New Business Development Officer

Job Description

To be considered for this position, please apply online at: http://www.pathfinder.org/about-us/careers/employment-opportunities/

Pathfinder Overview

Pathfinder International is a global leader in sexual and reproductive health. We place reproductive health care at the center of all that we do—believing that it is not only a fundamental human right, but is critical for expanding life opportunities for women, families, communities, and nations, and paving the way for transformations in environmental stewardship, decreases in population pressures, and innovations in poverty reduction. Pathfinder provides women, men, and adolescents with a range of quality health services—from contraception and maternal care to HIV prevention and AIDS care and treatment. Pathfinder strives to strengthen access to family planning, ensure availability of safe abortion services and post-abortion care, advocate for sound reproductive health policies, and, through all of our work, improve the rights and lives of the people we serve.

Program Overview

The New Business Development department is responsible for developing new business opportunities for Pathfinder International and securing funding from governments and other multi-lateral donors such as United Nations agencies, the World Bank, the Global Fund, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and others.

Position Purpose

The New Business Development Officer leads efforts to respond to program development opportunities, with an emphasis on strategically increasing Pathfinder’s portfolio of priority projects. S/he independently oversees and manages teams comprised of staff, consultants, and external partners to develop proposals in response to donor solicitations and organizationally-determined priority areas. The position develops and maintains specialized knowledge of specific regions, countries, and technical areas of interest to the organization. In developing proposals, the New Business Development Officer participates in or leads project design (depending on the size and complexity of the opportunity) and writes key sections of proposals, determines budget allocations, and recruits consultants and personnel. S/he provides guidance and support for field-based proposal development initiatives, including conducting capture trips, interviewing and determining staffing for key personnel positions, screening local partners, and apportioning partner budgets. The New Business Development Officer is held accountable for the high quality submission of all donor-related requirements by internally or externally-imposed deadlines. The New Business Development Officer represents the organization externally with international and local partners as well as government and other donors.

Key Responsibilities

• Provides leadership in expanding Pathfinder’s project portfolio in strategic program areas and ensures alignment with Pathfinder’s core business areas.
• Leads proposal development teams, liaising with program, finance, communications, contracts, and field staff to ensure high quality, cohesive proposals that are grounded in solid public health practices and compliant with donor requirements and regulations.
• Conducts trips to the field to determine feasibility of pursuing particular opportunities and independently engages with potential partners and potential staff.
• Works with Washington, DC, Watertown, MA and field-based program staff to develop and support country-level program development opportunities.
• Negotiates with international and local non-governmental organizations to establish partnerships for existing and future program development opportunities.
• Monitors and tracks business opportunities for priority countries.
• Engages directly in the development of proposals, contributing to technical design, and writing key sections of the technical and cost applications.
• In collaboration with International Proposal Recruiter, recruits, interviews, and hires consultants to assist with program development, including preparing consultant agreements, developing scopes of work, and monitoring work product.
• In collaboration with International Proposal Recruiter, identifies, recruits, and interviews key personnel to be bid on proposals.
• In collaboration with Finance, oversees proposal budgets by tracking and monitoring expenditures.
• Holds debriefings with proposal teams to identify and document lessons learned and best practices for program development efforts.
• Makes recommendations on how to modify and improve business development tools.
• Remains current on latest funding trends, policies, and innovations for health that align with Pathfinder’s current and expanding core business.
• Represents Pathfinder to an array of external clients and stakeholders, such as partner agencies, donors, consultants, and potential key personnel.

Basic Requirements

• Master’s degree in Public Health, Business, Public Administration, Non-Profit management or related field; or appropriate combination of Bachelor’s Degree and significant relevant professional experience.
• A minimum of seven years progressively responsible experience (or combination of experience) in project implementation, technical programming, grants management, grants development, operations or new business development.
• A minimum of five years progressively responsible experience working on USAID federal grants.
• A minimum of five years of budget management and cost proposal experience.
• A minimum of four years working on health programs.
• Supervisory and project management experience.
• Knowledge of logical frameworks or other project design concepts.
• Ability to adhere to timelines and work well under pressure in a fast-paced environment with shifting priorities and multiple deadlines.
• Ability to exercise sound and timely judgment and maintain confidentiality of sensitive information.
• U.S. federal grant as well as foundation grant-writing experience.
• Demonstrated negotiation, problem-solving, decision-making, organizational, time-management, analytical, presentation, budgeting, and research skills.
• Advanced computer skills, especially with MS Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook), Adobe Acrobat (PDF software) to produce high-quality, well-formatted documents with tight turnaround times, and SharePoint.
• Demonstrated proficiency in written and verbal English, including advanced editing skills.
• Solid interpersonal and networking skills, including the ability to establish solid working relationships with customers, program management, technical staff, and diverse staff in various other business areas of the organization.
• Ability to travel domestically and internationally, usually not to exceed 35% of total working days per year.

Preferred Qualifications

• Proficiency in a second language desirable.
• Previous project design experience strongly preferred.
• Strong interest in global reproductive health issues.
• Experience living or working in developing countries that aids in the understanding of program context, field realities, and technical needs preferred.
• Knowledge of and/or experience with international public health issues to include one or more of the following: reproductive health, family planning, and HIV/AIDS extremely helpful.

Pathfinder International is an Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or protected Veteran status.

About the Organization

Since 1957, Pathfinder International has maintained an unwavering belief in the right of women and families to have access to contraception and to quality reproductive health care. Pathfinder’s founder Clarence Gamble, a pioneer in family planning and maternal health, introduced contraception to more than 60 developing countries, including some where Pathfinder is still engaged today.

Pathfinder works in remote locations, under the most difficult conditions, serving the most vulnerable people. We collaborate with governments, NGOs, and community- and faith-based organizations to make contraception available and provide the quality care needed to ensure safe childbirth and healthy families. Working in countries with high prevalence of HIV and AIDS, we provide a continuum of HIV and AIDS prevention and treatment services and are expanding the integration of these services into reproductive health and family planning programs. Though controversial, we support safe abortion care in countries where it’s legal, provide reproductive health services to commercial sex workers and adolescents, and advocate for sound reproductive health policies in the US and abroad.

Pathfinder’s work focuses on overcoming barriers and is based on developing long-term relationships, not only with clients, but with entire communities. Working in traditional societies, we understand that changes in attitude and behavior must have the support of religious and community leaders, the guardians of local culture. We train doctors, nurses, midwives, traditional birth attendants, community-based health workers, and teachers. At the same time, we build the capacity of our partner organizations to make them stronger, more effective, and able to thrive independently once our support has ended.