Proposal Development Coordinator

Description

Heifer International is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, status as a protected veteran, among other things, or status as a qualified individual with disability.

About Heifer International:

In 1944, Heifer International’s founder, Dan West, began outlining a simple but groundbreaking plan to tackle hunger around the world. West, a farmer from the Midwest and Church of the Brethren member, had recently returned from feeding weary refugees during volunteer service in the Spanish Civil War.

He had seen firsthand that giving people food was a short-term solution, whereas providing them with animals offered a steady supply of nutritious food for an entire family. His philosophy still inspires Heifer’s work today. Partnering with farmers across a range of different livestock and crops, we create unique solutions to local challenges.

Today, Heifer International has operations in 21 countries around the world, working alongside local farmers, business owners and their communities, as they mobilize and envision their futures. Together, we build inclusive, resilient economies, so communities can develop effective ways to end global hunger and poverty in a sustainable way.

To date, we have supported more than 46 million farming families across Africa, Asia and the Americas and in the past five years alone, we have worked alongside 2.7 million families to close the living income gap or set them on a path to doing so. Between now and 2030, we will support an additional 10 million people to reach a living income by scaling up our signature programs. To achieve this, Heifer International relies on its passionate, committed and highly skilled staff.

FUNCTION

The Proposal Development Coordinator is an integral member of the Business Development & Partnerships team. This position works with cross-functional proposal teams in developing high-quality concept notes and proposals, especially high value, competitive, and strategic opportunities. The Proposal Development Coordinator will take on key roles within proposal design teams, as requested by Business Development & Partnerships leads in collaboration with Area Programs (Asia, Africa, Americas, U.S.). The position will take a hands-on approach in proposal development, proactively supporting proposal efforts as a core function. These proposal team roles may include technical writer, proposal quality assurance lead, proposal coordinator, or proposal reviewer. The Proposal Development Coordinator will possess strong proposal writing and management skills. They will also provide training and mentoring to colleagues in proposal development best practices while assisting with continuous improvement to Heifer’s proposal development processes, related tools and documentation.

ESSENTIAL CHARACTER TRAITS

Strong interpersonal and teamwork skills; exceptional English writing skills and attention to detail; ability to adapt to organization and market shifts; desire and ability to learn and utilize innovative and established practices and tools; ability to be proactive, manage multiple priorities and meet tight deadlines required; ability to collaborate and integrate others’ ideas; interest and commitment to learn Heifer’s approaches and methodologies in order to articulate appropriately in proposals; and a passion for winning.

RESPONSIBILITIES & DELIVERABLES

Serve on proposal design teams to develop proposals for Tier 1 Foundations, Institutions, Corporations, and other potential funding partners. (60%)

• Support the preparation of technical proposals across Heifer’s global programs, working with technical subject matter experts to capture strong technical design and win themes.
• Serve as technical writer, proposal quality assurance lead, or proposal coordinator on proposal design teams.
• Manage and write proposal sections as either lead technical writer or supporting writer, depending on the proposal team needs, adhering to donor requirements and industry best practices for proposal writing.
• Assist with proposal quality assurance by copy editing and formatting proposal documents, ensuring clarity and consistency.
• Develop corporate capability and past performance documents for proposals, gathering relevant information from regional and country-based colleagues.
• Conduct research of country context, funder priorities, and competitive landscape to support proposal strategy development.
• Manage proposal calendars and deliverable deadlines, assist in facilitating proposal design team meetings and review team logistics.
• Collaborate with design team members who represent functional areas including Programs; Global Finance Office; Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning; Analytics; and Heifer Impact Capital.
• Deliver complete and compliant proposals, focusing on the written technical approach, personnel, management, and corporate qualification sections, as required by the funder.
• Identify and supervise qualified short-term business development consultants and/or interns to provide surge support for proposals.
• Travel to Heifer’s program sites to assist with information gathering for capture and proposal development (up to 2~3 weeks a year).

