The position

The successful candidate will be responsible for the implementation and continued development of all processes and capabilities supporting the development of new research project proposals. They will work with ILRI’s research leaders and other internal stakeholder to identify and prioritize their resource mobilization requirements. Directly supporting researchers, program leaders, and program managers to ensure the successful delivery of new proposals that supports both the ILRI Research and One CGIAR Livestock portfolios. This position combines skills and experience in proposal management, funder intelligence, donor compliance, and process development and improvement. This position will lead the building of a community of practice of excellent proposal management.

Key Responsibilities

Business Development

• Provides management, strategic analysis and coordination to the ILRI proposal management and pipeline management process.
• Create annual business development plans to meet ILRI’s annual revenue targets, outlining target donors and regions/countries.
• Develop and streamline business development processes to promote efficiency and effectiveness.
• Support the identification and analysis of opportunities to pursue that fit within ILRI’s overall strategy. Identify and liaise with key stakeholders and potential partners.
• Provide analysis and recommendations and facilitate timely Go/No-Go bid decision-making.
• Coordinate with the One CGIAR to identify, track, and analyze donor opportunities through business forecasts in line with ILRI’s strategy and research and share with appropriate researchers.
• Coordinate with Program Managers opportunities tracking and pipeline management.
• Build relationships with ILRI’s Country Offices to identify and prepare for upcoming funding opportunities, including conducting intelligence capture trips and providing capacity building trainings.
• Communicate pipeline forecast opportunities with Program Leaders, ILRI senior management, project/regional offices, and relevant internal teams.
• Work with ILRI research leaders and other internal stakeholders to identify, prioritize, and support the achievement of their resource mobilization goals.

Proposal Management 

• Manages the development of the proposal processes, tools, systems, and workplans as roadmaps for proposal development.
• Develop, administer and/or enforce ILRI’s policies and procedures for proposal development.
• Work with the research teams and management to ensure alignment of ILRI’s proposal strategy with donor opportunity.
• Coordinate the proposal development process, supporting the development of detailed proposal plans, ensure deadlines are communicated, and relevant ILRI inputs are scheduled into the proposal calendar.
• Facilitate and support the formalization of partnerships for ILRI (MOU, teaming agreements, letters of commitment, etc.) and the recruitment of consultants and key personnel.
• Maintain proposal quality and total compliance with RFA/donor requirements, including timely submissions of electronic and hard copy applications.
• Manage document version control and sequencing of reviews, ensuring quality and timely submission.
• Maintain a proposal deadline calendar to ensure donor requirements are being met; communicate any changes, problems, variation.
• Coordinate internal proposal approvals according to ILRI’s PMF procedures.
• Identify staffing requirements and ensure that qualified candidates are proposed
• Develop processes with key stakeholders to ensure that the proposal development, review, submission, and other relevant workflow processes are appropriate and functional.
• Ensure boiler plate information for use in proposal development by internal stakeholders is available and accessible.
• Conduct handover meetings for successful proposals with program management and research staff.

Funder and Partner Management

• Implement systems effective donor stewardship through correspondence, identifying opportunities for donor recognition, and other appropriate relationship cultivation efforts.
• Research information on donor policies priorities and trends and maintain all donor profiles.
• Support cultivation and strengthening of institutional relationships with donors, partner organizations and other relevant stakeholders.
• Oversee and maintain a searchable inventory of donor communications and partner and contacts database.
• Review and analyse information and prepare reports on the spectrum of ILRI’s Business Development activities for various stakeholders.
• Update and oversee the rollout for implementation of a balanced and practical partnership approach based on refining ILRI’s partnership strategy and other inputs.
• Implement processes to work with strategic partners and then articulate the appropriate relationship arrangements.
• Ensure that due diligence on partners – both technical and fiduciary is undertaken prior to proposal submission and revisited during contracting processes.

Knowledge Management and Capacity Development

• Track and analyse past performance and “hit rates” on donor and proposal submissions to inform decision-making on setting future donor targets and proposal development (Pursuit) strategies.
• Monitor and report on the status of proposal submissions, including providing updates about proposals under review, pending submissions, recent funding obtained, submission hit rates, etc.
• Review and analyse information and prepare reports on the spectrum of ILRI’s Business Development activities for various stakeholders.
• Facilitate debriefs for proposal teams and work to apply lessons learned to continuously improve the quality of future submissions.
• Initiate internal capacity development to ensure ILRI’s business development practices are appropriate.
• Gather content from proposals, reports and correspondence with the field and adapt for various purposes, including proposals, promotional / marketing pieces, board reports, etc.
• Contribute to and support internal learning processes that improve ILRI’s business development practice and enhance the company’s value propositions.
• Develop a process of monitoring and evaluation for due diligence compliance.
• Collate feedback (internal and external) on proposal development and feed into process improvements.
• Support high profile ILRI engagement which may lead to resource mobilization opportunities.
• Perform any other related duties as may be required

Requirements

• Master’s degree in business, international development, political science, or relevant field
• Relevant professional certification
• Ten years’ relevant experience in an international or similar organization with a focus on business development / partnerships.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills with the ability to summarize and present information; Proficiency in a second language is desirable.
• Prior experience working in a multi-donor organization specifically with USAID, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
• Proven experience implementing and monitoring strategies and establishing long term partnerships
• Must be able to research information and analyse data to arrive at valid conclusions, make recommendations effectively, and execute plans of action within a team dynamic.
• Good interpersonal skills with the ability to build relationships, persuade, influence, and adapt communication style to different situations and individuals. Exposure to developing countries is essential.
• Good Understanding of CGIAR processes will be an add advantage
• Strong and varied experience of administration and operations in complex programs.
• Demonstrated leadership, ethics and sound judgment, both independently and as part of a team
• Value honesty, integrity and diversity.
• Building and maintaining partnership and relationships.
• Selecting, coaching and appraising staff.