Head of Business Development at Save The Children

ROLE PURPOSE: 

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.

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 unit that provides support to technical and cost proposals. 

Strategically, s/he will take 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.

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

General Management

• 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.

Strategic leadership

• Lead on the development of and updates of SC Nigeria’s country specific Funding Strategy and Donor Engagement Plan for the country program as a whole and for thematic, cross-sectoral and emergency response programs and projects.
• Ensure close collaboration and joint decision making with DPDQ, Director Programme Operations, ACCM Director and the Country Director and consultation with Member and regional offices on new (strategic) funding opportunities.
• Ensure timely strategic engagement with donors, partners, and other external stakeholders.
• Ensure funding is adequately channelled into the CO’s strategic objectives and towards innovations; ensure program development builds on learning and evaluation of previous project implementation.

Business analysis and donor engagement

• Represent the Nigeria CO in relevant donor fora, workshops and conferences where new business development opportunities can be formulated, as indicated by the line manager.
• Establish effective relationships with external stakeholders, donors and potential partners for large scale or strategic funding opportunities, either as a prime or sub-recipient.
• Cultivate excellent working relationships with and serve as focal point for SC Members and donor agencies at the regional and country level.
• Ensure key contacts, required formats and donor strategies are kept up-to-date at the country office level. ensures maintenance of donor and partner engagement tracking database.
• Identify, research, and disseminate information on new funding opportunities from bilateral, multi-lateral, and other institutional and non-traditional donors (foundations, corporates etc.).
• Explore and test potential private sector and other new types of partnerships and keep abreast of local funding environment.
• Ensure tracking of active funding opportunities, submission deadlines, financing available. Ensure all appropriate donor and SC proposal formats are available in country. 
• Monitor proposals pipeline and win rates, ensure that updated trackers are available for planning purposes, keep senior management informed.

Oversee proposal development

• Lead on the development of high-value or complex proposals for donor awards and bids for donor contracts. 
• Provide leadership and co-ordination to the proposal development team, overseeing and ensuring quality and compliance with donor guidelines for all SC Nigeria proposals under development. 
• Interface closely with Programme Operations, ACCM, HR and the Finance teams, as well as technical advisors, to ensure all information is produced in a way that ensures quality and integration of SCI interventions at the programme design and reporting stage.
• Ensure that concept notes and funding proposals align closely with Country Strategy Plan, Thematic plans, geographic priorities, master budgets and Monitoring & Evaluations, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) frameworks as well as SLT decisions.
• Develop and track proposal development timelines and work closely with PDQ, Programme Operations, ACCM, Finance, HR, Security and Supply Chain to ensure adequate and timely input into proposal and budget development.
• In collaboration with Members, when relevant, broker technical assistance and other resources to support proposal development. 
• Facilitate engagement of consultants on large-scale proposals, or when technical specialists outside of Save the Children teams are needed. 
• Represent Save the Children generally (along with technical experts) in consortium meetings regarding proposal development.
• Ensure that Programme Quality Framework is addressed in all new proposals and that key elements of programme quality are included (e.g. child participation, child safeguarding, lessons learned from past proposals, accountability, risk assessments, and effective partnership strategy).
• Ensure all proposal and concept note submissions to donors are complete, done as per Save the Children and donors standards and guidelines, reviewed and approved by the SMT and other staff in country as appropriate before submission to the donor.
• In collaboration with the Awards team, lead on maintaining the up-to-date database of proposals submitted, approved, rejected and reports submitted to donors/SC members. 
• Ensure the Program Development team supports preparing all the relevant information for Prime system; the awards kick-off process and budget and proposal re-alignments throughout the implementation, as well as cost and no cost extensions, assuring initial proposal compliance

People management, mentoring and development 

• Support the DPDQ to proactively build and maintain technical skills and competencies required for leading and/or in-putting for first class programs.
• Be effective as a mentor and coach for the staff that report to this role, as well as other staff that contribute to developing proposals and writing reports.
• Support the development of an organisational culture that reflects our broad-spectrum programming values, promotes accountability and high performance, encourages a team culture of learning, creativity and innovation, and frees up our people to deliver outstanding results for children and excellent customer service for our members and donors.   

SKILLS AND BEHAVIOURS (our Values in Practice)

Accountability:

• Understands and respects the need for procedures, policies and planning for safety and security management in delivering humanitarian assistance
• Holds self accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values
• Holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities - giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit, providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved
• Creates a managerial environment across the team to lead, enable and maintain our culture of child safeguarding

Ambition:

• Sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves and their team, takes responsibility for their own personal development and encourages their team to do the same
• Future orientated, thinks strategically and on a country-wide scale

Collaboration:

• Approachable, good listener, easy to talk to; builds and maintains effective relationships with colleagues, Members and external partners and supporters
• Values diversity and different people’s perspectives, able to work cross-culturally.

Creativity:

• Develops and encourages new and innovative solutions

Integrity:

• Honest, encourages openness and transparency, builds trust and confidence
• Displays consistent excellent judgement.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE AND ATTRIBUTES

Essential

• Master’s degree in social sciences and any of the development sectors.
• 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.