Serve as a review team member for proposals. (20%)

• Serve as a reviewer for designated proposal teams to ensure proposals are of exceptional quality and compliant with both funder and internal Heifer guidelines.
• Participate in proposal draft reviews to provide constructive feedback to increase the quality of the proposal documents.
• Ensure proposals and funding requests align with both funder criteria and Heifer’s strategic framework and methodologies

Support the development and refinement of proposal development best practices at Heifer. (10%)

• Facilitate working group discussions on proposal development practices and procedures to identify priority areas of improvement and recommend changes to senior leadership.
• Contribute to the continuous improvement of the business development function, collaborating with other Proposal Design Hub team members to periodically review and update internal best practice documents and tools, including the Proposal Development Manual. Finalize, publish, and promote updated materials to stakeholders.
• Strengthen capacity of colleagues within the organization on proposal development best practices through individual coaching and leading periodic workshops, trainings, or “brownbag” sessions.

Liaise as a representative of the Proposal Design Hub with internal and external stakeholders (5%)

• Support the Proposal Design Hub in developing and distributing internal communications about the team’s proposal development work, representing the team in cross-functional meetings as needed.
• Attend relevant industry conferences and meetings to represent the team as appropriate.

Other duties as appropriate. (5%)

Required Experience and Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in international development, business, political science, or related field or a combination of education and experience can be considered
• 5-7 years of relevant work experience in the international development field and at least 4 years of experience in a business development capacity (proposal management, writing, capture planning).
• Experience developing proposals for the U.S. Government (for example, USAID or USDA).
• Familiarity with and experience in writing responses to Requests for Applications/Proposals (RFA/RFP), Call for Proposals, Indefinite Quantity Contracts and Task Orders.
• Experience with business development best practices and procedures, providing input to help improve processes and procedures as needed.
• Excellent proposal writing and editing skills with strong attention to detail.
• Demonstrated analytical and problem-solving skills, showing initiative to find solutions.
• Ability to establish priorities in a time sensitive environment and meet deadlines.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to work cooperatively, tactfully, and diplomatically with a culturally diverse group of internal and external stakeholders.
• Experience working in a remote workplace environment and using platforms such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Skype to effectively collaborate with colleagues in a timely manner
• Strong skills in Microsoft tools (especially Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and SharePoint)
• Commitment to mission- and values-driven work environment.

Preferred Experience and Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in international development, business, or political science, or related field.
• Demonstrated proposal management experience for proposals submitted to large institutional donors;
• Demonstrated success in delivering winning proposals for various funders.
• Professional connections with potential partner organizations and consultants in the international development sector.
• Experience working or living in countries where Heifer works (or similar contexts).
• Professional working ability in Spanish, French, or other language commonly used in countries where Heifer works.

Essential Job Functions and Physical Demands

• Commitment to learn Heifer’s values-based holistic community development model, Sustainable Locally Led Development approach, Twelve Cornerstones, and other Heifer methodologies and approaches.
• Willingness to work with flexible schedule and outside of normal US business hours due to collaboration with global teams.
• Ability and willingness to travel and work abroad in countries where Heifer operates for occasional short-term assignments (1-4 weeks each).
• Ability and willingness to travel to Heifer’s US offices in Little Rock, AR, and Washington, DC, for periodic team meetings (up to 1 week each) and/or program sits (up to 2~3 weeks a year)

Salary Information:

The expected base salary range for this position is $75k to $82k USD annually. Placement within the range will be based on the experience and competency level of the candidate.

**Please note: Salary ranges are based on country location and local country salary scales.

What We Offer:

• Heifer International offers a variety of benefits for U.S. based employees working 30 or more hours per week.
• Health-related benefits including Flexible Spending Account and/or Health Saving Account
• Well-being Program, including Employee Assistance Services and 1:1 Coaching
• Up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave after six months of employment to bond with newborn, adopted and foster children
• 403(b) retirement plan with Heifer’s contribution
• 22 paid vacation days in addition to 12 statutory and discretionary holidays, and 10 paid sick days per year
• Employer-paid life insurance, severe injury insurance, and business travel insurance
• Professional development opportunities
• Home office technology equipment (computers, monitors, headset, etc) provided
• Optional critical illness, accident injury insurance, hospital care benefits, legal assistance plan and pet insurance
• Flexible work arrangement upon agreement with the supervisor
• And many more!

Keywords

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