Business Development Specialist II, East Asia and Pacific At Catholic Relief Services

Note: This is a remote position; CRS will give preference to candidates who are based in countries within Asia where we have existing offices. CRS does not sponsor visas for remote employees.

About CRS:

Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. CRS works to save, protect, and transform lives in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality. CRS’ relief and development work is accomplished through programs of emergency response, HIV, health, agriculture, education, microfinance and peacebuilding.

CRS programs in the Philippines, Indonesia, Timor Leste, Micronesia, and the Pacific Outreach constitute a sub-region under the overall leadership of the Sub-Regional Country Representative (CR). The East Asia and Pacific Sub-Region encompasses some of the most disaster-prone countries in the world, with climate change exacerbating the frequency and intensity of many of these disasters. In recent years, CRS has also started to provide outreach support to Caritas Oceania to support organization development and build emergency preparedness capacities across south Pacific islands.

The sub-region has a robust portfolio of Disaster Risk Reduction, Humanitarian Response, Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture, and Peacebuilding & Good Governance programs implemented by a diverse team of committed staff and high-capacity local partners. With the launch of the new Agency strategy, the sub-region has a renewed and reinvigorated commitment to expanding the impact of our programs by developing an influential voice with government stakeholders, staking out a position as the Agency leader in Homes & Communities post-disaster recovery, advancing local leadership with strategic government, Church, and civil society partners, and combatting the effects of climate change.

Job Summary:

As Business Development (BD) Specialist II you will lead the production of high-quality applications for funding in support of CRS’ engagement with institutional donors and initiatives involved in international development to serve the poor and vulnerable. Your knowledge and skills will allow you to provide specialized assistance in all dimensions of the BD cycle to cross-disciplines and cross-functional teams. You will work closely with country program staff, country program leadership, the senior management in your sub-region, the Asia regional business development manager, and the Asia regional team. You will be responsible for supporting BD-related strategic initiatives, such as leading the development of CP level BD Strategies and building BD capacity of country program staff and partner organizations.

The BDS II will support CRS’s competitive positioning for and pursuit of private and institutional donor resources, with a priority for supporting competitive funding opportunities. A core function of this job is supporting and leading the production of high-quality applications for donor funding. The position also requires specialized assistance in other dimensions of the business development cycle, knowledge of specific program sectors or funding sources, and other business development activities based on agency needs and your interests and skills.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Roles and Key Responsibilities:

Manage the entire BD Pipeline for the four countries in your portfolio, ensuring that Country Programs have support through the BD Specialist 1 based in Manila, surge support from within CRS, or external consultants. You will do this in coordination with the Asia regional BD Manager and country teams, as well as CRS HQ.
Provide BD expertise in positioning, capture planning and proposal preparation for specific opportunities with institutional donors (government and inter-governmental award issuing organizations, as well as foundations, corporations, and other awarding non-governmental organizations). Depending on the pipeline, you will be required to cover multiple opportunities at any given time across each of the four Country Programs.
Identify and develop local talent to take over future leadership of the business development opportunities within the sub-region.
Coordinate proposal development processes to ensure timely submission of high-quality proposals that are responsive to donor requirements, applicable regulations, and CRS’ technical and cost standards. This will often include more than one competitive proposal process at a given time and includes both emergency response and development activities. Provide guidance on donor compliance for proposal development templates, forms and RFA interpretation.
Coordinate project design processes, including design workshops, collaborating with technical staff on Results Frameworks and design decision making such as consortia membership, targeting, win themes, and design/analyses of needs assessments. Propose recommendations to develop a competitive proposal and for continued improvement of application processes. Assist in identifying, mobilizing, and managing technical writers and other proposal development team members and resources in compliance with CRS’ Technical and Cost Application Guidance tools.
Lead country programs through the development of business development strategies, and support senior management to implement these strategies, including influence planning, strategic positioning towards new donors, and continued strengthening of institutional relationships with institutional donors, partner organizations and other stakeholders. Research, analyze and plan for new funding opportunities, gather competitive intelligence, and continuously support CRS’ competitive positioning within the marketplace in a timely manner. Maintain expertise on key donors within the portfolio – namely USAID Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, Australian DFAT, European Union, Global Energy Alliance, and UN Agencies.
Serve in other lead roles in proposal team as required (strategy or technical lead, lead writer, lead budget developer), and participate in bid analysis and proposal review panels. Serve as a lead or support writer on proposals, contributing both technical and non-technical content and integrating inputs from reviewers, country staff and partners into a responsive, coherent proposal with a compelling vision and clear win themes. Working with technical advisors, ensure that the program design and proposal product meet CRS and ASIA quality standards while adhering to donor guidelines.
Provide intentional, robust training, mentorship, and accompaniment of country program staff to improve skills in all stages of the BD cycle, with an emphasis on proposal development, representation to donor and partner organizations, intelligence-gathering, and marketing within their country program or portfolio.
Advance Country Program, sub regional, and regional strategies through key funding opportunities, including capture and prepositioning phases. This requires familiarity of the strategies, existing initiatives/projects, and CP capacity and sector expertise. Lead proposal teams in successful integration of key donor trends and best practices where appropriate, including private sector engagement and local leadership.
Support and guide identification of partners and negotiation of CRS’ role on proposal consortia, ensuring a competitive position for CRS that adheres to the agency’s partnership principles and strategic directions. Lead post-submission negotiations with donors or prime applicants, including providing compliance related expertise.
Support local partners’ development of competitive proposals, in cooperation with CP staff and in alignment with local leadership and Partnership and Capacity Strengthening goals within each CP. This may include participating in design discussions, providing guidance on proposal planning and compliance, and support for writing, editing, and packaging submission packages.
Support effective knowledge management – Work with appropriate staff to maintain data on past performance and corporate capacity, in order to provide timely information for proposal submissions. Coordinate after action reviews to inform future proposal efforts and identify areas of needed improvement on proposal intelligence, preparations, or writing. Maintain a tracking system for growth opportunities and coordination of live opportunities.
Engage in stakeholder outreach and relationship building with relevant peer organizations, potential donors, and partners. Collaborate with sub regional leadership and country program leadership to build relationships.
Participate in relevant technical communities of practice or learning opportunities, to either develop or maintain adequate technical knowledge to be fluent in the signature areas, emerging areas, and bright ideas of each of the four Country Programs.
Contribute to the development and adoption of standardized business development materials (learning resources, guidelines, tools and templates, and online information) for the region.

