Proposal Development Manager

Job Title: Proposal Development Manager

Purpose of role: Support VSO to seek and respond to restricted funding opportunities – developing competitive funding proposals by coordinating VSO bid teams and acting as lead writer.

Responsibilities:

Funding strategy & positioning is aligned to programme priorities:

• Contribute to a global, coordinated fundraising strategy, centered around VSO’s Core Programme Areas
• Work collaboratively with wider funding team to help identify and plan strategies to position VSO with potential partners and donors

Bid development:

• Rapidly pull together bid materials (proposal, presentation, concept outline) that bring a project or programme idea into a concrete, fundable proposition (including bringing out the VfM arguments, responding to donor/partner key interests, & being technically compliant, to ensure sound concept in line with good development practice and feasible delivery –
• Provide bid development for single and multi-country bids, regional and global calls and where VSO is a member of a consortia (as lead or sub)
• Manage and lead diverse proposal bid teams (made up of country office staff, partners, volunteers, VSO technical experts from finance, M&E & fundraising, programme teams and external consultants as needed) to deliver highly competitive concept notes and full proposals for all funding sources (institutional donors, trusts, foundations, major donors, and the corporate sector) -emphasis on large scale funding opportunities over £1M, complex and / or consortia applications
• Design and lead on proposal development workshops to bring together and validate consortia/bid team inputs
• Ensure legally binding teaming agreements are in place with consortia partners, and facilitate internal proposal risk assessment sign offs by senior leadership
• Ensure Value for Money arguments and Theories of Change and Cost Recovery are clearly articulated in all proposals
• As part of the wider business development team, provide high quality proposal review to other proposals (where not the lead)
• Identify, collate and share good practice and learning around donor requirements and agreed programme portfolio
• Contribute to the development of signature packages for country offices as part of the prepositioning and bid development core functions

Skills/Experience Required:

• Proven experience of preparing compelling, high-quality documentation (concept notes, presentations, proposals, budgets, reports, logframes, Theories of Change etc) for different donor audiences
• Proven track record in writing winning donor proposals for donors including USAID, EC, UKAID, SIDA and UN Agencies – excellent knowledge of donor proposal formats, logframes and budgeting
• Experience of establishing and cultivating strong donor relationships that have delivered substantially increased income
• Proven experience of evaluating proposals and providing high quality analytical, feedback to programmes
• Familiarity with M&E tools; theories of change, monitoring frameworks and basic evaluation techniques
• Proven ability to research new funding opportunities and to make appropriate judgements about their potential to realise significant restricted income
• Strong interpersonal skills, including written, verbal and presentation skills used in international settings – experience of leading and facilitating workshops and training
• Proven experience of establishing and negotiating partnerships between organisations; experience in developing and writing consortia proposals and teaming agreements as part of consortia bid development
• Strong administrative and organizational skills: ability to be self-directed and take initiative
• Strong analytical and financial and skills

Qualifications required

• Educated to degree level in international development-related discipline
• IT skills including fluency in Microsoft Office suite and database usage
• Experience of working with international organisations
• Fluency in English (written and spoken). Portuguese, French or other language desirable
• Ability to travel globally (estimated 10-20% travel required)

How to apply:

https://www.aplitrak.com/?adid=ZW56aW9rYS4yODA4OC4zODMwQHZzby5hcGxpdHJhay5jb20