BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT SPECIALIST

CARE is an international NGO with local staff and community partners in more than 90 countries. We create local solutions to poverty and inequality and we seek dignity for everyone every day and during times of crisis. These solutions have a broad range, from clean water to access to education; from microfinance to ensuring that everyone has nutritious food; from agriculture and climate change to disaster response. CARE puts women and girls at the center of everything we do because they have proven to be the best hope for creating lasting change in the world. Our staff live where they work, which makes us effective at understanding the challenges they face. We’ve been doing this for over 70 years, since World War II. It started with the world’s first CARE Package® of food for the post-war hungry in Europe. Our work today is as important as ever, we believe that poverty and inequality are historic injustices that we can end within a generation, for good. If you share our core beliefs: poverty is an injustice; poverty is solvable; and together, we have the power to end it, join us, and fight with CARE.

CARE is seeking the Institutional Funding and Strategy (IFS) Business Development Specialist (BDS), who will play a key role in assisting in the development of proposals, primarily to the US Government. The Business Development Specialist is self-motivated, detail-oriented and energetic with a strong work ethic. This key team member is well organized and has excellent written and verbal communication skills to assist with the day-to-day operations within IFS.

The BDS will be responsible for the administration, production, and configuration of proposal submissions, primarily in the humanitarian sector. The BDS will lead small and medium-sized humanitarian opportunities and may occasionally support a Business Development Manager with larger, long-term development bids. The BDS works closely with the other members of IFS and with Member, Country Office, and HQ staff to ensure responsiveness to the requirements of the RFA/P and consistency with CARE’s best practices and Country needs and interests. Like all of IFS’ proposal managers, the Business Development Specialist plays an important role in advocating for proposals to reflect CARE’s commitment to rights-based programming.

This position is the first position in IFS’ business development career pathway and is specifically designed to provide a strong foundation and experience in business development as preparation for growing into IFS’ Business Development Manager role.

Responsibilities:

Proposal Development:

• Leads the development of small and medium bid opportunities, as well as RFI responses, Concept Notes, and Issues Letters.
• Supports the Business Development manager(s) in coordinating large/complex proposals, including support in facilitating design sessions, coordinating and maintaining team documentation, coordinating inputs from Country Offices and technical teams, and ensuring the completion of all annexes for final submission.
• Supports the Business Development manager(s) in making an initial assessment of CARE’s ability to effectively compete, and factors required to assure a successful bid.
• Supports the Business Development manager(s) in providing guidance to the proposal team on proposal content, strategy, staffing, partners and budgeting; and keeping the proposal team on time with deliverables according to the proposal calendar.
• Supports the proposal teams in identifying potential partners and plays a supporting role in the negotiation of teaming agreements.
• Leads reviews of draft proposals for responsiveness and competitiveness; completing compliance checks; leading the development of annexes and supporting documents; and other proposal tasks as appropriate.
• Utilize Saleforce in the proposal development process and ensure accuracy of information, and, subsequently, IFS information and metrics for decision making.
• Work with SEAL on the After-Action Review process after each proposal to ensure proposal lessons learned are captured and will help develop business development guidance documents to capture such knowledge and learning from proposals.

Research and Support:

• Research competitors and document and store in appropriate SharePoint database for broader use.
• As assigned, provide research and support to the Business Development manager(s) overseeing the portfolio on the following tasks and deliverables: (1) Planning with program counterparts (or other technical counterparts as assigned) to anticipate and plan for opportunities relevant to assigned portfolio. (2) Annual reviews, strategic planning, and operational plans for assigned portfolio. (3) Researching and gathering business intelligence for the purpose of identifying opportunities in advance; tracking and responding to donor trends; and engaging with partners and donors to promote CARE. (4) Proposal Development Learning and Capacity Building Efforts.

Business Development Process

• Support ongoing IFS efforts to improve its business development processes, particularly those relevant to his/her position. This includes contributing to the development, maintenance, and promotion of IFS BD Guide as well as supporting development of training models, guidance documents, and best practices for capacity building in areas relevant to his/her position.

Perform other duties as assigned

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree or higher in development studies, or field that emphasizes critical writing and thinking skills
• At least one year of experience in USG business development
• Excellent writing skills with special emphasis on clear, persuasive language; strong editing skills; knowledge of US government proposal requirements; and ability to work under tight deadlines.

Desired

• Two years of experience in proposal development or program design
• Facilitation and training skills; foreign language capabilities; and familiarity with CARE and partner organizations