Catholic Relief Services Team Leader, Business Development

Job Title: Team Leader, Business Development

Dept/Location: Resource Acquisition and Donor Engagement Department, Baltimore

Band: E

Reports To: Business Development Director

Background:

The Business Development Team (BDT) supports CRS’ acquisition of public donor resources through the identification and development of relationships, capacities, and business processes that enhance the agency’s competitive positioning for and pursuit of new funding opportunities. The team members are collectively responsible for managing knowledge and information relevant to public fundraising; carrying out research on, and building relationships with, new donors and growth partners; providing direct assistance to field programs in all aspects of the business development cycle; and managing and monitoring progress towards the unit’s objectives and the agency’s public growth agenda.

The nine-member BDT is comprised of two units that generally organize along technical sectoral lines. The unit headed by the Team Leader described in this job description focuses primarily on funding opportunities in the Health, Emergency, and other sectors of importance to CRS with the exception of Food Security. Food Security resource acquisition is managed by the second BDT unit, although significant coordination and collaboration between units is critical for an efficient, unified business development approach within CRS. The full BDT collaborates closely with multiple units in CRS’ Overseas Operations division: other teams (responsible for foundation fundraising, corporate engagement, and donor relationship management) within the Resource Acquisition and Donor Engagement department; other departments (responsible for supporting and promoting CRS’ technical and operational excellence at a global level); and country and regional teams (responsible for program development and implementation within CRS’ decentralized management structure). The BDT also works with other functions throughout the agency – including policy and advocacy, finance, marketing, private fundraising, and human resources – to strengthen CRS’ resource acquisition efforts and its position as a well-resourced, influential, and highly regarded actor in the fields of humanitarian aid and development.

Primary Function: The primary function of the Team Leader is to manage the BDT’s support to CRS’ public donor fundraising, with an emphasis on funding opportunities in the Health, Emergency, and other sectors of importance to CRS with the exception of Food Security (which is managed by a separate unit within the BDT). Through the provision of direct positioning and proposal assistance, staff capacity building, knowledge management and learning, and collaboration with other departments and teams, this position will support overseas regional offices and country programs to acquire public resources to meet the agency’s needs, in line with CRS’ strategic priorities.

The Team Leader supervises three Business Development Specialists and manages the team work plan and priorities. S/he will manage the unit’s response to requests for assistance from overseas offices, including the deployment of staff on specific assignments, and will lead the design, development, and delivery of capacity building support to enhance CRS’ global business development competence. S/he will work closely with relevant units and departments to strengthen CRS’ non-proposal-specific business intelligence and competitive analysis, build and/or extend strategic relationships, and leverage CRS’ performance and capacities to influence CRS’ competitive position. S/he will also oversee CRS’ knowledge management and learning agenda for business development, including facilitation of a robust global community of practice and a broadly utilized online site for business development tools, data, and collaboration.

Responsibilities:

Strategic Leadership *Support the advancement of CRS’ strategy for expanded engagement in signature program areas and other global strategic priorities, and for the acquisition of additional resources to support that expansion. *Lead and contribute to the analysis of evolving trends, priorities, and budget levels of priority public donors, and facilitate engagement of CRS senior leadership on policy/advocacy and representation in response to that analysis. *Work with relevant HQ and field teams to execute effective funding strategies targeting priority donors, mechanisms and stakeholders, including: identification and support of new and non-traditional partnerships, such as universities, for-profit companies, research institutes and other actors; development of specific tactics and strategies to enhance the agency’s competitiveness for high-value Cooperative Agreements and USG contracts and sub-contracts, in line with agency strategic priorities. *Support an enabling environment for funding acquisition and a “culture of philanthropy” by nurturing mutually supportive relationships between departments in HQ, regions and Country Programs. Work with technical, marketing, and representation-focused staff to identify, document and promote to target audiences CRS’ value addition and achievements, to influence the direction of donor strategies and CRS’ competitive position for donor resources.

