Proposal Development Manager (NGO) at The Career Network SA

Proposal Development Manager (NGO) 

The role’s primary purpose is to manage proposal development efforts across the organization to ensure the successful completion and responsiveness of the organisations solicited and unsolicited competitive proposals. The role works in partnership with Country Directors, Department of Programmes and Technical Support, International Operations, and Finance facilitating the broader proposal development process.

This role juggles complex scenarios under high pressure and tight deadlines, as they are accountable for the ultimate completion, compliance, and submission of proposals. This role supports the identification and tracking of longer term strategic opportunities, supports competitive analyses, and is responsible for the internal flow, review, and quality of all proposal inputs. Leading a process that involves senior members of staff, this role manages schedules to ensure the timely completion of all proposal components, anticipates challenges and troubleshoots in advance, coordinates activities with cross functional business areas, performs as lead writer on various sections of the proposal, and submits final proposals. This role works across all implementation countries, the US office, the EU office, and with new country initiatives. In addition, this role leads limited grant reporting efforts for core awards assigned to the department. The position will report to the Senior Business Development Manager and will be based in Cape Town.

Key Performance Areas

• Leads proposal process with Country Directors and senior staff (US, UK, HQ) to deliver compliant, competitive proposals to the client on time. Oversees the entire proposal process—from capture through development and submission—in close collaboration with proposal design leads and proposal teams.
• Manages every aspect of the proposal development process, including ensuring the use of business development systems, processes and best practices to develop the most responsive and competitive proposals.
• Responsible for the successful submission of the proposal.
• Works on multiple proposals at varying stages of development simultaneously and largely independently.
• Creates the proposal calendar, tracks technical and cost proposal progress to ensure milestones are met, and ensures that every member of the proposal team, including sub- and prime partners, knows what is expected of him/her and when tasks are due.
• Facilitate technical strategy development of senior level technical and country senior staff, including development of log frames and results frameworks.
• Participate in, and/or lead, proposal writing as needed.
• Provides detailed and strategic analyses of solicitations, develops requirements list and submission information according to solicitation instructions.
• Distributes essential material and updates to the proposal team (Country Directors, Director of Department of Programme and Technical Services, BFAS managers, International Operations, etc.) and sends follow-up emails to the team with the details of the proposal and timeline for completion.
• Contributes to partnering decisions/negotiations; assists in securing resources, such as external consultants and writers.
• Coordinates with in country and HQ Finance teams to develop best-value cost strategies and ensure a unified strategy in both technical and cost proposals.
• Oversees the collection of all required proposal forms, materials, etc. as stipulated in the funders’ requests for proposals (solicited and unsolicited concept papers/LOIs, full proposals, etc.).
• Quality-controls proposal components to ensure compliance with donor requirements and standards and competitiveness prior to submission.
• Assembles and submits complete proposals, including technical and cost elements.

Leads and contributes to organizational learning, through analysis of proposal successes and failures, analysis of company's competitiveness and the funding environment, and active participation in shared learning across all entities and country offices;

• Ensures relevant tracking systems and proposal files are kept up-to-date, including salesforce.
• Role as BD Desk Officer for assigned countries – being the “go to” person for that country’s BD information and provide tailored and informed direct support to assigned Country Teams.
• Lead grant reporting for select core awards.
• Builds strong relationships with colleagues across multiple departments to facilitate collaborative proposal development and to continually improve proposal and business development processes.
• Develops, utilizes and continually refines tools, templates and work processes that result in streamlined and efficient proposal teamwork.
• Leads post-proposal submission after action reviews, debriefs and follow-up activities.
• Assists in maintaining relationships with sponsors, relevant government agencies, universities, multinational, and other non-governmental organizations.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Qualifications and experience

• Degree in public health, international relations, development, or a related field;
• Minimum of 3-5 years of work experience in the international development/public health field focused on resource mobilization;
• Demonstrated success in coordinating and writing proposals; and
• Excellent writing and editing skills.

Competencies required

• Prior success coordinating proposals for foundations and institutional donors;
• Good and proven ability to work efficiently in teams under tight deadlines;
• Demonstrated ability to initiate and organize work, establish priorities in a time-sensitive environment, and meet deadlines with attention to detail and quality;
• Provides resolution to an assortment of problems of differing and complex scope;
• Ability to research and examines data to grasp issues, draw conclusions, and solve problems;
• Diligently attends to details and pursues quality in accomplishing tasks;
• Makes timely, informed decisions that take into account the facts, goals, constraints, and risks;
• Strong inter-personal ability;
• Proven ability to convey complex ideas effectively and in a compelling manner to internal and external audiences;
• Good organization and research skills;
• Ability to successfully work across departments and countries under an international NGO structure;
• The proven ability to multi-tasking and meet deadlines in a demanding, fast-paced and rapidly changing environment;
• Ability and willingness to travel domestically and internationally as necessary; and
• Passionate about the region with a deep knowledge of organisation's mission, messages, and key funding priorities.