Head of Business Growth & Partnerships Development job at ForAfrika

Position Summary

The Head of Business Growth & Partnerships Development will drive strategic growth by cultivating and managing client and partner relationships, identifying and shaping new business opportunities, and establishing business development processes that support the expansion of a U.S. Government and diverse institutional funding portfolio. This role oversees the full business development lifecycle, from early market engagement and opportunity identification through award, with a primary focus on creating, positioning, and advancing high-value opportunities and partnerships. The role will be target driven and performance based to grow new business in the ForAfrika commercial and development sectors.

Identify, select, strategically important opportunities identified by the Organization, the Head of Business Growth & Partnerships Development, will lead the business development process, serving as capture lead during pre-solicitation activities and providing proposal leadership at RFP release to ensure the development of customized, competitive, and compliant proposals. In this capacity, s/he will guide the capture and proposal teams through established business development processes and best practices, coordinate tasks and resources to meet applicable deadlines, and collaborate closely with internal teams and external subject matter experts.

The Head of Business Growth & Partnerships Development will support pipeline growth and reporting needs, represent the organization to external stakeholders including clients, donors, and partners, and contribute to the continuous improvement of business development tools, processes, and capabilities to strengthen the organization’s long-term growth and competitiveness. Will lead relationship management, develop new engagements, and establish business processes.

Key Roles and Responsibilities

1. Leadership + Management = Accountability

• Establish and maintain a culture of accountability within the business development function by setting clear expectations, performance standards, and growth targets aligned with ForAfrika’s core values (Deep Love for Africa, Dependability, Compassion, Initiative, Discipline) and LMA principles.
• Promote open communication and collaboration across business development, programs, finance, and operations to ensure coordinated pursuit of strategic opportunities and successful proposal development.
• Manage and mentor direct reports, ensuring core values are understood and reflected in daily work, and providing regular coaching and guidance to strengthen business development and proposal capabilities.
• Translate organizational strategy and revenue goals into clear business development priorities, performance objectives, and accountability measures for the team.
• Ensure roles, responsibilities, and expectations are clearly defined to support effective delivery across the business development lifecycle.
• Provide timely pipeline updates and strategic reporting to the Global Director of Business Development, escalating risks or challenges where necessary.
• Serve as a strategic advisor to the Global Director of Business Development by providing insights on market trends, pipeline health, opportunity positioning, and resourcing needs.
• Ensure adherence to organisational policies and procedures in all business development and proposal activities.
• Coordinate with country offices and technical teams on “One ForAfrika” priority proposals to strengthen cross-organisational collaboration and competitiveness.

2. Internal Capacity Building

• Strengthen ForAfrika’s business development capacity to successfully compete for multi-year, complex institutional funding opportunities.
• Identify skill gaps, resourcing needs, and training priorities within the business development and proposal functions to improve competitiveness and win rates.
• Mentor and coach proposal and capture teams on international proposal development standards, donor requirements, and best practices.
• Develop and refine business development processes and procedures to improve efficiency, coordination, and cost-effective proposal development.
• Champion the effective use of business development tools, templates, pipeline trackers, and knowledge management systems to support opportunity tracking and proposal development.
• Facilitate proposal debriefs and post-submission reviews to capture lessons learned and strengthen future submissions.
• Promote cross-functional collaboration across programs, finance, and operations to support integrated proposal development and “One ForAfrika” growth objectives.
• Ensure lessons from successful and unsuccessful bids are documented and integrated into future capture strategies and business development practices.

3. New Business Development

• Drive opportunity development across the business development lifecycle as an integrated team member, including pipeline management, bid decisions, reviews, and reporting.
• Provide strategic oversight of the opportunity pipeline, including opportunity prioritization, bid/no-bid recommendations, and alignment with organizational capabilities and growth objectives.
• Lead on creating and drafting written collateral such as concept notes, unsolicited documents, EOIs, etc. for external use.
• Proactively identify new business opportunities in ForAfrika’s core technical areas, including programs funded by FCDO, DoS, USDA, WB, etc.
• Identify new programming trends in international development and develop concrete, time-bound action plans to strategically position ForAfrika for new opportunities.
• Lead early-stage opportunity shaping efforts, including client engagement, partner consultations, and solution framing prior to formal solicitations.
• Develop and expand international, regional, and local teaming relationships with current and potential partners.
• Cultivate senior-level relationships with donors, partners, and influencers to strengthen ForAfrika’s market positioning and long-term competitiveness.
• Stay current on procurement reforms and changing trends within USAID and other key clients and disseminate/integrate relevant information within the ForAfrika Revenue team.
• Represent ForAfrika in high-level client and partner engagements to enhance organizational visibility, credibility, and thought leadership in priority markets.

4. Proposal Management

• Provide proposal leadership for select, strategically prioritized opportunities, ensuring alignment with capture strategy, organizational positioning, and client expectations.
• Serve as proposal manager, when required from RFP release through post-submittal, nsuring the highest quality of work and proactive communication and facilitation for the proposal team.
• Develop non-technical proposal sections, such as management, staffing, and past performance, cost notes, subcontracting plans, or others.
• Provide quality control for the proposal and proposal process; interpret solicitations to ensure that the proposal complies with all donor requirements and ensure timely submission.
• Delegate and oversee proposal development activities as appropriate, ensuring accountability while maintaining focus on strategic oversight and quality assurance.
• Assemble proposal components into a coherent whole and conduct/oversee final review and editing to ensure compliance with donor requirements and consistency of usage and appearance.

