Business Development and Bid Services Manager job at ForAfrika

ForAfrika

ForAfrika is an African-founded and led organisation with over 40 years of impact across the continent. We partner with communities through our integrated development continuum: saving lives and building resilience to reach self-sufficiency through our Humanitarian & Development work, and unlocking commercial viability through our Social Enterprise activities. We are Africans, delivering African-led solutions for Africa, and we stand by our promise: we’re committed to the long run, until the job is done and communities are enabled to thrive.

Overview

The Business Development & Bid Services Manager is a senior BD leadership role responsible for driving institutional growth and building high-value strategic partnerships across ForAfrika’s priority markets and donor portfolios.

This position sits within the Global Support Office (GSO) and reports directly to the Group Director of Business Development. The role carries direct accountability for pipeline development, capture strategy, proposal leadership oversight, and structured partnership expansion. Including strategic positioning of the and execution of the Revenue Strategy 2026.

The candidate will be responsible for building and managing a robust, qualified opportunity pipeline aligned with the 2026–2028 Revenue and Resource Mobilization Plan and targets. The role ensures that ForAfrika is competitively positioned across institutional donors, multilateral agencies, foundations, and strategic private sector partners.

The position requires senior-level leadership of capture processes prior to solicitation release, structured go/no-go decision support, disciplined pipeline forecasting, and active management of strategic partnerships that increases and converts to wins.

The Business Development & Partnerships Lead will oversee multiple live capture processes at any given time and provide direct leadership on priority bids, including large-scale, multi-country, and consortium-based proposals. The role ensures structured coordination between country offices, technical teams, finance, and executive leadership to deliver competitive and compliant submissions.

The core purpose of this role is to drive measurable revenue growth through disciplined business development leadership and structured partnership management while strengthening ForAfrika’s institutional positioning across key markets.

Key Roles and Responsibilities

1. Strategic Business Development Leadership

• Develop and execute an annual and multi-year business development strategy aligned with organizational growth targets.
• Build and maintain a qualified pipeline of institutional funding opportunities with defined probability ratings, capture plans, and ownership assignments.
• Lead structured bid qualification processes, including competitive analysis, risk assessment, and resourcing alignment.
• Monitor donor procurement forecasts, funding trends, and policy shifts and translate them into actionable positioning strategies.
• Provide accurate monthly and quarterly revenue forecasts to the Global Director of Business Development.
• Ensure all business development efforts align with the 2025–2028 Revenue and Resource Mobilization Plans.

2. Capture Management and Pre-Solicitation Positioning

• Serve as Capture Lead for strategic and high-value opportunities.
• Develop and execute capture plans that include:
  • Donor mapping and intelligence gathering
  • Stakeholder and decision-maker analysis
  • Competitor assessment
  • Partner identification and negotiation
  • Solution framing and win theme development
  • Recruitment and staffing strategy
• Lead external positioning meetings with donors and strategic partners.
• Ensure early readiness for anticipated bids through concept note development, staffing pipelines, and past performance alignment.
• Maintain structured documentation of capture strategies and positioning progress.

3. Partnerships Development and Strategic Alliances

• Develop and manage a structured partnerships strategy to strengthen ForAfrika’s competitive positioning.
• Identify, engage, and manage relationships with:
  • Prime contractors and consortium leads
  • Local and national organisations
  • Private sector partners
  • Foundations and impact investors
  • Academic and research institutions
• Lead negotiation of teaming agreements, MOUs, consortium arrangements, and partnership frameworks in collaboration with legal and compliance teams.
• Conduct partner due diligence to assess capacity, compliance readiness, and delivery risk.
• Maintain a centralized partnership tracker documenting engagement history, pipeline alignment, and strategic value.
• Strengthen local partner engagement models to ensure compliant, equitable, and delivery-ready collaboration.

4. Proposal Oversight and Quality Assurance

• Oversee proposal management for priority bids, ensuring compliance and quality standards are met.
• Support proposal managers and technical leads with structured guidance on win themes, positioning, and narrative strength.
• Ensure alignment between technical design and financial strategy in collaboration with finance teams.
• Lead post-submission debriefs and institutional learning reviews.
• Strengthen proposal tools, templates, compliance checklists, and review processes.

5. Donor Engagement and Account Management

• Develop structured account plans for priority donors and funding streams.
• Coordinate donor engagement strategies across country and technical teams.
• Support development of capability statements, briefing materials, and donor presentations.
• Ensure consistent and professional representation of ForAfrika in donor and partner engagements.

