Senior Proposal Writer

JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc. (JSI) is a global nonprofit dedicated to improving the health of individuals and communities throughout the world. Its fundamental goal is to ensure that all individuals can live their best and healthiest lives. The JSI family of global agencies includes World Education, Inc. (WEI) and the Partnership for Supply Chain Management (PFSCM), as well as independent JSI entities in Kenya, Zambia, and India.

Founded in 1978, JSI collaborates with government agencies, the private sector, and local nonprofit and civil society organizations to identify and implement solutions to the most pressing public health and education challenges. These partnerships strengthen the capacity of individuals and organizations; improve the quality, accessibility, sustainability and equity of health systems and lead to better health outcomes.

JSI now has more than 4,200 colleagues working across 8 offices in the United States and 46 countries around the world. Staff include researchers, consultants, technologists, project managers, and physicians who provide innovative technical assistance and capacity building—through both large scale implementation projects and smaller consulting projects—across public health, health systems, and education. JSI relies on local and regional staff in the US and around the globe to ensure a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing communities.

The Senior Proposal Writer will be a member of the Business Development (BD) Department and work closely with the department and teams across the International Division to ensure the development and submission of highly competitive health sector proposals to US Government (USG) agencies, private foundations, non-US governments, corporations and multilateral funders. Applicants should have extensive experience with writing global health sector proposals and in-depth knowledge of the processes of responding to solicitations by entities such as the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), private foundations, and corporations. Must be a strategic thinker and excellent writer. This position will report to the Director of Global Business Development.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• For each proposal assigned, work closely with the Coordinator and proposal team, including M&E and cost leads, to ensure that the technical proposal is well written, cohesive, organized according to funder requirements and that all technical proposal sections are consistent and aligned.
• Provide support to an efficient and effective response to funder solicitations, including RFA/RFP analysis and reviewing proposal drafts for responsiveness to funder requirements.
• In collaboration with the Proposal Coordinator, develop technical narrative outlines and draft select proposal sections with technical input.
• Review background information, interview stakeholders, and participate in strategic discussions to understand the critical win themes, unique value propositions, organizational approaches, and standards to highlight in the proposal.
• Gather information from internal and external technical contributors and incorporate information into the proposal technical strategy and approach.
• Work collaboratively with staff in country offices to ensure local context and country-based staff expertise and knowledge is fully reflected.
• Facilitate strategy and program design sessions.
• Provide support to costing technical design, if needed.
• Provide proposal reviews and/or comprehensive editing of proposals, as assigned.
• In collaboration with the Communications team, prepare documents that are needed for marketing the organization’s areas of expertise, summarizing JSI’s experience and successes.
• Support the identification, screening, and supervision of proposal writing consultants, as needed for surge support.
• Collaborate closely with Knowledge Management staff and technical leadership to proactively strengthen proposal-related resources, particularly technical content, global, country and thematic capability statements, and project past performance references.
• Identify and strengthen proposal writing tools and systems, specifically around strategy development processes, outlines and incorporating reviewer feedback.
• Lead training and develop resources and tools for internal staff to serve as technical writers. Serve as a coach to less experienced proposal writers, including staff in country offices to provide constructive and actionable feedback on proposal sections and drafts, and foster increased global proposal writing capabilities.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Master’s degree in public health, international development, or other relevant field of study and 6+ years of relevant experience; or a Bachelor’s degree and 8+ years of relevant experience; or an equivalent combination of education and experience
• A minimum of 4 years of successful experience writing proposals for USG, foundations and/or other funders
• Technical skills in proposal writing and editing
• Ability to conduct extensive research and analysis
• Demonstrated understanding of the proposal development process and proposal components
• Demonstrated ability to create or refine systems, tools, and trainings that support the crafting of high-quality proposals
• Experience mentoring and training other professionals to write high quality proposals
• Strong verbal communication and interpersonal skills
• Ability to travel internationally for proposal writing assignments that can last for one to three weeks
• Working knowledge of a second language: French or Spanish is preferred
• Ability to work under short deadlines with competing priorities
• Ability to collaborate successfully in a remote working environment