Regional Business Development Manager

OVERALL RESPONSIBILITIES

Consistent with the Strategic Development and Communications Office mission is to ensure that MSH is a learning organization with the funds, reputation, influence, and political support to realize its vision of a world where everyone, everywhere has the opportunity to live a healthy life, the Regional Business Development Manager will be primarily accountable for capture of new business in MSH’s core technical areas and building the capacity of MSH field staff in business development skills, using proven adult learning methodologies. The Regional Business Development Manager will be a key member of the business development team involved in acquiring USAID and other public sector donor grant and contract wins for MSH.

Working under the Business and Resource Development Unit, the Regional Business Development Manager will lead new business capture efforts for a portfolio of high value bids to USAID, DFID and other public sector donors; and build field staff capacity to ensure that MSH submits high-quality, winning proposals to a diverse base of donors in sufficient numbers to meet annual revenue growth targets to fund MSH’s mission and vision, as well as position MSH’s work in-line with other donors’ concerns (with an emphasis on European, multi-lateral, and large foundation/corporations).

SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES

Field-focused Capacity Building in Business and Resource Development:

• Through team-work during actual proposal efforts, hands-on coaching and mentoring, and/or tailored training and capacity building activities that may include development of on-line modules or in person training sessions, the Regional Business Development Manager will build the capacity of MSH field staff in proposal and program development best practices and other SDC-related areas as needed.
• Develops and implements country-specific capacity strengthening strategic/work plans based on identified need. Ensures maximum participation of field staff in skills-building baseline needs assessments, strategic/work plan      development, and training program/activity design and evaluation.
• Explores creative use of information and communication technology to maximize outreach to teams.
• Documents lessons learned and best practices, and works with colleagues in Organizational Learning to communicate and institutionalize tools for use by the larger organization.
• Ensures synergy with other on-going leadership development efforts on-going at MSH across Centers and Offices.

Strategic Planning

• In collaboration with MSH leadership, contribute to annual and multi-year business development strategies that leverage MSH capabilities to identify and win new business opportunities, contributing to financial      sustainability across the organization.  

Capture Planning and Pre-positioning

• This position will serve as a Capture Manager for a portfolio of new business opportunities working with MSH technical and field staff.  The Manager will be responsible for devising the capture strategy for specific proposals and planning the search for new promising business opportunities and donors in a target geographic region. In addition, the capture manager must be able to implement the capture strategy in partnership with technical experts, field staff, and others as well as effectively handover opportunities once they become live bids.
• The Manager will play an active role in capture planning support at the country level, working with in country teams to develop their ability to gather intelligence and provide meaningful and relevant inputs into business development decisions.  Within MSH’s target technical and geographic portfolios, work collaboratively with designated BRD, Center, and field staff to develop and implement intelligence gathering and positioning strategies to strengthen MSH stature, credibility, and likelihood of winning new business.
• Responsible for managing and disseminating business intelligence and positioning information obtained from BRD, Center and field office positioning teams, when assigned to a specific country or specific opportunity.
• Consider potential opportunities, intelligence and information from positioning efforts and prepare BRD’s analysis for specific bid recommendations including internal and external resource needs.           
• Assist BRD and Center leadership to identify partnering opportunities and to establish new institutional partnerships and manage existing ones.           

Management of the Proposal Process:

On a limited basis, the Regional Business Development Manager may be required to manage specific proposal efforts.  This will not be the primary function of the position, but the Regional Business Development Manager must be able to:

• Support field-based business development activities and preparations for new and follow-on projects, including review of internal and external evaluations of projects.  As required, provide direct support to development of field-based proposals.           
• Reporting to the Technical Strategic Lead (TSL), support development of a competitive proposal including win strategy, partner strategy and cost strategy      
• Monitor and ensure responsiveness  and compliance of the proposals to the solicitation using compliance monitoring and review           
• Develop, oversee and maintain the proposal calendar, in collaboration with and oversight of a proposal coordinator, and monitor adherence to the defined process and deadlines for technical proposals, rosters/recruiting, proposal budgets, production schedules and quality standards for proposals. Work with the      TSL (and Office/Center senior managers as required) to resolve issues with delays or other roadblocks in the proposal process.           
• Support the TSL in identifying potential partners and defining their scopes of work and negotiations of pre-teaming and teaming agreements.           
• Assist the TSL in coordination with Cost Proposal Unit staff to develop best-value cost strategies and ensure a unified strategy in both technical and cost proposals.           
• Coordinate with Human Resource Management (HRM) Staff, Center Managers and Sr. Director of BRD to monitor recruitment efforts to meet staffing priorities.           
• Work with proposed partners to be sure that they provide their required information as needed to support the proposal.           
• Participate in, and/or lead, proposal writing as needed.
• Support Development Associates and other BRD staff and interns as required, mentoring them to build business development and proposal writing skills throughout the organization.           

Other duties and special projects as assigned.

Desired Skills and Experience

QUALIFICATIONS

1. Master’s degree with a minimum of 7 years of  experience in public health, international development, or business development (or a combination thereof) required.
2. At least two years of prior experience living and workingin Africa required, and East Africa preferred.
3. Experience in adult education, training, workshop facilitation, and other learning fora in a cross cultural setting with demonstrable successful track record required.
4. Minimum of 5 years of experience in managing the development of technical proposals to large funding agencies active in international development, preferably in international health. Candidates with five or more years working in business development are strongly preferred, however a mix of other international development experience may be substituted. Significant work experience with USAID funding is required, including demonstrated experience with management of winning bids.  Experience writing proposals with other funders, such as DFID, Global Fund, AusAID and large foundations, is strongly preferred.
5. Excellent interpersonal skills with demonstrated ability to manage proposal processes and team relationships to ensure effective collaboration by various contributors to the process, including contributors from multiple      offices/units of the organization.  Demonstrated ability to handle the high stress environment of business development with grace and a sense of humor.  Demonstrated ability to successfully negotiate with partner organizations strongly preferred.  Demonstrated ability to work independently and flexibly in a deadline oriented environment and experience managing cross-cultural teams across time zones.
6. Minimum of at least two years of management experience required.
7. Excellent research, data analysis/synthesis, and presentation skills. Experience in organizing and managing and disseminating large and complex sets of business information.
8. Demonstrated good judgment and ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously and set priorities.
9. Excellent written and verbal communication skills. A writing test, as well as submission of writing samples will be required.
10. Fluency in spoken and written English required. Fluency in French is strongly preferred. Fluency in Spanish or Portuguese is a bonus.
11. Ability to travel internationally and domestically 30-40% time required.

Management Sciences for Health is an equal opportunity employer offering employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, national origin, citizenship, physical or mental handicap, or status as a disabled or Vietnam Era veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces.

APPLY