Job Description
Job Title: Business Development Specialist II Reports to: Business Development Manager, EMECA **
Department: EMECA Salary Grade: 10 _
CRS will only consider candidates who are based in countries where we have existing offices. CRS does not sponsor visas for telecommuting employees.
_ About CRS**
Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. CRS works to save, protect, and transform lives in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality. CRS’ relief and development work is accomplished through programs of emergency response, HIV, health, agriculture, education, microfinance and peacebuilding. **
Job Summary**
The Regional Business Development Specialist II (BDS II), in conjunction with regional and country program leadership will provide leadership for resource mobilization efforts to meet long-term goals and annual growth targets. She/he will also support the diversification of revenue from institutional donors and non-traditional funding sources to achieve CRS’ strategic objectives. She/he is a member of the EMECA regional team and CRS’ global BD community. The BDS will have the opportunity to provide support in a variety of countries and program areas. The EMECA region encompasses country programs in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon (covering Jordan, Syria, Turkey and Cyprus), Jerusalem/West Bank/Gaza, Egypt, Greece, Moldova (covering Ukraine), the Balkans (based in Bosnia and Herzegovina), as well as partners in over 20 outreach countries.
With a core function of leading the production of high-quality applications for donor funding, this position will also provide specialized assistance in other dimensions of the BD cycle. He/she will support country programs to define, monitor and update their business pipeline and ensure that CRS is best positioned to pursue relevant opportunities. The BDS will train and mentor staff to improve their skills in proposal development, representation to donor and partner organizations, intelligence-gathering, and marketing. S/he will strengthen BD systems and use of CRS tools and resources within the country program in partnership with EMECA’s Regional Business Development Manager (BDM). **
Roles And Key Responsibilities**
Identify Funding Opportunities and Prepositioning
- Research, analyze and plan for new funding opportunities, competitive intelligence, and CRS’ competitive positioning on a continuous basis. Support effective internal communication and information management processes to ensure access and use of BD information by relevant stakeholders within the agency to better position country programs to successfully compete.
- In collaboration with the BDM and BD colleagues in IDEA and/or other regions, investigate/keep abreast of donor strategic priorities, specific templates and requirements and other information relevant for proposal development.
- Oversee maintenance of opportunity pipeline, proposal submission, and donor intelligence on CRS’ online project information management system.
Capture Planning
- Provide BD expertise in positioning and capture planning for opportunities with institutional donors (government and inter-governmental award issuing organizations, as well as foundations, corporations and other awarding non-governmental organizations).
- When significant funding opportunities are identified, work with relevant program and regional teams to follow a capture planning process that generates useful information for decision-making (go/no-go decisions), assessing and improving preparedness and competitiveness, and building the foundation for a preliminary project design.
Proposal and Concept Note Development
- Lead country teams to manage proposal processes, often as the Proposal Coordinator or Lead Writer, to ensure timely submission of high-quality concept notes and proposals that are responsive to and compliant with donor requirements and with CRS technical application and cost application standards. This includes leading design workshops, coordinating review timelines with regional and HQ-based staff, supporting personnel recruitment, proposal timeline development, budget development, proposal writing, teaming agreement negotiations, and/or editing/packaging as part of the proposal team.
- Collaborate with Head of Operations and Finance Manager to align management /cost components of the proposal with CRS standards, donor regulations and guidelines.
- Provide reviews of technical and cost applications, reviewing for clarity, responsiveness, presentation, and compliance, in compliance with regional review processes.
Capacity-Building and Coordination
- Build the capacity of regional and country program staff (and partners when appropriate) in donor intel and prepositioning and in proposal development, including orientation to and supporting use of CRS tools and resources for BD.
- Facilitate or co-facilitate relevant trainings for staff and reinforce good practices by role modeling, mentoring, coaching and advising staff on the job.
- Participate in regional and agency-wide BD community learning and knowledge management by sharing experience and lessons learned.
Documentation of Results and Reporting
- Work with appropriate staff to maintain data on past performance and institutional capacity, in order to provide timely information for proposal submissions.
- Lead After-Action Reviews of submitted proposals and pursue debriefs with funders on funding decisions to capture and document lessons learned in order to continually improve proposal processes.
- As needed, support for establishing effective grants management systems or surge support to fill short term CP staffing gaps
Required Languages – Fluency in oral and written English. Arabic language skills a plus. _**
Travel_ - Must be willing and able to travel up to 30 %.
Knowledge, Skills And Abilities**
- Strong strategic, analytical, systems thinking, and problem-solving skills, with capacity to see the big picture.
- Strong relations management abilities. Ability to relate to people at all levels internally and externally. Strategic in how you approach each relationship.
- Excellent negotiation skills.
- Strong communications and presentation skills.
- Proactive, resourceful, solutions-oriented and results-oriented.
Supervisory Responsibilities None **
Key Working Relationships:
Internal: EMECA BDM, Heads of Programs, Program Managers, EMECA RTAs, EMECA DRD/PQ, Country Representatives, IDEA team
External: Country- and regional-level representatives of collaborating organizations, donor agencies, government ministries, private sector entities and other stakeholders as appropriate.
Qualifications**
Basic Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in international development, international relations, or related field. Master’s degree preferred.
- Minimum five years international development experience, with at least three years’ experience in a developing country.
Preferred Qualifications
- Demonstrated experience utilizing diverse, proactive strategies to competitively position his/her organization for new funding and productive institutional relationships.
- Exceptional writer with expert command of English grammar and AP style.
- Demonstrated experience leading and producing competitive proposals in programming contexts similar to CRS.
- Experience in staff development and local partner capacity preferred, including experience in leading trainings, coaching, and mentoring staff.
- Comprehensive familiarity with a broad range of institutional donor technical and cost requirements.
- Experience with both USAID RFP and RFA funding mechanisms highly desirable.
- Familiarity with relevant institutional donor regulations, policies, procedures and priorities.
- Experience with CRS programming approaches, standards and tools a plus
- Experience using MS Windows and MS Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint), Web Conferencing Applications, information management systems.
Agency REDI Competencies (for All CRS Staff)
Agency competencies clarify expected behaviors and attitudes for all staff. When demonstrated, they create an engaging workplace, help staff achieve their best, and help CRS achieve agency goals. These are rooted in the mission, values, and guiding principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and achieve the desired results.
- Personal Accountability – Consistently takes responsibility for one’s own actions.
- Acts with Integrity - Consistently models values aligned with CRS Guiding Principles and mission. Is considered honest.
- Builds and Maintains Trust - Shows consistency between words and actions.
- Collaborates with Others – Works effectively in intercultural and diverse teams.
- Open to Learn – Seeks out experiences that may change perspective or provide an opportunity to learn new things.
Agency Leadership Competencies
- Lead Change – Continually looks for ways to improve the agency through a culture of agility, openness, and innovation.
- Develops and Recognizes Others – Builds the capacity of staff to reach their full potential and enhance team and agency performance.
- Strategic Mindset – Understands role in translating, communicating, and implementing agency strategy and team priorities.
- Our Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations. Catholic Relief Services carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. We welcome as a part of our staff people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need. CRS’ processes and policies reflect our commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation.
Disclaimer: This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skill, effort, duties, and responsibilities associated with the position. **
CRS' talent acquisition procedures reflect our commitment to safeguarding the rights and dignity of all people - especially children and vulnerable adults - to live free from abuse and harm.**
CRS is an Equal Opportunity Employer
