Catholic Relief Services carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. Our Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations. We welcome as a part of our staff and as partners people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need.
Job Summary:
CRS’ IDEA department advances the agency’s strategic position by engaging new and existing institutional donors to acquire and steward resources that deliver excellent programs to advance Vision 2030, CRS’ Agency Strategy. Teams within the department focus on three main areas: engaging donors, prospects and strategic partners, acquiring new business, and delivering on the outcomes as outlined in the institutional award agreements, in compliance with donor requirements. As Senior Business Development (BD) Specialist for Resilience and Food Security, you will join a team of BD Specialists within the Acquire pillar of IDEA, providing high-quality support to CRS Country Programs (CPs) and Regions as they pursue strategic resilience and food security funding opportunities. In particular, you will guide CRS’ approach to Resilience Food Security Activity (RFSA) opportunities and some emergency food security opportunities coming from the USAID Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (formerly Food for Peace), providing direct support as well as developing new approaches, tools, and guidance. You will also provide BD technical expertise for resilience and food security funding opportunities from other strategic or emerging donors, such as Feed the Future and EU. This position requires strong technical skills in business development, knowledge of BHA and other key resilience and food security donors, and representational skills to support expanding CRS’ global resilience and food security portfolio. Abilities in strategic thinking, collaboration and relationship management, and training and capacity building will also be an asset.
Roles and Key Responsibilities
Guide country and regional teams through the process of positioning, planning, and proposal development for USAID Resilience Food Security Activities (RFSA) and other resilience and food security opportunities. This includes providing business development expertise to cross-discipline and cross-functional teams to ensure the highest quality standards and competitiveness for resilience and food security technical and cost proposals.
Develop, share, and update agency standard processes for RFSA program design and proposal development, balancing quality with efficient and effective stewardship of resources. This includes maintaining a suite of RFSA specific tools and templates to facilitate the process from positioning through proposal development, submission, and issues letter and/or oral presentation.
Collaborate closely with MEAL colleagues to ensure the RFSA Reference Theory of Change guidance is completed, regularly updated, and used appropriately by proposal teams; ensure MEAL technical advisors with the relevant donor expertise are bought in at the appropriate points in the capture and proposal development processes.
Collaborate closely with relevant technical colleagues to ensure the RFSA Purpose (Strategies, Interventions, and Activities) Guides are completed, regularly updated, and used appropriately by proposal teams; ensure sectoral technical advisors with the relevant donor expertise are bought in at the appropriate points in the capture and proposal development processes.
Support country programs to improve capture planning capacities and practices for RFSA and other resilience and food security funding opportunities, including identification of proposal development teams and expected proposal development support needs.
Through ongoing coaching, capacity building, and accompaniment of country program/regional proposal staff, ensure proposal team and key stakeholders are adhering to processes and utilizing the relevant BD and project design tools.
Working with Project Support and Donor Engagement staff, track trends in donor communications and challenges in implementing resilience and food security programs and assist proposal teams to apply that learning to design of new programs.
Monitor and analyze the evolution of donor regulations, funding mechanisms, and application requirements to ensure the compliance and responsiveness of CRS proposals, with particular focus on USAID RFSA proposal requirements and expectations. Update CRS RFSA proposal guidance accordingly.
As determined with Director of Business Development, occasionally deploy to provide hands-on proposal development support to country programs. As appropriate, serve in a lead or support BD role in proposal teams. Assist in design and facilitation of workshops during proposal processes. Write or edit technical narratives, produce budgets and other proposal pieces as required depending on capacities of proposal development team.
Participate in major reviews of resilience and food security proposals to ensure all pieces meet quality and compliance expectations.
Engage regularly with the CRS business development community to share best practices from RFSA and other resilience and food security processes and learn from other agency proposal efforts.
In collaboration with the IDEA BHA Donor Engagement Lead, Impact Investing and Private Sector Engagement colleagues, and other relevant HQ colleagues, cultivate long-term strategic relationships with peer development agencies, strategic research organizations, and private sector stakeholders working in resilience and food security.
