Location: Washington, DC

 

The DVP of Business Development provides leadership and hands-on facilitation of World Learning’s efforts to build bridges of tolerance, respect, and understanding and have the knowledge, skills, and international experience to assume leadership positions in the world through the successful pursuit of large and strategic funding opportunities. The DVP will build and manage teams, institutional practices, and relationships to develop and execute the vision, strategy and operational plan for positioning World Learning to successfully compete for specific opportunities, respond to those opportunities with winning, quality product, while building an effective system of BD tools, processes and capacities. The DVP will recommend improvements to business development processes, procedures, and policies established for the development and advancement of a qualified opportunity pipeline. The DVP is accountable for achieving performance toward organization objectives for new business growth; resolving problems and challenges that impact results; demonstrating leadership at all phases of the capture lifecycle; and, representing World Learning externally. The DVP also ensures the application and continual improvement of WL’s capture process, including through training; coaching and direct assistance; development and maintenance of related tools, resources, and references; and metrics. Requiring a thorough knowledge of the market for our sectors and our competitors, the DVP determines strategic direction and coordinates with other divisions of the organization to support capture process implementation.

 

Responsibilities

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Intelligence Gathering, Relationship Management, Market Analysis & Pipeline Development – 20%

• Leading annual business development planning process, including reporting on the past year’s outcomes and accomplishments and future initiatives, and setting criteria for undertaking new directions and approaches consistent with strategic plans and our competitive advantage;

• Staying abreast of current and future programmatic directions and funding prospects of USAID, the Department of State, other U.S. Government funding sources, and non-USG multi-/bi-lateral donors;

• Travel to the field for market research, thought leadership and relationship-building;

• Maintain and develop appropriate systems, procedures, policies and materials to support the identification, selection and response to strategic opportunities;

• Facilitate a point of contact, intelligence gathering, portfolio system for the identification of new opportunities by all members of the BD team for target regions or sectors;

• Lead organization to pursuit decisions for all appropriate upcoming solicitations and/or market opportunities that affect business development strategies;

• Leveraging networks within the industry for new partnerships; Maintain linkages with other organizations and individuals in the international arena with which World Learning frequently forms working partnerships and/or shares complementary interests and competencies.

 

Capture & Design – 20%

• Manage capture process and cooperate to ensure all departments compliance and understanding of the capture process; Develop and utilize tools, templates and work processes to streamline process

• Develop and maintain a robust repository of capture elements to maximize the speed, efficiency and quality of capture efforts including but not limited to account and capture planning as well as proposal generation

• Negotiate high-level partnerships with other organizations (both prime and sub); represent WL in teaming negotiations as well as industry networks; and coach BD team to do the same;

• Review capture plans to assure that roles and responsibilities for specific team members on each bid, align with benchmarks, deliverables and timelines in accordance with a standard gate review system;

• Oversee and manage recruitment systems key and non-key personnel for bids; the development of a database of technical writers and BD consultants to win bids;

• Institute and manage a system for facilitated capture design sessions to assure BD and program contributions are relevant, competitive, metric-based and industry best-practices; Ensure that any design activities undertaken during live bids is limited and responsive;

 

Proposal Development – 20%

• Oversee robust procedures for development of deliverables between each set of gate-reviews, such as same-day drafts, daily updates, solution sheets;

• Support proposal teams in developing and enforcing timelines and deadlines; arrange and rearrange proposal teams to ensure on-time delivery of proposal inputs;

 

Reviews & Quality Control – 20%

• Facilitate high-intensity gate review sessions and develop procedures, forms and protocols to distinguish reviews from design and to ensure competitiveness.

• Provide quality control for writing inputs to bids and develop training to address weaknesses

• Support the analysis of World Learning’s proposal performance, ensuring lessons and conclusions are documented, shared, and fed back into future proposal efforts.

• Ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations of the funding agencies; developing and executing a cost/revenue strategy to be reflected in the proposal budget

 

Systems Management & Development – 20%

• Supervise, manage and mentor a team of 10 BD staff who jointly support World Learning BD; lead professional development of these staff, individually and as a team

• Manage staff assignments to ensure effective resource allocation and stewardship.

• Organize and develop department tools, templates, and capacity building resources in support of market analysis, capture, proposal development & reviews. Support the development, improvement and rollout of global policies and systems related to institutional revenue and income analysis, business development, federal contracting, donor relationship management, institutional strengthening and capacity building, and knowledge management and learning.

• Maintain strong relationships with WL program divisions and relevant external networks to share knowledge, collaborate effectively, influence senior leadership for sound and informed decisions, and stay abreast of industry standards and the USG regulatory environment.

• Developing and managing the unit’s resources and expenditures throughout the year,

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Requirements

• 12-15 years of experience in international development with at least 7-10 years’ experience in business development; Bachelor’s degree or equivalent relevant experience required;

• End-to-end experience in writing and managing clear, concise, and structured proposals for international donors, particularly contract proposals, including a clear understanding of how to strategically read an RFA/Ps; Experience managing complex capture and proposal development teams with Shipley or equivalent capture and proposal development processes; Prior experience writing, running capture, and proposal coordinating USAID bids;

• A record of success in winning international development proposals from the USG, in similar sectors and contexts as World Learning, required. Business Development experience targeting other donors (bi-lateral and/or multi-lateral funding agencies) preferred. Demonstrated expertise with single country, multi country, and global solicitation assistance & acquisition mechanisms required.

• Proven staff supervision, team leadership and management skills and experience.

• Ability to represent WL effectively in negotiation with partner and donor organizations.

• Excellent writing skills, attention to detail, ability to work under tight deadlines and manage different tasks simultaneously and effectively. Experience with copyediting and document production required.

• Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills to interact effectively with multi-cultural teams.

• Ability to travel internationally up to 25%.

• Proven Training and Facilitation skills and experience

• French, Spanish, Arabic or Portuguese skills desirable.

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Why World Learning Inc.

For more than 85 years, World Learning has worked to create a more peaceful, sustainable, and just world. Our education, development, and exchange programs help people find their voices, connect with their communities, and strengthen the institutions that form the backbone of a democratic society. With our support, these emerging leaders tackle critical global issues like poverty, conflict, and inequality.

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As a thriving international nonprofit organization with impact in 150 countries, World Learning works across six major program areas. We’re hard at work improving global education to ensure schools and teachers have the tools they need to support students — including English language instruction through our TESOL teacher training. We encourage civic engagement in communities around the world, and we strengthen institutions so that they can best serve their constituencies. Our workforce development programs help people cultivate the hard and soft skills they need to succeed. And we offer people-to-people exchanges for people of all ages who seek professional and academic enrichment.

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All World Learning programs are grounded in five key approaches: experiential learning, leadership development, inclusive practices, innovation, and grants management. We believe in partnering with local experts, organizations, and institutions to find solutions that will truly work for each community. Together, we create the foundations for a better tomorrow.

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World Learning is a member of the World Learning Inc.Opens a New Window. family, which also includes The Experiment in International Living and School for International Training.

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World Learning is an equal employment opportunity/affirmative action/veterans/ADA employer, committed to increasing the diversity of its workforce.

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HOW TO APPLY:  Please send your cover letter and resume to recruitment@broderickhaightconsulting.com with the subject title “WL Divisional VP”