Senior Business Development Specialist

  • Senior-level, Full-time staff position
  • Posted on 7 November 2023

Job Description

Job Summary

Every employee of IRI is responsible for carrying out the Mission of IRI and demonstrating the Core Values in their day-to-day operations. The Core Values, which are IRI’s foundational building blocks include:

Excellence - We believe in quality results delivered by investing in people.

Freedom - We believe in exploration and experimentation to be agile and responsive.

Respect - We believe in trust, empathy and empowering people.

Teamwork - We believe in diversity, inclusion and the power of global collaboration.

Transparency - We believe in open communication and clear decision-making.

Accountability - We believe in personal responsibility as the foundation of success.

The Senior Business Development Specialist is a manager-level role and leader on the business development team. In this role they will drive capture strategy for the institute, provide technical direction for new program design, and manage proposal development processes. The ideal candidate excels in working at both a strategic and functional level, working hands on with proposal teams while also contributing to overall vision for IRI business development process and priorities.

This position is based in Washington, DC and reports to the Deputy Director of Business Development.

Position Requirements

  • Undergraduate/graduate degree in political/social science, international relations or related field.
  • Minimum five years of professional experience in the international development sector.
  • Demonstrated understanding of business and proposal development processes.
  • Experience managing a proposal process as a proposal manager, coordinator, or in similar role.
  • Experience leading technical writing and design of competitive proposals.
  • Strong organizational skills, execution of tasks, and attention to detail required.
  • Ability to manage diverse activities and to meet deadlines required.
  • Ability to work independently and as a member of a team, coordinate and effectively meet program goals.
  • Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English.
  • High proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite.
  • Experience working on competitive U.S. Government and/or foreign funding opportunities preferred.
  • Experience working on democracy and governance proposal development and implementation of grants preferred.

Primary Functions & Responsibilities

BD Strategy and Leadership

  • Work closely with the Director for Business Development to lead the development and implementation of an institute-wide capture strategy; provide technical direction to teams to capture new funding opportunities.
  • In collaboration with the Director of Business Development, lead roll-out and training for select Regional Divisions on how to use capture tools.
  • Provide input and assist in coordinating strategic initiatives in key technical teams
  • Coach program and proposal teams to incorporate Institute-level new business priorities into regional new business decisions.
  • Build capacity of Business Development staff on leading program design sessions.
  • Coordinate with the BD Director to teach and share with IRI staff best practices for developing proposal strategy, approach, and writing clearly.
  • Closely coordinates with capture captains in assigned regions.

Proposal Management

  • Serve as a proposal manager, leading a proposal team and facilitating the entire proposal process including the capture efforts, implementing proposal schedules, overseeing the development of both technical approach, and ensuring a proposal’s successful and compliant on-time submission.
  • Collaborate closely with Cost & Pricing team to ensure cost proposals are responsive to the solicitation and to make sure all technical components are captured.
  • Participate in the identification and selection of partners for specific proposals.
  • Assist with recruitment efforts for new bids.
  • Assist with market analysis and Business Development portfolio management.
  • Network with business development professionals in peer organizations to enhance partnership development.

Program Technical Design

  • Develop strategy, technical approach, and proposed results for specific proposals; this will include engaging with other IRI technical experts as needed to draw on as much relevant knowledge and experience as possible to put together a winning offer.
  • Facilitate and lead the brainstorming of responsive yet innovative programmatic design concepts, and ensure they are meaningfully translated into written content.
  • Serve as a master editor for assigned proposal packages.
  • Serve as technical gate reviewer as needed.
  • Produce and/or revise technical content for institutional business development purposes or for key proposal sections.
  • As needed, participate in the recruitment and selection of best candidates for key personnel positions to align with technical requirements of the project.

Organization Advancement

  • Assist in coordinating and producing external affairs promotional material with business development priorities.
  • Support the Institute’s Communities of Practice (CoP), as interested.
  • Support the design and implementation, where applicable, of CoP-related programming.
  • Support CoP-related thought leadership for IRI.
Qualifications Education

Required

Bachelors or better in Political Science or related field.

Experience

Required

5 years: • Undergraduate/graduate degree in political/social science, international relations or related field. • Minimum five years of professional experience in the international development sector. • Demonstrated understanding of business and proposal development processes. • Strong organizational skills, execution of tasks, and attention to detail required.

Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities

The contractor will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor’s legal duty to furnish information. 41 CFR 60-1.35(c)

About the Organization

IRI is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization committed to advancing freedom and democracy worldwide by helping political parties to become more issue-based and responsive, assisting citizens to participate in government planning, and working to increase the role of marginalized groups in the political process – including women and youth.

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