Senior Manager, Business Development at Adam Smith International

JOB CONTEXT AND PURPOSE

• The Senior Manager, Business Development will be an integral member of ASI Africa Team and lead concerted efforts to further expand and diversify ASI’s growing multi-donor portfolio across Africa.
• Working under the Head of Africa, the Senior Manager will play a fundamental role in conceiving and executing ASI’s regional business growth and engagement strategies, strategic planning, positioning, partnerships and thought leadership, as well as contributing to the ongoing successful delivery and performance of ASI’s existing long-term programs and technical assignments.

KEY TASKS 

Business Development Strategy, strategic direction, bid coordination, preparation and delivery

• Support and/or lead regional business development discussions to ensure the Head of Africa, ASI BD Team and Executive Team’s visibility, awareness, decision-making, oversight and guidance on: (i) overall tender pipeline and opportunities; (ii) priority pursuits including strategic assessment of competitiveness and winnability of pursuits; and (iii) resourcing.
• Lead / bid manage priority pursuits to develop high quality technical and commercial proposals, identify and recruit consultants and technical advisers, and coordinate with other bid leads / technical practices / geographic or donor leads to contribute to proposal development where it pertains to Africa geographic mandate or donor expertise.
• Arrange timely bid check-in meetings, assess progress with bid preparation and help teams to identify and address bottlenecks in a timely manner. Quality assure the inputs provided by colleagues or associates to ensure highest technical rigor and compliances of submissions.
• Where operationally required, support implementation of large donor funded programs and approaches, including providing technical know-how, project management, support to in-country teams, including performance management and quality assurance of deliverables.

Business development processes, monitoring and knowledge management

• Ensure processes for both pre-submission and quality assurance are well defined and articulated to all.
• Ensure post-submission lessons learning are regularly reviewed, updated and implemented, including review client debriefs and feedback to identify and share an issues impacting the development of quality tenders. Identify, recommend and implement adaptive actions and ways of working to strengthen quality of tenders.
• Own and maintain the Africa BD Database and other digital knowledge repository, including the timely and comprehensive upload of all bid materials post-submission to aid future tenders. Maintain, refresh and refine ASI Africa’s BD templates, proformas, graphics and visuals to ensure accessible and impactful tenders
• Maintain and develop further necessary compliance documentation to ensure ASI’s continued compliance with donor requirements.
• Monitor, understand and cascade any evolution of donors strategies, action plans or quality standards, with a particular focus on FCDO, EU, USAID, European bilaterals, MDBs and Foundations.
• Lead ASI’s outreach and engagement with current and prospective donors, advisors and potential partners in Africa, including developing and implementing targeted communications strategies, products and thought leadership. Build and maintain a robust network from which to source potential technical advisers, partners, and consortiums. This includes external networking with new and existing strategic partnerships, as well as maintaining a relevant Talent Pool/associate database.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

• Effectively manage and coordinate the Africa BD portfolio.
• Produce consistently high-quality technical and commercial proposals.
• Increase the conversion rate of proposals to wins.
• Effectively collaborate between other technical, geographic and donor teams in the development of proposals.
• Improve the capture and sharing of business development lessons.
• Improve BD systems, processes, templates and knowledge repositories.

KEY RELATIONSHIPS

Internal:

• Head of Africa
• Country Leads
• Head of BD and Business Growth Team
• Technical, geographical and client team leaders, bid leads and bid team members
• Corporate service teams including Finance, Legal & Compliance, People and Talent, IT and Cyber Security, etc.

External:

• Donor staff
• Partners
• Associates
• This position is open to candidates from all nationalities.

Job requirements

QUALIFICATIONS:

Essential: A post-graduate degree in a relevant field.

EXPERIENCE:

• Significant international development experience in Africa, and one or more of the following sectors is essential: private sector development, climate change, sustainable infrastructure, stabilisation, economic governance and security sector reform;
• Consulting experience within the international development, governmental, and multilateral organisations is essential. Prior relevant experience in key donors governments may be considered in lieu of direct consulting experience;
• Outstanding business development capabilities, including preparation of pitch packs, ability to present ASI’s global and regional work effectively to prospective clients, ability to represent ASI in business development meetings, ability to explore new markets with appropriately tailored service offering;
• Outstanding bid preparation and writing capabilities, including bid management experience, as well as comprehensive appreciation of key donor procurement cycles; Experience conceiving, developing and delivering business growth strategies is advantageous;
• Nuanced understanding of international development strategies of one or more of ASI’s core Africa clients, namely FCDO, EU and USAID is essential. Knowledge of other bilateral and multilateral donors, private foundations and MDBs is an asset;
• Strong oral and written communication skills in English. Proficiency in French is an asset; and
• Ability to working autonomously and remotely or collaboratively and in-person as part of a high energy, regionally dispersed, and culturally diverse team.

COMPETENCIES:

• Planning and delivering results;
• Quality and accountability;
• Continuous improvement;
• Managing complexity;
• Innovation and change management;
• Communication and knowledge management;
• Collaboration and teamwork;
• Personal impact and effectiveness;
• Proven ability to work under pressure.

KNOWLEDGE:

• Knowledge of ASI’s technical service lines, geographies and clients;
• Detailed understanding of the donors, suppliers, partners, and key actors active in the region;
• Understanding of how to align our client’s priorities to our commercial aims;
• In-depth understanding of our business model and how to develop our business effectively in the short and longer-term;
• Understanding of the theory and current trends in their technical or geographic area.

SKILLS:

• Complex proposal writing;
• Ability to build effective, credible relationships and networks, both internal and external;
• Excellent verbal communication and ability to present well;
• Strong people management;
• Advanced project management;
• Budget management.

ATTITUDE

• A passion for international development;
• Positivity that enthuses and motivates others in the face of issues, challenges and frustrations;
• Excellent networker and strong relationship builder;
• Proactive, enthusiastic, flexible, self-starting, resourceful;
• High level of emotional intelligence;
• Open-minded, flexible approach to problem-solving;
• Resilient to and patient in the face of changing circumstances and challenges
• Achievement- and solution-oriented;
• Determination to complete work to a very high standard;
• Trustworthy, reliable, professional, conscientious, and accountable.