Director, Business Development

Position Description:

Plan works for girls’ rights. Harmful barriers like child marriage, human trafficking and gender-based violence are preventing girls and young women from achieving their full potential. Plan, along with government and private partners, fights against harmful gender norms and empowers young people to create positive change in their communities. We have worked in communities for more than 80 years and provide locally-driven programming through 240 offices around the world.

Plan International USA is fully committed to the safeguarding of all children and young people from all forms of violence.

The Director of Business Development provides overall leadership of the US Government-focused Business Development team overseeing proposal development of both development and humanitarian focused opportunities. In this role, the Director is responsible for leading business development strategies with multiple key stakeholders. This includes developing and updating business development approaches; working with Plan USA technical and finance teams as well as Plan Country Offices and other partners to prospect, network, and identify new opportunities for US Government funding; managing the six-person business development team; and coordinating the development of winning proposals. The Director and her/his six-person team will ensure the quality of all aspects of the proposal process and will be responsible for management of selected proposal opportunities from inception through proposal submission. The Business Development Unit will also participate in negotiations with donors and primes, and in project hand-over and start-up processes.

Reporting to the Vice President Programs and participating in the Programs Leadership Team and organization-wide Senior Leadership Team the Director will be expected to collaborate with Plan’s Executive Team on the development and implementation of Plan’s fundraising strategy. This includes maintaining, updating, and presenting the USG pipeline; contributing to the annual budget forecast cycle; representing Plan at selected external events and with diverse internal stakeholders; coordinating external networks; and engaging with peer organizations, donors, and potential donors. The Director will also advise the Executive Team on relevant trends and be expected to co-create new and innovative funding and implementation models.

Essential Functions:

Develop and implement Plan’s business development strategy

• Collaborate with Plan’s Executive Team to develop a comprehensive USG-focused business development strategy including approaches, tools, and metrics.
• Lead the implementation of the business development strategy including coordinating actions of relevant stakeholders.
• Propose, cost out, and oversee strategic investments in new business development and the budget planning cycle.
• Contribute to identifying emerging areas for Plan to shape opportunities with donors.

Coordination of business development-focused networking and representation

• Lead the Business Development Unit, technical teams, and other internal stakeholders to identify, track, and position for relevant upcoming US Government funding opportunities in coordination with Country Offices, partner organizations, and relevant Plan technical teams.
• Identify and present together with others Plan’s capabilities to USG and occasionally to other donors such as corporates and foundations.
• Represent Plan USG business development interests at relevant meetings, events, and among formal and informal networks of peer organizations.
• As possible, conduct or coordinate prospecting visits to Plan’s Country Offices to identify and prepare for upcoming funding opportunities by gathering and analyzing intelligence to inform collaborative proposal development strategies including partnering.
• Engage with Plan Country or Regional Offices to enable them to understand USG proposal requirements and then build their capacity in relevant USG proposal development topics. This could be delivered remotely or through in-person training.
• Manage pre-solicitation proposal preparations and bid planning including intelligence gathering, partnership building, bid strategy development including identifying win-themes and gaps, and intelligence gathering and sharing.
• Liaise and collaborate with Plan’s Corporate and Foundation Partnerships and Philanthropy teams in the development and delivery of combined (USG/Corporate/Individual fundraising opportunities, with the intent of leveraging support from multiple donors to amplify the success of Plan’s mission.
• Maintain an up-to-date detailed proposal tracker including opportunities in various stages of development.

Leadership of the development of USG proposal process

• Oversee all aspects of the USG-funded proposal processes including proper submission of high-quality, responsive, winning bids.
• Support reviews and writing of specific sections including overall proposal structure, context and background sections, technical design, and drafting and review of management and/or other proposal sections.
• Incorporate Plan’s Gender, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and child safeguarding good practices into capture and proposals.
• Ensure completeness and timeliness of USG proposal submissions.

Lead and manage the Business Development Unit

• Support the recruitment and retention of qualified business development professionals.
• Manage the BD Unit including maintaining team spirit and performance, setting annual goals, encouraging career development, addressing issues within the team, and ensuring equitable distribution of work.

Skills and Competencies:

• Demonstrated ability to develop, implement, and adapt USG-focused business development strategies in a rapidly changing environment.
• Proven record of accomplishment winning USG programs across a variety of procurement mechanisms.
• Deep and demonstrated understanding of USG donors, with a wide network of contacts within USAID (United States Agency for International Development) and other government donors and with other implementors.
• Demonstrated ability to provide advice to the Executive Team on business development opportunities, investments, and budgets.
• Demonstrated ability to identify and generate new and innovative international development funding and implementation models in line with Plan’s technical capabilities.
• Demonstrated ability to work with diverse, inter-disciplinary and multi-national teams to produce high-quality products in a timely manner.
• Demonstrated understanding and acceptance of Gender, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion principles.
• Demonstrated experience working in a range of different contexts in developing countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America and the Caribbean.
• Demonstrated experience to build networks to create and negotiate mutually beneficial partnerships to pursue new business opportunities.
• Excellent technical skills in writing, editing, formatting, research, negotiation, and verbal communications.
• Strong organizational skills.
• Proven management acumen.
• Ability to coordinate multiple projects simultaneously, work well under pressure and meet deadlines.
• Ability to effectively communicate with and coordinate activities of multiple stakeholders, including field-based staff.
• Excellent interpersonal skills.
• Ability to collaborate with others and work as part of a team.
• Ability to adapt to rapidly changing priorities.
• Working knowledge of a second language: French, Spanish preferred
• Willingness to travel on a limited basis, sometimes on short notice, for specific assignments in Plan Country Offices.

Education and Experience:

• Master's degree in international development or related field and a minimum of ten years work experience in a business development setting; or
• Bachelor's degree in international development or related field and at least twelve years' work experience in a business development setting or related field.
• Demonstrated success with USG and especially USAID capture and proposal processes and procedures.
• Human and Financial management experience.
• Negotiation experience and skills, preferably with USG donors.
• Budget development experience.
• An understanding of the global humanitarian structure.
• Long-term field experience preferred.

Other Duties

This job description does not contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time.

Plan is an equal opportunity employer and follows all laws associated with the EEOC.

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