6. Systems, Reporting, and Performance Management

• Maintain accurate pipeline data in designated tracking systems.
• Establish performance metrics for revenue growth, partnership expansion, and bid conversion rates.
• Provide structured monthly performance updates to senior leadership.
• Identify gaps in business development systems and implement process improvements.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Minimum 10 years of progressive experience in institutional business development within international development, humanitarian sectors and social enterprises.
• Demonstrated experience leading large-scale, competitive proposals as Capture or Proposal Lead.
• Proven experience negotiating and managing strategic partnerships and consortium arrangements.
• Strong knowledge of institutional donor procurement processes (e.g., USG, FCDO, EU, UN agencies, foundations).
• Demonstrated ability to manage complex, multi-country bids.
• Experience working across multiple African markets preferred and international sectors.
• Strong team management skills
• Deadline driven and working in high paced environments

Core Competencies

• Strategic thinking and structured planning.
• Strong analytical and competitive positioning skills.
• High-level proposal writing and editing capability.
• Partnership negotiation and relationship management.
• Financial literacy in proposal budgeting.
• Strong leadership presence and stakeholder coordination skills.
• Ability to manage multiple deadlines in high-pressure environments.
• Strong reporting and forecasting discipline.

Working Relationships

Internal:

• Global Director of Business Development
• Senior Director Business Development
• Country Directors
• Technical Directors
• Finance and Compliance Teams
• Monitoring and Evaluation Teams
• Communications Teams

 

• Develop and execute an annual and multi-year business development strategy aligned with organizational growth targets.
• Build and maintain a qualified pipeline of institutional funding opportunities with defined probability ratings, capture plans, and ownership assignments.
• Lead structured bid qualification processes, including competitive analysis, risk assessment, and resourcing alignment.
• Monitor donor procurement forecasts, funding trends, and policy shifts and translate them into actionable positioning strategies.
• Provide accurate monthly and quarterly revenue forecasts to the Global Director of Business Development.
• Ensure all business development efforts align with the 2025–2028 Revenue and Resource Mobilization Plans.
• Serve as Capture Lead for strategic and high-value opportunities.
• Develop and execute capture plans that include: Donor mapping and intelligence gathering, Stakeholder and decision-maker analysis, Competitor assessment, Partner identification and negotiation, Solution framing and win theme development, Recruitment and staffing strategy.
• Lead external positioning meetings with donors and strategic partners.
• Ensure early readiness for anticipated bids through concept note development, staffing pipelines, and past performance alignment.
• Maintain structured documentation of capture strategies and positioning progress.
• Develop and manage a structured partnerships strategy to strengthen ForAfrika’s competitive positioning.
• Identify, engage, and manage relationships with: Prime contractors and consortium leads, Local and national organisations, Private sector partners, Foundations and impact investors, Academic and research institutions.
• Lead negotiation of teaming agreements, MOUs, consortium arrangements, and partnership frameworks in collaboration with legal and compliance teams.
• Conduct partner due diligence to assess capacity, compliance readiness, and delivery risk.
• Maintain a centralized partnership tracker documenting engagement history, pipeline alignment, and strategic value.
• Strengthen local partner engagement models to ensure compliant, equitable, and delivery-ready collaboration.
• Oversee proposal management for priority bids, ensuring compliance and quality standards are met.
• Support proposal managers and technical leads with structured guidance on win themes, positioning, and narrative strength.
• Ensure alignment between technical design and financial strategy in collaboration with finance teams.
• Lead post-submission debriefs and institutional learning reviews.
• Strengthen proposal tools, templates, compliance checklists, and review processes.
• Develop structured account plans for priority donors and funding streams.
• Coordinate donor engagement strategies across country and technical teams.
• Support development of capability statements, briefing materials, and donor presentations.
• Ensure consistent and professional representation of ForAfrika in donor and partner engagements.
• Maintain accurate pipeline data in designated tracking systems.
• Establish performance metrics for revenue growth, partnership expansion, and bid conversion rates.
• Provide structured monthly performance updates to senior leadership.
• Identify gaps in business development systems and implement process improvements.

• Strategic thinking and structured planning.
• Strong analytical and competitive positioning skills.
• High-level proposal writing and editing capability.
• Partnership negotiation and relationship management.
• Financial literacy in proposal budgeting.
• Strong leadership presence and stakeholder coordination skills.
• Ability to manage multiple deadlines in high-pressure environments.
• Strong reporting and forecasting discipline.

• Minimum 10 years of progressive experience in institutional business development within international development, humanitarian sectors and social enterprises.
• Demonstrated experience leading large-scale, competitive proposals as Capture or Proposal Lead.
• Proven experience negotiating and managing strategic partnerships and consortium arrangements.
• Strong knowledge of institutional donor procurement processes (e.g., USG, FCDO, EU, UN agencies, foundations).
• Demonstrated ability to manage complex, multi-country bids.
• Experience working across multiple African markets preferred and international sectors.
• Strong team management skills
• Deadline driven and working in high paced environments