Head of Business Development at Save The Children

Job ID: sav-05818
Location: Abuja, Nigeria
Duration: Full-time

The Role

• Save The Children is looking to add a dynamic, organized Head of Business Development who is passionate about being a part of a global team of individuals committed to improving the lives of children in Nigeria.
• The Head of Business Development is a key position to support successful pursuit of new funding for the country program. His/her actions and decisions in managing multi-divisional proposal response teams directly impact the quality and competitiveness of Save the Children’s proposals for new funding.
• Strategically, s/he often takes the lead in coordinating appropriate internal advance planning in coordination and communication on potential new opportunities.
• S/he provides quality control and support to technical leads’ efforts to achieve greater program impact through the successful pursuit of larger and more strategic funding opportunities.
• The Head of Business Development provides technical assistance, support, and training to technical advisors for new business development strategies and tasks from pre- positioning through proposal submission. This position also oversees a small unit that provides support to technical and cost proposals.

Key Areas of Accountability

• Identify and track relevant upcoming funding opportunities – through advance intelligence gathering, partner relationships, and other available resources – and inform Country Office SMT and relevant technical leads.
• Coordinate proposal development, including providing quality control to proposals through the design, implementation, and/or review of response strategies and action plans for technical and cost proposals, including writing, reviewing and editing proposal sections, graphics, work plans, budget spreadsheets and narratives; managing partner relations; and overseeing final proposal production for submission to donors.
• Develop and/or maintain appropriate systems, procedures, policies, and materials to support the identification, selection and response to strategic opportunities.
• Manage major open solicitations and other proposal submissions, including teaming agreements, oversight of technical design and cost proposal, capacity statements, internal review/quality control processes, drafting sections of the proposal where appropriate.
• Conduct prospecting visits to field offices to identify and prepare for upcoming funding opportunities.
• Represent Save the Children as appropriate on strategic opportunities with donors, partners and others, participating as needed in meetings and conferences.
• Strengthen staff capacity to respond to strategic opportunities through the creation and/or delivery of formal and informal training and tools.

Qualifications and Attributes

• 6-8 years of experience in international development, including at least 5 years of experience in successful proposal development for institutional and corporate donors, including pre-solicitation preparation.
• Experience with USAID and DFID solicitations is required; substantive relevant experience in proposal development for other multilateral or bilateral donors may be considered within the years of experience sought.
• Experience training staff and creating training modules and materials.
• Experience managing a small team.
• Master’s degree in International Development or related field.
• Preference for a candidate with overseas field experience.
• Must be willing to travel to state offices up to 20%.
• Ability to coordinate multiple projects simultaneously, work well under pressure and meet deadlines.
• Ability to effectively communicate with and coordinate activities of multiple partners, including field-based staff.
• Excellent technical skills in writing, editing, formatting, research, negotiation, and verbal communications, and attention to detail required.