5. Capture Management

• Ensure that the proposal clearly conveys the proper business perspective, key messages, value proposition, and differentiators against the organization’s competition.
• Lead capture efforts for select high-priority opportunities where senior-level engagement and strategic direction are critical to positioning and win probability, maintaining the capture plan which directs the strategy on competitors, client, win themes, recruitment, and draft solution design.
• Guide competitive positioning and win strategies in collaboration with technical, operational, and partner stakeholders.
• Represent ForAfrika at industry and partner events to strategically expand For Africa’s network and visibility.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Bachelor’s degree required (Master’s degree preferred) in relevant field such as Public Policy or Public Administration, Political Science, Business, International Relations or other relevant field.
• Minimum 10 Years of direct relevant professional experience, preferably with proposal development for donor-funded international development projects.
• Minimum 5 years of direct experience managing large, complex proposals in response to RFPs/RFQs issued by USG and other international agencies.
• Progressively responsible proposal experience on donor-funded projects with demonstrable expertise ensuring compliance.
• Understanding of the relationship between the technical and cost/business volumes, including familiarity with CPFF, T&M, and IDIQ pricing structures.
• Demonstrable analytical and critical thinking skills – particularly as they relate to assembling disparate pieces of knowledge and careful assumptions to form a clear picture of a client’s intentions before a solicitation is released.
• Familiarity with U.S. government and/or international donor procurement processes and regulations.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, able to write persuasive proposals sections and reports.
• Strong attention to detail in terms of tracking a variety of requirements, tasks, and priorities.
• Experience communicating, networking, and collaborating with clients and partners (subcontractors and prime partners as well as with local partners).
• Strong knowledge of Microsoft Office suite (mastery of Word specifically and strong Excel, Teams/SharePoint, and PowerPoint preferred).
• Skilled in Adobe Professional software or similar with the ability to produce and edit complex PDF documents.
• Familiar with Salesforce or similar pipeline management tools.

• Establish and maintain a culture of accountability within the business development function by setting clear expectations, performance standards, and growth targets aligned with ForAfrika’s core values (Deep Love for Africa, Dependability, Compassion, Initiative, Discipline) and LMA principles.
• Promote open communication and collaboration across business development, programs, finance, and operations to ensure coordinated pursuit of strategic opportunities and successful proposal development.
• Manage and mentor direct reports, ensuring core values are understood and reflected in daily work, and providing regular coaching and guidance to strengthen business development and proposal capabilities.
• Translate organizational strategy and revenue goals into clear business development priorities, performance objectives, and accountability measures for the team.
• Ensure roles, responsibilities, and expectations are clearly defined to support effective delivery across the business development lifecycle.
• Provide timely pipeline updates and strategic reporting to the Global Director of Business Development, escalating risks or challenges where necessary.
• Serve as a strategic advisor to the Global Director of Business Development by providing insights on market trends, pipeline health, opportunity positioning, and resourcing needs.
• Ensure adherence to organisational policies and procedures in all business development and proposal activities.
• Coordinate with country offices and technical teams on “One ForAfrika” priority proposals to strengthen cross-organisational collaboration and competitiveness.
• Strengthen ForAfrika’s business development capacity to successfully compete for multi-year, complex institutional funding opportunities.
• Identify skill gaps, resourcing needs, and training priorities within the business development and proposal functions to improve competitiveness and win rates.
• Mentor and coach proposal and capture teams on international proposal development standards, donor requirements, and best practices.
• Develop and refine business development processes and procedures to improve efficiency, coordination, and cost-effective proposal development.
• Champion the effective use of business development tools, templates, pipeline trackers, and knowledge management systems to support opportunity tracking and proposal development.
• Facilitate proposal debriefs and post-submission reviews to capture lessons learned and strengthen future submissions.
• Promote cross-functional collaboration across programs, finance, and operations to support integrated proposal development and “One ForAfrika” growth objectives.
• Ensure lessons from successful and unsuccessful bids are documented and integrated into future capture strategies and business development practices.
• Drive opportunity development across the business development lifecycle as an integrated team member, including pipeline management, bid decisions, reviews, and reporting.
• Provide strategic oversight of the opportunity pipeline, including opportunity prioritization, bid/no-bid recommendations, and alignment with organizational capabilities and growth objectives.
• Lead on creating and drafting written collateral such as concept notes, unsolicited documents, EOIs, etc. for external use.
• Proactively identify new business opportunities in ForAfrika’s core technical areas, including programs funded by FCDO, DoS, USDA, WB, etc.
• Identify new programming trends in international development and develop concrete, time-bound action plans to strategically position ForAfrika for new opportunities.
• Lead early-stage opportunity shaping efforts, including client engagement, partner consultations, and solution framing prior to formal solicitations.
• Develop and expand international, regional, and local teaming relationships with current and potential partners.
• Cultivate senior-level relationships with donors, partners, and influencers to strengthen ForAfrika’s market positioning and long-term competitiveness.
• Stay current on procurement reforms and changing trends within USAID and other key clients and disseminate/integrate relevant information within the ForAfrika Revenue team.
• Represent ForAfrika in high-level client and partner engagements to enhance organizational visibility, credibility, and thought leadership in priority markets.
• Provide proposal leadership for select, strategically prioritized opportunities, ensuring alignment with capture strategy, organizational positioning, and client expectations.
• Serve as proposal manager, when required from RFP release through post-submittal, nsuring the highest quality of work and proactive communication and facilitation for the proposal team.
• Develop non-technical proposal sections, such as management, staffing, and past performance, cost notes, subcontracting plans, or others.
• Provide quality control for the proposal and proposal process; interpret solicitations to ensure that the proposal complies with all donor requirements and ensure timely submission.
• Delegate and oversee proposal development activities as appropriate, ensuring accountability while maintaining focus on strategic oversight and quality assurance.
• Assemble proposal componen