Business Development Specialist II -Uganda

Closing date23 Feb 2023
About CRS

Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. CRS works to save, protect, and transform lives in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality. CRS has worked in Uganda since 1965, initially providing emergency assistance to Sudanese refugees living in the north. Over the years, CRS has expanded its programming to address needs across the country. CRS’ projects in Uganda currently include agriculture and value chain, landscape restoration and climate change adaption, health and health systems strengthening, microfinance, and DRR, humanitarian response and recovery. CRS Uganda implements its programs through partnerships with other organizations, including the Catholic Church, faith-based organizations, international and Ugandan NGOs, government ministries, private sector companies and academia, for maximum impact and sustainability. CRS Uganda employs around 180 staff and has its main office in Kampala, with sub-offices in Moroto, Yumbe, Kasese, and Kikuube districts. With our more than 30 partners, we served over 1m Ugandans in 2021.

Job Summary:

As Business Development (BD) Specialist II you will lead the production of high-quality applications for funding in support of CRS’ engagement with institutional donors and initiatives involved in international development to serve the poor and vulnerable in Uganda. Your knowledge and skills will allow you to provide specialized assistance in all dimensions of the BD cycle to cross-disciplines and cross-functional teams. Through both internal and external networking, you will keep up to date on the major trends in donor funding, partnership opportunities and operating context of Uganda. You will be tasked with facilitating broad engagement on BD processes from a variety of programming and operations-focused colleagues across the country program. You will supervise a national BD1 Specialist, and ensure a coherent and high performing Uganda Business Development team.

NOTE: This is a global telecommuter position; CRS will give preference to candidates who are based in countries where we have existing offices. CRS does not sponsor visas for telecommuting employees.

**Preference for candidates in or within 4 hours of the East Africa Time Zone.

Roles and Key Responsibilities

Provide BD expertise in positioning, capture planning, teaming, and proposal preparation for specific opportunities with institutional donors (government and inter-governmental award issuing organizations, as well as foundations, corporations and other awarding non-governmental organizations).
Coordinate proposal development processes to ensure timely submission of high-quality proposals that are responsive to donor requirements, applicable regulations, and CRS’ technical and cost standards. Lead and support proposal budget processes and propose recommendations to develop a competitive proposal.
As appropriate, serve as proposal coordinator, or other lead role in proposal team, and participate in bid analysis and proposal review panels. Serve as a lead or support writer on proposals, contributing both technical and non-technical content and integrating inputs from staff and partners into a responsive, coherent proposal with a compelling vision and clear win themes.
Train and mentor staff, including one directly supervised Business Development 1 Specialist and Caritas partner staff, to improve their skills in proposal development, representation to donor and partner organizations, intelligence-gathering, and marketing within their country program or portfolio.
Support and guide identification of partners – including research, academia and private sector partners - and negotiation of CRS’ role on proposal consortia, ensuring a competitive position for CRS that adheres to the agency’s partnership principles and strategic directions. Research, track and analyze new opportunities and CRS’ competitive position within the marketplace, with a particular focus on enhancing local leadership and diversifying our donor base.
Support senior management to cultivate and strengthen relationships with institutional donors, partner organizations, government, private sector, academia, and other stakeholders.
Work with appropriate staff to maintain data on past performance and corporate capacity, in order to provide timely information for proposal submissions.
Liaise closely with EARO and Global BD community of practice, linking up with additional support as needed
Lead in the development of sector-specific positioning strategies for the CP, including allocation of strategic funding
Lead the facilitation of the CP’s Growth Working Group, a cross-sectoral strategy group aimed at improving our positioning for new funding
Required Languages- Excellent spoken and written English.

Travel – up to 30% to Uganda and during that time, within Uganda

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

Strong strategic, analytical, systems thinking, and problem-solving skills, with capacity to see the big picture.
Strong relations management abilities. Ability to relate to people at all levels internally and externally. Strategic in how you approach each relationship.
Excellent negotiation skills.
Strong communications and presentation skills.
Proactive, resourceful, solutions-oriented and results-oriented.
Preferred Qualifications

Experience with both USAID RFP and RFA funding mechanisms highly desirable.
General experience and skills in Agriculture Livelihoods, Humanitarian Response & Recovery, Climate Change Mitigation/Adaptation, or Health & Health Systems Strengthening preferred.
Experience in coordination and facilitation of project design, preferably for grants from multiple public donors
Exceptional writer with expert command of English grammar and AP style.
Comprehensive familiarity with a broad range of institutional and emerging donor funding streams, and their technical and cost requirements.
Knowledge of CRS programs, justice agenda and Catholic Social Teaching principles a plus.
Experience using MS Windows and MS Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint), Web Conferencing Applications, information management systems.
Demonstrated Workshop Facilitation Skills
Experience engaging with partner organizations.
Relationship building and teamwork abilities that are conducive to a learning environment.
Familiarity with relevant institutional donor regulations, policies, procedures and priorities.
Demonstrated experience managing teams and processes, leading teams to produce deliverables under tight deadlines and at exceptional quality.
Demonstrated experience leading and producing competitive proposals in programming contexts similar to CRS.