Maintain regular participation in relevant internal and external working groups, such as CRS’ Global Food Security Crisis and Resilience Working Groups.
Work with appropriate staff to maintain data on past performance and corporate capacity resilience and food security awards, to provide timely information for proposal submission.
Co-own and co-manage the agency’s internal Food Security and Nutrition Project Design site and support the process of ensuring the RFSA Technical Evidence Library is updated.
Contribute to introducing and maintaining continuous process improvements that support innovative and responsive resilience and food security design, in alignment with CRS’ BD processes.
Bachelor’s in International Development, International Relations, or another relevant field preferred; Master’s degree preferred.
Five-Seven years of international development experience preferred.
Three years' experience in a developing country preferred.
Required Languages - Fluency in English required; working ability in French and/or Spanish highly desirable.
Travel - Must be willing and able to travel up to 25%.
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
Excellent interpersonal, oral and written communication and negotiation skills.
Strong strategic, analytical, systems thinking, and problem-solving skills, with a capacity to both attend to details and see the big picture.
Preferred Qualifications:
Demonstrated experience working with field and HQ-based staff to guide prepositioning, capture planning, and production of competitive proposals in programming contexts similar to CRS.
Significant direct experience as a proposal coordinator, lead writer, cost lead, or capture manager.
Familiarity with relevant institutional donor trends, policies, and priorities, particularly USAID Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (formerly Food for Peace).
Familiarity with food security, resilience, and other relevant programming trends.
Demonstrated skill in managing communications with partners and donors.
Demonstrated familiarity with adult learning principles, and experience designing and leading training initiatives and/or developing job aids and training material a plus.
Knowledge of CRS programs, justice agenda and Catholic Social Teaching principles a plus
Knowledge of Microsoft Office software (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) required, knowledge of Salesforce, Oracle, Web Conferencing Applications, and other systems a plus.
Agency-wide Competencies
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
Continuous Improvement & Innovation
Builds Relationships
Develops Talent
Strategic Mindset
Accountability & Stewardship
Supervisory Responsibilities: None
Key Working Relationships:
INTERNAL: GSSU team members; other teams and staff within the Institutional Donor Engagement and Advancement (IDEA) Department; staff within the CRS Global Business Development Community of Practice; field-based country program and regional office staff and proposal teams; technical, management quality, and finance staff; MEAL staff; Program Quality Impact and Assurance (PIQA); and other relevant HQ staff.
EXTERNAL: Business development and technical staff from collaborating partner organizations; select donor representatives as appropriate.
QUALIFICATIONS
Basic Qualifications:
Bachelor’s in International Development, International Relations, or another relevant field preferred; Master’s degree preferred.
Five years of international development experience preferred.
Three years' experience in a developing country preferred.
Required Languages - Fluency in English required; working ability in French and/or Spanish highly desirable.
Travel - Must be willing and able to travel up to 25%.
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
Excellent interpersonal, oral and written communication and negotiation skills.
Strong strategic, analytical, systems thinking, and problem-solving skills, with a capacity to both attend to details and see the big picture.
Preferred Qualifications:
Demonstrated experience working with field and HQ-based staff to guide prepositioning, capture planning, and production of competitive proposals in programming contexts similar to CRS.
Seven years of international development experience preferred.
Significant direct experience as a proposal coordinator, lead writer, cost lead, or capture manager.
Familiarity with relevant institutional donor trends, policies, and priorities, particularly USAID Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (formerly Food for Peace).
Familiarity with food security, resilience, and other relevant programming trends.
Demonstrated skill in managing communications with partners and donors.
Demonstrated familiarity with adult learning principles, and experience designing and leading training initiatives and/or developing job aids and training material a plus.
Knowledge of CRS programs, justice agenda and Catholic Social Teaching principles a plus
Knowledge of Microsoft Office software (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) required, knowledge of Salesforce, Oracle, Web Conferencing Applications, and other systems a plus.
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.
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