Global Development Business Development Executive

Job Description

The Opportunity

As a Global Development Business Development Executive, you will be a senior leader driving Abt’s growth strategy. Experience building business in the global dev markets and in-depth familiarity with associated government agencies and multilateral institutions, including USAID, FCDO, DFAT and other development agencies and institutions to grow new business and increase Abt’s impact. You should have superlative client relationship development skills and experience that includes pipeline creation and qualification, business development capture, proposal management, client buyer value and win theme definition, teaming and partnering, and competitive positioning. You will partner with a Portfolio VP lead and lead a team of growth-focused professionals to identify, qualify, assess, and win business opportunities. These opportunities will include new opportunities with existing clients as well as new opportunities with new clients (i.e., ‘white space market areas’). You will meet with clients across the portfolio, build relationships with key partners, develop winning bid strategies, including crafting key inputs into solutioning, pricing, teaming, and staffing, and identify resources and requirements to pursue, bid and win. In particular, in this role you will drive Abt’s growth strategy at USAID DC-based Bureaus.

Key Responsibilities

• Identify opportunities through client engagement, client and partner networks, and market intelligence tools and data.
• Align opportunity pursuit to company criteria and strategic priorities.
• Opportunity qualification, including validated win themes and solution features, resulting in an optimized qualified pipeline that yields higher PWin pursuits
• Partner with Portfolio VP to develop and execute Account Plan and Strategy
• Secure new client relationships and expand existing relationships through creation of relationship maps and call plans and identifying client decision makers and influencers.
• Identify and support up-sell/cross-sell opportunities from existing contracts
• Identify and negotiate with partners and prepare input for NDAs and TAs (working with Contracts)
• Creation of client sales presentation materials and decks. Support the creation of sales/marketing material.
• Identify new opportunities for pursuit, including early identification of opportunities that go to RFP as well as “demand generation” activities that define and shape new opportunities with clients for which Abt is well positioned.
• Develop business development skills of Portfolio Growth team and key BD-focused staff; and implement processes (in collaboration with other BDEs) to drive the early phases of capture including:
  • Identifying customers’ strategic priorities, goals, pain points, needs
  • Liaising with Abt capability lines to identify and shape high level solutions
  • Defining competitive landscape and Abt positioning relative to competition
  • Define the initial “Why Abt” rationale, teaming strategy
  • Creation of materials for Portfolio leadership, Bid Board for go-no-go determinations
• As needed, support and drive later stages of capture, including:
  • Supporting more detailed solutioning, pricing, price-to-win activities
  • Providing support to proposal management process, including providing key inputs into written response.
  • Participating in color team reviews
  • Leading/participating in Black Hat/competitive assessments

What We Value

• Bachelor’s Degree and 15 years of experience
• Minimum of 7-10 years’ experience in business development, capture, or equivalent client facing/relationship development role.
• Demonstrated success in identifying, initiating, and nurturing new or ongoing business opportunities at USAID.
• Preference for business development in the areas of digital, data analytics, technical assistance delivery and research/public policy.
• Previous work with USAID and strong relationships with current Program Leaders and decision-makers
• Strong working knowledge of USAID bureaus programs
• Deep understanding of global development industry
• Communication and interpersonal skills including verbal and presentation skills to individuals and groups, internally and externally
• Writing skills to include development of content incorporating key win themes in a clear and concise manner
• Superior proficiency with Microsoft Office tools (e.g., Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Teams, etc.)
• Experience with CRM tools
• US work authorization is required

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Abt Associates is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity employer committed to fostering a diverse workforce. Abt Associates provides market-competitive salaries and comprehensive employee benefits. Local candidates strongly encouraged to apply.

Disclaimer: Abt Associates will never ask candidates for money in exchange for an offer of employment.

This position offers an anticipated annual base salary range of approximately $185,000 to $250,000, and may vary by ten percent depending on candidate geographic location. Salary offers are made based on internal equity and market analysis.

About the Organization

Abt Associates is a mission-driven, global leader in research and program implementation in the fields of health, social and environmental policy, and international development. Founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1965, Abt Associates was built on the concept that sound information and empirical analysis are the best foundations for effective decision making. The firm blends the subject matter expertise of our staff with technical capabilities in applied research, program implementation, and data collection to shape policy, strengthen systems, measure performance, and deliver other solutions to our public and private sector clients. Examples of Abt Associates’ work include nationally recognized research, evaluation, and technical assistance to improve the efficiency of healthcare systems, the effectiveness of government housing programs, the production of food, and the measurement of public opinion. Abt’s staff of more than 2000 includes national and international experts who are known for their understanding of communities and governments worldwide, innovative research techniques, and insightful—and often groundbreaking—analyses and recommendations. Approximately 51 percent of our staff has graduate degrees; one in six has a doctorate. Our staff’s educational and professional disciplines include economics, engineering, environmental analysis, epidemiology, food security, health, housing, international development, psychology, social science, statistics, and survey methodology. Abt’s research staff is experienced with prominent statistical software packages, including SPSS, SAS, and STATA, along with qualitative software such as NVIVO and Atlas. In 2011, Abt Associates was ranked among the top 20 global research firms and one of the top 40 development innovators. Abt has offices in Atlanta, Ga.; Bethesda, Md.; Cambridge, Mass.; Chicago, Ill.; Durham, N.C.; and New York City and program offices in nearly 40 countries in Africa, Central and Southeast Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East and North Africa. www.abtassociates.com