Program Support *Review all incoming requests for BDT assistance and prioritize as appropriate, with input from Regional and Country staff as well as HQ personnel, and in line with agency strategic priorities. *Provide and mobilize direct support to field and HQ staff in the positioning, planning, development and production of proposals, ensuring that CRS’ technical and cost applications reflect both internal best practice and industry standards for competitiveness and quality, as well as compliance with donor requirements and recognition of donor interests. *Support field and HQ staff in negotiating consortium arrangements based on lessons from similar experience and current competitive analysis. *Collaborate with operations, finance, and human resource teams to identify and mitigate constraints to CRS’ competitiveness from a management/cost perspective, including the development of business processes, policies, and new project designs that support cost-efficiency and value for money. *Lead the design and production of select large, complex, and highly strategic proposals as needed. *Facilitate CRS’ global business development community of practice, ensuring well-coordinated support to agency needs and the generation and sharing of knowledge and skills. *Collaborate with HQ and field staff to develop and utilize capacity statements, past performance references, proposal inserts, and other positioning and marketing material aimed at public donor and relevant stakeholder audiences.

Knowledge Management and Learning *Develop, strengthen, and contribute to a comprehensive intelligence management system to enable CRS’ effective tracking of and preparedness for upcoming strategic funding opportunities. *Oversee BDT’s development and maintenance of tools, guidelines, templates and data on CRS/Global. *Lead, in coordination with relevant teams and departments, the creation, improvement, and dissemination/delivery of appropriate professional development materials (training, distance learning, self-study) to enhance staff capacity in resource acquisition. *Lead and support CRS’ continued improvement of in-house guidance and best practice standards for business development. Identify appropriate state-of-the-art methodologies, tools, approaches, and business processes from both external and internal sources to incorporate into CRS standards. *Develop analytical public resource acquisition reports for internal and external use, including CRS’ portfolio trends and competitiveness analysis. *Carry out additional responsibilities and projects as assigned.

Supervision *Supervise three Business Development Specialists, including performance planning and management, as well as oversight of team workplans and distribution of responsibilities across the team.

Agency-wide Competencies (for all CRS Staff): 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. *Serves with Integrity *Models Stewardship *Cultivates Constructive Relationships *Promotes Learning

Key Working Relationships: INTERNAL: Overseas Operations Leadership and HQ departments; Regional and Country Program staff; Policy and Advocacy staff; Overseas Finance; Human Resources; Marketing and Communications.

EXTERNAL: Representatives of USG and non-USG public donors, current and potential consortium partners, and relevant peers within the business development and foreign aid communities.

Qualifications: *Masters degree in Development, International Relations, or relevant field required. *Minimum 8 years international development experience required, including at least 4 years of work in a developing country and in management or advisory roles demonstrating progressive levels of responsibility. *Minimum 5 years of experience in business development targeting US Government, European bilateral donors, or public multi-lateral donors required. Specific experience in the Health, Emergency, Education, Peacebuilding, Microfinance, and/or Water sectors highly desirable. *Significant direct experience designing and preparing USG Requests for Applications (RFAs) required; experience with USG RFPs highly desirable. *Demonstrated experience supervising, coordinating, and working within a diverse team required. *Demonstrated public representation skills and experience, including public speaking, advocacy and networking with donors, policymakers, academia, and other key players highly desirable. *Excellent interpersonal, oral and written communication and negotiation skills in English required. *Strong analytical skills required. *Experience in capacity building and training highly desirable. *Knowledge of CRS programs, Catholic Social Teaching principles a plus. *Experience with Microsoft Sharepoint and Microsoft Office required; data base programs highly desirable. *Ability and willingness to travel as needed, up to 30% of job time. *Fluency in English required; working ability in French preferred.

Physical Requirements/Environment: Normal conditions for an office environment. This position will require travel up to 30%.

Disclaimer Clause: This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skill, effort, duties, and responsibilities associated with the position

NOTE: All interested applicants must be authorized to work in the U.S. at the time of application.

EOE/M/F/D/V

How to apply:

Please visit our website at: www.crs.org/about/careers