Senior Director, New Business Development

Summary

Reporting to the EVP, the Senior Director of Business Development, will work closely with the CEO and the Executive Team to implement a new vision and direction for Counterpart International's growth (first in the area of assistance, then in acquisition) that demonstrates our technical, operational and programmatic leadership while securing and delivering new awards. The Senior Director of Business Development will lead the Business Development function to better align our programmatic activities with long-term development and donor trends. The Senior Director will work directly with the EVP to develop a business strategy for worldwide engagement and delivery of new awards with bilateral donors, with roles and responsibilities for the Business Development team as well as Programs and other Counterpart divisions. S/he will implement robust systems for collection and analysis of business intelligence based on strategic and ongoing client engagement, and make recommendations for the investments needed to maintain competitiveness with shifting donor needs and distinct vis--vis competitors.

The Senior Director will lead strategic evaluation of current and new markets, positioning and proposal submission in each selected market, and development and execution of strong international and local partnerships to successfully deliver the solutions donors seek. S/he will identify and mobilize organizational teams to design, price and staff high-quality, award-winning programs, ensuring designs are fully compliant with donor rules and regulations and our policies and procedures, successfully meeting annual revenue targets. S/he will directly supervise, train, and coach those involved in the full life-cycle of new business development (both within and beyond the 10-person unit) to engage donors in the solution-creation stage, identify and qualify existing opportunities, produce winning proposals, recruit top-flight personnel, and competitively price proposals (assistance and acquisition). S/he will develop business processes that lead to feasible, compliant and innovative operational designs, drawing from Counterpart and partners' deep knowledge and other best practices in key technical areas.

On a continual basis, the Senior Director will bring the return on investment analysis and recommendations needed for the Executive Team and C-Suite to make decisions on resource allocation for business development. S/he will build a high-performing team of Business Development specialists with state-of-the-art skills in positioning, designing, and winning new programs with existing and new donors. S/he will build internal relationships beyond the Business Development team to optimize business development activities and collaboration, identify opportunities for life-cycle business development capacity strengthening, and opportunities for systems enhancements.

Responsibilities:

40% - Lead Team of 10+ to meet annual new revenue targets

• Lead teams charged with capturing new business in various sectors, including democracy, rights and governance, health and nutrition, climate resiliency, livelihoods and agriculture, and education.
• Devise and manage a robust quality design and review process for making smart, early investment decisions for capture planning, capturing work and live bids, and producing winning proposals.
• Re-engineer and design business development strategies and systems for identifying, assessing, and capturing new business opportunities; utilizing ROI budget analysis for proposal development budgets.
• Oversee all business development functions, budget, operations, and staff.
• Supervise, train and mentor business development, recruiting and pricing staff and consultants, as well as key technical staff, at home office and abroad in all business development functions. Develop systems to train and coach BD staff to have full capacity to excel in all key functional areas:
  • Proposal Management & Coordination
  • Recruitment systems for bids for key personnel, other professional personnel and local teams
  • Local & Int'l partner teaming agreements and pre-bid, pre-award and post-award assessment
  • Fully compliant Project Budgets for review by senior pricing and G&C teams
  • Market Analysis to Capture planning within each team member's portfolio
• Establish team members' portfolio and review of their annual revenue goals.
• Ensure appropriate allocation of business development resources to meet business goals through a bid board and comprehensive gate review process.
• Oversee and manage strategic proposal preparations and submission process, with oversight of strategy, pricing, recruitment and reviews.
• In coordination with EVP - oversee identification, recruitment and packaging of key personnel and partners for strategic bids.
• Ensure proposal compliance with USG Rules and Regulations (assistance and acquisition), and ensure quality assurance is executed for all bids.
• Identify new opportunities with existing donors and practice areas (USAID, USDA, DOL, and DOS) and lead developing and delivering bid strategies for new donors.
• Develop a roster of top business development and technical consultants to lead and write bids.

20% - Lead Strategic Growth Analysis and Planning

• Serve as the primary partner to the EVP in developing and articulating a donor-solution growth and diversification strategy that produces new revenue annually from existing and new donors.
• Set business development targets for each team member that meets or exceeds Counterpart's growth and positioning objectives on an annual basis.
• Develop tools and systems systematically conduct and review pre-bid, pre-award and post-award assessments of local partner's capacity in alignment with USAID FORWARD standards.
• Build a new business pipeline that draws on and builds Counterpart's current and future competencies in alignment with the strategy and identifies sufficient qualified opportunities and deliver winning proposals to meet annual revenue targets.
• Monitor industry trends to ensure competitive positioning in the market, with close interface with Counterpart's Program leadership.
• Establish a business development team-led bid board for market analysis, capture planning, and bid decisions focused on ROI, analysis of available staff and financial resources by directly controlling the budget for staff and consultant LOE and hard costs related to bids. This bid board is the primary aegis for accomplishing new strategic and financial targets.

20% - Strong External Relationships Development and Cultivation

• Align NBD resources to complement organization-wide Client and Partnership Cultivation plan, in coordination with EVP of Strategy & Business Development.
• Take a leadership role in developing relationships with 40-50 individuals across specific clients and partners.
• Ensure business intelligence from across the organization is smoothly integrated into positioning, capture and bid process.
• Coordinate closely with the EVP, Strategic Communications on issues of branding, external positioning, materials development, website and social media presence, and advocacy initiatives.

20% - Lead Internal Relationships

• Ensure that proposals capture and integrate worldwide technical experience and successes.
• Liaise with G&C team to streamline key local & int'l partner inputs for pre- and post-award efforts.
• Ensure proposals integrate best practices in management, evaluation, and priority technical areas to bring best-in-class solutions to clients.
• Play a leadership role in convening cross-functional teams needed to improve project design, breaking down silos, utilizing emergent learning and effective internal communication practices.
• Develop a robust gate review system for engaging enterprise wide inputs to improve technical, operational and cost improvements.
• Developing a roster of technical consultants (internal or external) to lead technical design and subject matter input into proposals.
• Build strong relationships with Programs team to support new revenue (target of 20%) derived from cost-extensions, modifications or limited solicitation re-bids.

Qualifications:

Required:

• Development professional with 15+ years of international development experience with expertise in program management, strategic planning, organizational development, new business development, and project planning.
• Proven track record of expanding organizational portfolio into new markets and major donors including USAID, USDA, DFID, and other bilateral donors, within agreed timeframe.
• Experience leading proposal development in both assistance and acquisition ranging from $5M to $100M including writing proposals, leading proposal teams, developing teaming agreements, negotiating contracts and grants, and reviewing and preparing cost proposal documentation.
• Experience managing and mentoring a team of business development and recruiting professionals.
• Experience in key sectors such as Democracy, Rights & Governance, Education, Health, Economic Growth, and Organizational Capacity Building, etc. for various not-for-profit and for-profit entities.
• Track record as team leader securing funding major bilateral donor entities including USAID, USDA, DOS, and DFID.
• Proven track record coaching and mentoring successful teams, leading internal and external workshops, leading program design teams overseas, and representing at major international events.
• Ability to travel overseas up to 40% time - regularly over 25% time.

Preferred:

• Professional proficiency in foreign language, such as Arabic, Spanish and French preferred