The nature of the role:

This is a full-time position that will be supported by the Chief Growth Officer. The role is focused on partnership development and business development with contributions to communications, marketing, and resourcing.

Our work:

The successful applicant will spend the majority of their time working directly with clients and potential clients on pitching and co-creating new approaches, designing innovative technical approaches and finding ways to fund their implementation, brokering partnerships to leverage MSA’s skills and value, and managing a highly capable business development team and function. This position offers incredible opportunities to work at the cutting edge of the work being done in the field, participating in influential research and learning contracts and helping to shape on-the-ground implementation through realistic and sound business development processes.

Responsibilities include:

1. Strategic direction and mentoring 

• Supporting the development of MSA’s BD and partnership strategy development and working closely with the Principals as well as the Pipeline Committee 
• Overseeing the BD team including a BD Coordinator and BD Assistant, as well as technical inputs on new business from the rest of the technical team 
• Gathering and communicating market intelligence to guide MSA’s BD direction and prioritization of new markets and clients to ensure growth including research and analyses of market intelligence on client strategies, priorities, stakeholders and beneficiaries. Ensures that there is a database of potential donors/customers, partners and competitors with updated information 

2. Partnership building and new business 

• Lead on partnering and capture systems that documents research for partnering and capture, including analyzing competition and potential partners, background information on the client and current implementation efforts, country context, and relevant on-the-ground knowledge.
• Presenting opportunities for technical team members to engage in purposeful networking opportunities and interactions with clients to build company reputation and pursue capture targets.
• Formulating company practices and procedures for the collection of information on potential and upcoming opportunities; networking and building relations with client personnel; building a database to track and manage information on client personnel and client interactions; and pursuing capture opportunities. 

3. Proposal support to prime contractors 

• Lead development of proposal documents, including drafting sections and providing technical reviews to primes. 
• Aggregate content from MSA’s technical teams, including project past performance references; technical tools and approaches; examples and case studies; and proposed staff. 
• Coordinate recruitment efforts to identify and secure short-/long-term personnel and contractors. 

4. Engagement start-up and planning

• Manage technical onboarding for engagement management team, including the development of the Engagement Charter, organizing kickoff meetings to discuss and agree on Engagement Charters and providing guidance for roles and responsibilities of engagement team members.
• Lead contractual handover from BD to Operations – including a handover meeting between BD and operations on key issues from BD process, and leading the review of resourcing (team members, LOE, SOWs) 

Required Qualifications:

• 6-10 years of professional experience managing business development efforts, strategic partnerships and/or program implementation for donor-funded projects, including those funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and/or for private foundations. 
• Experience supporting various aspects of business development, including partnering, recruitment, technical writing, etc. 
• Deep experience in efficiently writing proposals and leading responses to donor, INGOs, national government agencies, and private sector proposal requests.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate clearly and concisely both orally and in writing, lead effective meetings and demonstrated presentation skills; strong cross-culture communication and sensitivity skills.
• Proven experience in economic growth, impact investing, private sector development, agriculture, employment, financial inclusion, impact investing, decent work, competitiveness and/or market systems-development focused projects.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills and ability to distill complex concepts and insights for both technical and lay audiences.
• Quick learner able to follow through consistently on commitments
• Exceptional coordination and project management skills, including workplan development and oversight of a team of skilled professionals 
• Strong interpersonal skills, including the ability to work and build relationships with team members and clients from diverse backgrounds 
• Minimum Bachelor’s degree

Desired qualifications:

• A Master’s degree or higher in economics, international development or another relevant social science
• Proficiency in another language, preferably written and oral French, Spanish, Arabic, and/or Portuguese
• Longer-term experience working overseas in a developing country context preferred
• Strong preference for experience working in a small business taking on a variety of roles and leading both bids as both a subcontractor and prime contractor
• Experience working with a consulting company and understanding how a consulting company wins new work