of interest, or other documents. 
• Contribute to ensure IREX is fully prepared to pursue new business opportunities. 
• Cultivate new partnerships around the globe and effectively engage new partners in proposal development processes. 
• Leverage technical expertise to increase quality of proposals and IREX positioning.  
• Track and gain intelligence to advance IREX' s new business opportunities. 
• Conduct reconnaissance missions for project development. 
• Contribute to priority sectors for business development. 
• Contribute to country strategies for priority countries. 
• Contribute to proposal development in strategy meetings and partner discussions. 
• Oversee the development of relevant new business promotional materials and their dissemination to target audiences. 
• Engage partners in developing appropriate, competitive, and comprehensive cost proposals. 
• Coordinate closely with Senior Budget Specialist to ensure program design is accurately represented in cost proposals. 
• Support collection of costing inputs to ensure reasonableness of cost proposals 
• Coordinate closely with Practice Leadership and program teams throughout proposal development processes. 
• Help identify COPs and other key personnel and participate in interviews. 
• Mentor and train staff and interns when required. 
• Other support duties as needed.