Business Development Specialist

Work location: London, UK or Toronto, Canada

Work arrangement: A combination of in-office and remote-working in accordance with Right To Play’s work arrangement and the operational needs of the department

Authorized to work in: Canada or UK (Eligible to work legally without requiring sponsorship)

Target Hiring Range: CAD 74,000 – 78,000 / GBP 45,000 – 49,000 per annum (dependent on successful candidate’s work location)

Target Start Date: April 2022

Closing Date: February 22, 2022

BACKGROUND:

Right To Play is a global organisation that protects, educates and empowers children to rise above adversity using play. By harnessing play, one of the most powerful and fundamental forces in a child’s life, we helped 2.3 million children last year to stay in school and out of work, to prevent life-threatening diseases like HIV and malaria and to stay safe from exploitation and abuse. We are the only global development organization focused exclusively on using play to transform the lives of children and youth impacted by poverty, war, disease and inequality.

Established in 2000, Right To Play reaches children through experiential programming in 15 countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and North America. These programs are supported by our headquarters in Toronto, Canada; London, UK and eight national offices across Europe and North America.

With a shared passion for our mission, our Culture Code guides how we act and interact based on five core pillars:

• Accept Everyone – Be intentional about inclusion
• Make Things Happen – Seek opportunities to lead and innovate
• Display Courage – Act with integrity
• Demonstrate Care – Look after yourself and one another
• Be Playful – Have fun at work

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Reporting to the Global Director Institutional Partnerships, the Business Development Specialist will lead new business development efforts to support Right To Play (RTP) programming across Africa, Asia and the Middle East in line with the organization’s programmatic and institutional funding strategies. There will be traveling up to 30% of time internationally to RTP program countries.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES:

#1: Proposal Development (60% Time):

• Drive business development across the organisation by providing effective proposal support, ranging from proposal management to comprehensive support and quality assurance to fundraising units within the Global Partnership Team and Country Offices
• Support the five-year institutional fundraising strategy, ensuring the creation of a robust pipeline of funding opportunities linked to RTP’s organizational strategy and country strategic plans, as well as supporting the effective management of existing donor relationships
• Identify and proactively generate opportunities from new and existing multilateral and bilateral donors
• Lead the development of high-quality proposals in line with the organisation’s program and institutional funding strategies. This will involve management of proposal teams, calendars, and deadlines. Oversight and coordination of programme design, collaboration with Country Office staff, technical staff and their inputs, coordination of budget development, and writing, reviewing and submission of applications.
• Coordinate and communicate with consortium partners. Negotiate and finalize teaming agreements with partners and ensure vetting of partners is performed in line with RTP requirements.
• Support identification of partners, consultants, and other proposal development support as needed.
• Write and/or review other major funding proposals and budgets prepared by the Global Partnership Team and Country Offices, ensuring that the products submitted achieve a standard of excellence and are compatible with both internal and donor policies.

#2: Donor Partnership Development and Support (25% Time):

• Support in building RTP’s visibility with donors, peers, and partners
• Support the development of peer-level relationships with potential partner organisations including INGOs and institutions to assist in pre-positioning for funding opportunities
• Support the identification of potential funding opportunities globally and in countries where RTP operates
• Lead proposal development capacity building across the organization by supporting Country teams and the wider Global Partnership team in proposal development and institutional donor guidance
• Support development of resources and materials such as capacity statements that will advance new business development and donor pre-positioning
• Act as a central source of knowledge and advice on priorities, policies and procedures for bi-lateral and multi-lateral donors targeted by RTP
• Contribute to the delivery of the organisational institutional funding strategy to increase and diversify institutional revenue in line with RTP’s strategic objectives.

#3: Project Initiation Support (10% Time):

• Adjust activity/budget planning where required through dialogue with donors and relevant RTP colleagues during any approval in principle and/or donor negotiation stages of a proposal submission process, to ensure funding is confirmed and grant agreement processes can commence.
• Maintain positive working relationships with donors, Country Office staff, relevant RTP departments and partners during donor negotiation/proposal re-submission processes.
• Ensure a smooth transition from proposal development to program implementation once funding is confirmed and helps facilitate positive relationships and strong communications with donors, partners grant managers and country offices.
• Facilitate internal post-submission debrief sessions with country and technical teams, and other relevant stakeholders to collect lessons learned for future proposal development and submission processes, and to support capacity building across the organization.

#4: Performs other duties as may be assigned (5% Time)

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MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS (Must have):

EDUCATION/TRAINING/CERTIFICATION:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in a related field (e.g. International Development, Public Policy/Administration)

EXPERIENCE:

• 5 years’ professional experience and a successful track record in leading large proposal teams on complex subject, multi-year, multi-partner proposals with minimal supervision
• 5 years’ experience in developing and supporting development and humanitarian proposals for INGOs.
• 5 years’ experience with strategies and proposal processes of key government/statutory and multi-lateral donors including US Government (USAID, BPRM), FCDO, EU institutions, SIDA, AFD, BMZ, SDC, ECW, UN Agencies etc.
• Experience in collaborating with and supporting INGO, national and community-based partners.

COMPETENCIES/PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES:

• Excellent written and oral presentation skills and ability to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences, including the media, the public, government officials, NGOs, RTP’s affiliates, and others 
• Strong people and facilitation skills 
• Confident to work alone but able to judge when help is required or when there is an opportunity to share learning 
• Able to manage heavy workload reporting to multiple audiences and stakeholders
• Demonstrated interest in human rights and social change issues, and good knowledge of the NGO, media, and political environments in development cooperation 

KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS:

• Excellent knowledge of international development and humanitarian programming and policy.
• Excellent planning, management, proposal writing and coordination skills, with the ability to organise a workload comprised of varying and changing tasks and responsibilities.
• Flexibility and ability to respond quickly to changing priorities and produce results for short deadlines.
• Excellent communication skills (written and oral), interpersonal, public relations and report writing skills.
• Strong numerical ability, able to understand, analyse and present financial information.

LANGUAGES: Fluency in written and spoken English

WHAT YOU’LL GET:

The opportunity to work with a passionate, innovative and collaborative team where you have the ability to make things happen. You will gain experience working for a Great Place to Work® Canada Certified and globally recognized organization with a healthy culture premised on our Culture Code. In addition, we offer a competitive salary and benefits package including flexible work policy (e.g. work from home and flex hours), up to 5 personal learning and development days per year and summer/winter hours. 

HOW TO APPLY:

If you are interested in applying for this position, please apply with your resume and cover letter.

Right To Play provides equal employment opportunities to employees regardless of their gender, race, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation or marital status. As such, we encourage women and groups who have been historically disadvantaged with respect to employment to apply for positions at Right To Play. We offer a family-friendly environment that allows for flexible work arrangements in order to support staff diversity and ensure a healthy work-life balance.

We are a child-centered organization. Our recruitment and selection procedures reflect our commitment to the safety and protection of children in our programs. The successful candidate will be required to provide a satisfactory Vulnerable Sector Screening or equivalent criminal check as a condition of employment.

EMPLOYEE VACCINE POLICY:

To protect the health and safety of our employees and the communities we serve, Right To Play requires all employees and volunteers based in Canada to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The successful candidate will be required to provide proof of vaccination against COVID-19 as a condition of employment.

ACCOMODATION:

Should you require any form of accommodation during the recruitment process, kindly contact the People & Culture team by email at [email protected]