New Business Development Officer

Job Profile: 

Counterpart International is currently seeking a Business Development Officer to support proposal development efforts. This is a full-time position based in Arlington, Virginia. This position will report to the Associate Director, New Business Development.  As a key member of the Business Development Team, the Business Development Officer is responsible for managing proposals, quality control and compliance, as well as playing a supporting role to Associate Directors on larger bids. This position is ideal for someone with a solid business development background looking to gain greater exposure to capture planning/portfolio management, budgeting, and partnerships. Counterpart is committed to the career growth and trajectory of all team members. This position has great exposure to many levels of Counterpart leadership.

Primary Responsibilities:

Serve as Proposal Manager on approximately 8 bids per year:

• Establish and manage the proposal timeline, deliverables, and assignments.
• Lead partner identification, communication, and negotiation.
• Lead and/or facilitate the technical and management plan design sessions.
• Draft narratives for management chapters, institutional capacity statements, past performance reports, staffing plans, key personnel biographies, and other relevant sections of the technical proposal; including annexes.
• Oversee recruitment process, partake in interviews, and finalize key personnel decisions.
• Oversee cost proposal development.
• Ensure technical and cost volumes adequately reflect technical and management approach.
• Oversee technical and cost proposal, compliance, consistency, and quality.
• Ensure all approvals are secured and oversee final packaging and submission of technical and cost volume, including ensuring that the proposal meets all Counterpart and donor requirements.

Conduct capture and business development activities:

• Identify and cultivate relationships with local and international partner organizations.
• Collect early intelligence on funder opportunities.
• Develop EOIs, capture plans, and present plans for go/no-go bid pursuit decisions.
• Conduct competitive analysis, stakeholder analyses, and donor mapping.
• Conduct in-country assessments and reconnaissance missions for upcoming proposal opportunities.
• Provide coordination support during proposal pre-positioning.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in International Development, Public Policy, Public Management, or other relevant field.
• 5+ years of business development experience for a USAID implementing partner.
• Solid writing, editing, formatting, budgeting, presentation and project management skills.
• Proven experience serving as proposal manager or coordinator on successful USG proposals.
• Knowledge of the entire business development lifecycle, including opportunity identification, capture management, technical design, recruiting, proposal writing, and costing.
• Experience facilitating communications across a wide range of technical specialists, recruiters, pricing specialists to support business development.
• Comfortable working and communicating in a fast-paced and dynamic environment and under pressure against tight deadlines.
• Strong interpersonal and teamwork skills; self-motivated, detail-oriented, self-directed and curious.
• Thorough computer software skills, namely the MS Office Suite of programs.
• Experience using SalesForce or similar system for business development, tracking opportunities, and submissions.
• Up to 25% travel to developing country locations.
• Demonstrated knowledge and application of proposal development and management methodologies.

Preferred:

• Master’s degree in International Development, Public Policy, Public Management, or other relevant field.
• Field experience working with development programs.
• Previous program implementation, program management, and/or monitoring and evaluation experience.
• Familiarity with DFID and DFAT proposal requirements.
• Language skills in French, Spanish, Arabic, Russian, or other relevant languages.