This is an Internal-Only Opportunity meant for current IRC staff members

Purpose of the Role

Reporting both to the Director, Awards Management and the Director, Business Development, the Head of Business Development (HBD), EA leads IRC’s business development efforts in support of the region’s country programs and is a key part of IRC’s global business development team, serving as the region's representative in developing and implementing IRC’s global business development strategy. The HBD plays a strategic role in the planning, identification, and successful pursuit of new business in line with country Strategy Action Plans (SAP). HBD support includes all phases of the business development process, including strategic planning, donor outreach and engagement, pre-positioning (capture), partnering, proposal development, due diligence, issues letter and agreement negotiation.

The HBD is responsible for maintaining regional level oversight of all business development for institutional donors in the IRC’s EA region, which comprises country programs in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, and Uganda.

Scope and Authority

The Head of Business Development exercises overall leadership for business development in the region and line management of three regional Program Development Advisors for EA. The role oversees regional and supports country business development strategies and planning, including reviewing the pipeline and individual opportunities and ensuring appropriate resourcing for successful bid submissions, in coordination with the Senior Program and Award Advisor, as relevant. The HBD provides development oversight of regionally assigned opportunities and serves as a key regional focal point for global opportunities, which are supported by the Business Development Specialist team.   

Key Working Relationships

The HBD reports to the Director, Awards Management (DAM) and to the Director, Business Development, and manages the regional Program Development Advisors (PDA). The HBD works closely with the regional Senior Management Team, all Regional Program and Award Support team members, the Regional Business Development Advisor for Capture and Engagement (where this role exists), and the wider Business Development Team including peers in the BD Specialist and Pricing teams. The HBD also collaborates with other teams within Awards Management Unit, including Strategic Partnerships and Compliance and Policy, the Crisis Response Recovery and Development Department, External Relations, Global Supply Chain, Finance, Office of General Counsel, Technical Excellence, and other key departments within IRC who contribute to regional business development efforts. The HBD serves as point of contact with external donor and partner stakeholders during the pre-award stage, as applicable per region.

Key Accountabilities

Planning and Strategic Leadership (40%)

·       Provide strategic vision on regional BD efforts in support of country program Strategy Action Plans (SAP), in collaboration with regional and AMU leadership.

·       Maintain visibility on the overall pipeline across all public and institutional donors, in collaboration with regional Program & Awards Advisors.

·       Maintain up to date knowledge of donor funding priorities and geographical interests relevant to IRC’s areas of work.

·       Provide advice, analysis and guidance to AMU, Regional and Country leadership on BD trends, target-setting, donor engagement, and support needs in the region, ensuring leaders have the right level of information to make decisions.

·       Lead and support BD strategy development efforts and planning at regional and country level, to establish clear funding priorities and targets, to support decision making and enable effective positioning and resource planning.

·       Coordinate support to country teams in the identification, tracking and pursuit of new business opportunities across a variety of technical sectors and donors, including ensuring that technical brainstorming, partner, and competitor landscape analysis and win theme sessions with technical and country staff are occurring.

End to End Program Development (20%)

·       Support effective and timely Go/No Go decisions, including sharing initial assessment of new opportunities and providing insight and inputs based on donor knowledge, likelihood of success and experience.

·       Plan and manage effective division of bid leadership across the portfolio at capture and live stages of development to ensure appropriate support on all opportunities.

·       At the early stage of opportunity identification, work with country teams, DAM and BD Director in identifying and addressing escalated support needs.

·       Act as the regional business development focal point for escalated bid opportunities, providing regional advice and coordinating escalated support in connection to the Specialist bid lead or others.

·       Collaborate with other BD staff, especially the Regional Business Development Advisor for Capture and Engagement (where this role exists), BD Specialist team members and technical staff on high demand opportunities and multi-country and TU-led bids.

·       Ensure the following Bid Leadership responsibilities are performed consistently and effectively by the assigned BD Lead (HBD, PDA, Specialist team member, or other) on each public opportunity in the regional portfolio:

Donor and Partner Engagement (10%)

·       In line with IRC’s Partnership Ambition, and in collaboration with regional Partnerships teams, contribute to increasing the volume and equity of IRC's work with local and regional partners (with a focus on women-led national organizations) by coordinating support to country programs in identifying partnership opportunities, identifying strong partners, and finalizing teaming arrangements.

·       Support partnering conversations with international partner HQs where needed.

·       Support countries and region in planning effective donor, partner, and peer engagement, collaborating with relevant Partnerships/Strategic Partnerships and post-award colleagues.

·       Represent IRC externally to donors, peers, and partners.

Capacity Building and Training (10%)

·       Collaborate with other HBDs and stakeholders to share best practices and lessons learned, and to develop and improve tools as identified in the BD team workplan.

·       Contribute to developing, updating, and delivering business-development related training for the region, including roll-out and refreshers of the IRC Business Development Process training. This will be done in collaboration with RPAS team members,

·       Develop, strengthen, and share capacity of other IRC staff - including direct reports, IRC country and regional teams - to identify opportunities and develop strong program design and proposals, including BD processes.

·       Support in recruiting, onboarding, and training of new country, regional grants and partnerships team members in collaboration with RPAS team members.

Staff Management, Learning, and Development (15%)

·                Supervise and mentor direct reports, including communicating clear expectations, providing regular and timely performance feedback, document and discuss performance issues if needed, and deliver high-quality documented annual performance reviews.

·                Ensure direct reports are trained on all relevant IRC processes and donor regulations.

·                Support direct reports in achieving annual objectives, acting as a trusted and accountable manager, mentor, and professional resource, including promoting collaboration, enabling adequate resourcing, and ensuring accountability.

Other Responsibilities (5%)

·       Contribute to AMU and regional strategic priorities and initiatives.

·       Support with translation to regional or donor languages when necessary.

·       Participate in special projects, working groups and other tasks as assigned.

 Essential

Skills, Knowledge, and Qualifications:

·       Substantial experience and a successful track record leading large proposal teams on complex subjects, multi-year, multi-partner proposals with minimal supervision.

·       Experience developing and supporting humanitarian and development proposals for NGOs.

·       Experience with strategies and proposal processes of key government/statutory donors – US Government (USAID and Department of State), FCDO, EU institutions (ECHO, INTPA), and other donors (GAC, Sida, GFFO, BMZ, SDC, etc.).

·       Experience collaborating with and supporting national and community-based partners.

·       Experience in proposal budgeting a plus.

·       Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, including the ability to effectively collaborate across a variety of relationships in a multicultural environment.

·       Demonstrated ability to collaborate equally effectively with colleagues in remote and diverse teams, including as team leader for proposals.

·       Clear, compelling writing skills, preferably with previous experience with proposal writing.

·       Ability to multi-task and prioritize effectively.

·       Ability to travel internationally (approximately 20% of time).

·       Fluency in English.

Please place applications until 17.01.2025

For any questions please reach out to Domtillah Herbrand (HR.Deutschland@rescue.org)

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