Proposal Lead - World Bank

About the role

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is hiring a Senior Program/Business Development Advisor (World Bank) to join its Global Business Development team within the Awards Management Unit. The team leads IRC's public business development strategy and donor engagement for its international programmes. The role is open to candidates located in Kenya, Germany and the UK with the right to work there.

Candidates must submit a cover letter describing their most recent experience leading a World Bank proposal; those who do not will be disqualified.

Key responsibilities

• Lead bid leadership and coordination (70%): manage complex, strategic public opportunities from capture strategy and team management through writing, production and after-action reviews, including consortium management and negotiations.
• Develop opportunity-specific long-term capture and positioning strategies with regional, country and technical teams.
• Lead strategic capture for frameworks, single opportunities and wider funding sources, including donor mapping, SWOT analysis and pre-positioning.
• Advise technical and country teams on Go/No Go decisions and help them pitch to prospective partners.
• Draft or review expressions of interest, concept notes and proposals for quality and donor compliance.
• Work with the pricing team on cost proposals and with recruiters on proposal staffing.
• Run after-action and donor feedback reviews, model standard BD processes and templates, and mentor junior staff on large bids.
• Analyse partnership landscapes, write positioning materials 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; international travel up to 20% of the time.
• 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 such as FCDO, AFD or BMZ is an advantage.
• Familiarity with standard business development processes and willingness to apply IRC's BD guidelines.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, and ability to work in multicultural, remote teams under pressure.

What we offer

• Salary range of GBP 58,476 to GBP 69,440 per year, depending on location, experience and skills.
• Adherence to IRC's professional standards of integrity, service, equality and accountability.