Deputy Director of Business Development (US Market)

Background

International Rescue Committee is among the world’s leading non-profit humanitarian relief and development organizations. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC’s mission is to help people whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover, and gain control of their future. The organization is on the ground in more than 40 countries, providing emergency relief and rebuilding lives in the wake of disaster. Through 26 regional offices in cities across the United States, we also help refugees resettle in the US and become self-sufficient. We’re striving to build an organization that is a supportive, kind and inspiring place to work. We encourage bold leadership, innovation, creative partnerships and accountability to those we serve.

The Purpose of the Role

The Deputy Director of Business Development (DDBD) is a key strategic role for the IRC. It will join a global team of business development specialists, helping to drive IRC’s long-term new business development efforts by engaging with global, regional, country, and technical staff throughout the business development cycle and by strengthening both our long term and opportunity specific engagement with US Government donors. The role will be responsible for driving our USAID development and BHA business development goals and the activities to reach those goals as part of our strategy to increase our longer-term funding from USAID which is a key objective of IRC. This will involve strengthening the organization’s global positioning and capacity to successfully secure large awards and contracts.

The DDBD will manage a team of Specialist BD staff to ensure that pipeline opportunities are identified, monitored, planned and that the BD process is effectively undertaken. Working with the Specialist BD Director and with the Senior Director of BD, the role will coordinate staff resources from within and beyond the BD team.

The role will also work directly on bid leadership, serving as capture lead and proposal manager for complex and multi-country proposals, s/he will also offer technical assistance and manage a core team of 4-5 plus consultants. The team will work on proposals focused on the US donor market and other donors as IRC portfolios evolves at different periods.

The DDBD will provide oversight of bids within their team, ensuring quality control for USAID proposals and serve as an organizational resource for competitive USAID bids and proposals.

The ideal candidate will have strong people management acumen, a successful track record of leading large-scale and complex new business efforts in international development with particular emphasis on USAID contracts and will be a strong strategic thinker with excellent representational skills.

Although this role will focus predominantly on USAID, the successful candidate will oversee a team of staff who will at times work with a range of other donors including FCDO, EU, European Government, the World Bank, and others.

Key Working Relationships

BD Team and Award Management Unit; Country Teams; Technical Units, Peer agencies; Local Partners; USAID and other donor staff.

Key Accountabilities:

Complex, high value, bid leadership.

• Lead and support proposal development for- primarily- complex USAID opportunities (including contracts), including capture strategy, management of proposal teams, strategy development, design with technical staff; partner identification and negotiations; recruiting; writing; production; and after-action reviews.
• As proposal lead for large and complex bids including multi country and global opportunities, frequently manage and lead substantial project teams of core staff from AMU and other parts of the organization, consultants, partners and other stakeholders
• Collaborate with IRC’s Pricing Team, ensuring technical coherence with the cost proposal and hold ultimate accountability of the effective submission.
• Collaborate with Proposal Recruiters to identify and assess candidates for key personnel positions on proposals.

BD oversight, learning and leadership

• Oversee the proposal development of all funding within the DDBD portfolio, with a focus on USAID.
• Lead quality assurance processes for IRC proposal development of USAID, incorporating oversight of bid reviews and serving as a primary point for reviews prior to submission.
• Develop comprehensive risk mitigation plans for the most complex proposals at IRC and serve as a key point of escalation on high-risk issues associated with bids that the team works on.
• Promote a culture of continuous improvement through analysis, after action reviews and by embedding learning that contributes to strengthening IRC’s effectiveness in USAID related BD.
• Contribute to and model the use of strong business development processes, tools, templates, and information.

Strategy Implementation and Technical Leadership:

• Serve as a key organizational expert on business development with USAID, providing advice, guidance and capacity strengthening to others across the organization
• With BD colleagues, lead the implementation and future iteration of strategies to build IRC’s business development success with USAID. These strategic approaches will span a range of different organizational strategies including BD Strategy, Long Term Funding Strategy and as a contribution to the organization’s USAID Multi Year Development Strategy (MYDES)
• In collaboration with colleagues from advocacy, technical, and strategic partnerships teams, support efforts to build IRC’s visibility and engagement with USAID at global levels.

People Management, Partnerships, and Team Building

• Cultivates the talent of a team of four-five business development professionals, overseeing professional development to strengthen their experience and knowledge base as USAID donor experts.
• Build the readiness of IRC team members to pursue new donors which may pose a higher level of risk due to the mechanism, size, or technical complexity.
• Works in concert with the Director of Business Development and Deputy Director of Business Development of the UK market to allocate proposal assignments equitably and productively.
• Strengthen collaboration with internal stakeholders including country teams, technical units, and other team members.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Essential

Skills, Knowledge and Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in relevant field, including international relations, political science, public administration, and communications
• Substantial, focused experience working with US donors and leading competitive bid processes for multi-year, large, development funding. Strong knowledge of USAID rules and regulations, including with both acquisition and assistance mechanisms. Rich understanding of 2CFR 200, the FAR, and AIDAR.
• Experience working on a range of USAID programs, including FTF, RFSAs, and DFSAs desirable.
• Knowledgeable of the Shipley Proposal Development process and other industry standards for proposal development
• Fluency in English with proficiency in one other language (French, Spanish, German, Arabic) highly desirable

Experience:

• Successful track record leading large proposal teams on complex subject, multi-year, multi-partner proposals with minimal supervision
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, including the ability to effectively manage a variety of relationships in a multicultural environment
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate equally effectively with colleagues in ‘remote’ and diverse teams, including as team leader for proposals
• The ability to work productively and accurately while under pressure in a fast-paced, demanding environment
• At least three years of previous experience in a people management role with supervisory responsibility
• Experience managing US programs remotely or at country-level also beneficial
• Ability to travel internationally (up to 20% of time)

Candidates must have the right to work within the country they are applying. IRC strives to be an equal opportunities employer. IRC is committed to equality of opportunity and to non-discrimination for all job applicants and employees, and we seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce regardless of gender, race, religious beliefs, nationality, ethnic/national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status or disability.

IRC will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable adjustments to participate in the job application and/or interview process, and for essential job functions if appointed to a role. Please contact us if you may need such adjustments.

Compensation:

Posted pay ranges apply to US-based candidates. Ranges are based on various factors including the labor market, job type, internal equity, and budget. Exact offers are calibrated by work location, individual candidate experience and skills relative to the defined job requirements.

COVID-19 Vaccination Requirement:

In accordance with IRC’s duty to provide and maintain a workplace that is free of known hazards and our commitment to safeguard the health of our employees, clients, and communities, IRC requires new hires to furnish proof of vaccination against COVID-19 in order to be considered for any in-office or hybrid positions. All IRC US offices require full vaccination to attend any in-office functions (e.g., meetings, trainings).

Commitment to Diversity and Inclusivity:

IRC is committed to building a diverse organization and a climate of inclusivity. We strongly encourage applications from candidates who can demonstrate that they can contribute to this goal.

Equal Opportunity Employer:

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.

US Benefits:

We offer a comprehensive and highly competitive set of benefits. In the US, these include: 10 sick days, 10 US holidays, 20-25 paid time off days (depending on role and tenure), medical insurance starting at $145 per month, dental starting at $7 per month, and vision starting at $5 per month, FSA for healthcare, childcare, and commuter costs, a 403b retirement savings plans with up to 4.5% immediately vested matching contribution, plus a 3-7% base IRC contribution (3 year vesting), disability & life insurance, and an Employee Assistance Program which is available to our staff and their families to support counseling and care in times of crisis and mental health struggles.