Senior Program/Business Development Advisor (World Bank)

About the role

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is hiring a Senior Program/Business Development Advisor (World Bank) in Nairobi to join its global business development team. The role drives IRC's new business development efforts by engaging global, regional, country and technical staff from opportunity tracking through proposal submission. It acts mainly as capture and proposal manager, offering technical assistance and mentoring staff on business development.

Key responsibilities

• Bid leadership and coordination (70%): lead proposal development for complex, strategic public opportunities, including capture strategy, team and calendar management, consortium management and negotiations, writing, production and after-action reviews
• Develop long-term capture and positioning strategies with regional, country and technical teams, and lead strategic capture for frameworks, single opportunities and wider funding sources
• Advise technical and country teams on Go/No Go decisions and help them pitch to prospective partners
• Review and draft expressions of interest, concept notes and proposals, and work with the pricing team on cost proposals
• Recruit and assess candidates for key proposal roles and manage internal processes for compliant submissions
• Process improvement (10%): run after-action and donor feedback reviews, share learnings, model standard BD processes and templates, and mentor junior staff on their first large bids
• Partnerships and strategy (20%): analyse donor landscapes, draft positioning materials such as capability statements, and contribute to country-specific BD strategies

Required profile

• At least six years of focused experience with major institutional donors on large, complex procurements, with extensive World Bank experience required
• Track record as proposal manager on complex, multi-year, multi-partner proposals with minimal supervision
• Fluency in English and French required
• Ability to travel internationally up to 20% of the time
• Experience managing large development or humanitarian programmes is desirable; lived or working experience in Sub-Saharan Africa is an advantage

Required skills

• Strong knowledge of World Bank compliance rules and regulations, and familiarity with other donors' policies
• Familiarity with standard business development processes and willingness to apply IRC's BD guidelines
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills in a multicultural environment
• Ability to work under pressure in a fast-paced environment and to lead proposals in remote, diverse teams