QUALIFICATIONS

Basic Qualifications:

Bachelor’s degree in international development, international relations, or related field. Master’s degree preferred.
Minimum five years of international development experience, with at least three years experience in a developing country.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

Strong strategic, analytical, systems thinking, and problem-solving skills, with capacity to see the big picture.
Strong relations management abilities. Ability to relate to people at all levels internally and externally. Strategic in how you approach each relationship.
Excellent negotiation skills.
Strong communications and presentation skills.
Proactive, resourceful, solutions-oriented and results-oriented.

Preferred Qualifications:

Demonstrated experience utilizing diverse, proactive strategies to competitively position his/her organization for new funding and productive institutional relationships.
Exceptional writer with expert command of English grammar and AP style.
Demonstrated experience leading and producing competitive proposals in programming contexts similar to CRS.
Comprehensive familiarity with a broad range of institutional donor technical and cost requirements.
Excellent knowledge of project design principles and best practices.
Experience with donors active in East and South Asia is strongly desired.
Ability to work with and through partners as well as linking to a range of stakeholders, including civil authorities, community group leaders, donors, and other international NGOs on initiatives.
Experience with both USAID RFP and RFA funding mechanisms highly desirable.
Familiarity with relevant institutional donor regulations, policies, procedures and priorities.
Demonstrated experience managing teams and processes, leading teams to produce deliverables under tight deadlines and at exceptional quality.
Knowledge of CRS programs, justice agenda and Catholic Social Teaching principles a plus.
Experience using MS Windows and MS Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint), Web Conferencing Applications, information management systems.

Required Languages– English fluency required.

Travel – This position requires up to 30% travel.

Supervisory Responsibilities: Supervise BDS1 based in Manila. Supervision of TDYs, consultants, and Fellows may be required on an ad-hoc basis.

Work Conditions/Environment Conditions: This is a remote position; CRS will give preference to candidates who are based in countries within Asia where we have existing offices. CRS does not sponsor visas for remote employees.

Key Working Relationships:

Internal: Sub-regional Country Representative; Country Representative for Philippines, Country Managers and HOPs for Indonesia, Timor-Leste, and Federated States of Micronesia, Philippines; ASIA BD Manager, ASIA DRD-PQ, ASIA regional technical advisors, Program Managers and operations staff.

External: Donor agencies; corporations and other non-traditional donors such as private businesses, universities and research institutes; Local Government agencies, Church leaders, other INGOs, and local partners, including Caritas organizations, diocese organizations, and other local NGOs.

Agency REDI Competencies (for all CRS Staff):

Agency competencies clarify expected behaviors and attitudes for all staff. When demonstrated, they create an engaging workplace, help staff achieve their best, and help CRS achieve agency goals. 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.

Personal Accountability – Consistently takes responsibility for one’s own actions.
Acts with Integrity – Consistently models values aligned with CRS Guiding Principles and mission. Is considered honest.
Builds and Maintains Trust – Shows consistency between words and actions.
Collaborates with Others – Works effectively in intercultural and diverse teams.
Open to Learn – Seeks out experiences that may change perspective or provide an opportunity to learn new things.

Agency Leadership Competencies:

Lead Change – Continually looks for ways to improve the agency through a culture of agility, openness, and innovation.
Develops and Recognizes Others – Builds the capacity of staff to reach their full potential and enhance team and agency performance.
Strategic Mindset – Understands role in translating, communicating, and implementing agency strategy and team priorities.

***Our Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations. Catholic Relief Services carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. We welcome as a part of our staff people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need.

Disclaimer: This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skill, effort, duties, and responsibilities associated with the position.

Note: All positions requiring residence or frequent travel outside their home country must undergo and clear a pre-employment medical examination.

CRS talent acquisition procedures reflect our commitment to safeguarding the rights and dignity of all people – especially children and vulnerable adults – to live free from abuse and harm.

CRS welcomes candidates from the countries and regions in which we work. In the event the successful candidate is an expatriate or remote employee, the anticipated duration of the assignment is informed by a term limit, based on the type and level of the job and the needs of the agency.

CRS is an Equal Opportunity Employer