Job Summary

The Regional Business Development Specialist - Lead Writer, in close collaboration with regional and country program colleagues, will support the diversification of revenue from institutional donors and non-traditional funding sources to achieve CRS’ strategic objectives. As BDS II - Proposal Writer, you will contribute to the production of persuasive, audience-focused proposals. The position will provide specialized assistance to cross-disciplinary and cross-functional teams, particularly in proposal writing. Operating as a member of CRS’ West Africa Regional Office (WARO) team, you will provide direct support to strategic country programme growth opportunities and help to strengthen BD-related systems, processes, relationships and staff capacities. Your excellent writing skills will allow you to contribute to more efficient BD processes in the WARO covering 11 countries.

Qualifications

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in English, communications, international development or related field.
• Minimum three years of experience as a proposal/bid/non-technical or technical writer in the international development space
• Three years' experience in a developing country preferred.

Languages

Fluency in oral and written English required. Working ability in French and

Travel

Must be willing and able to travel internationally approximately 30% of the time; generally, 3-4 times per year for 2-3 weeks at a time.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Excellent knowledge of English grammar, punctuation, spelling and usage and familiarity with Associated Press Stylebook.
• Strong strategic, analytical, systems thinking and problem-solving skills, with a capacity to both see the big picture and give attention to detail.
• Extensive experience writing competitive proposals for a variety of bilateral and multilateral donors and across technical areas, including agriculture, food security, resilience, health and emergency response.
• Ability to communicate complex technical concepts and ideas in compelling, audience-focused prose.
• Proven ability and experience in proposal coordination; experience with competitive applications and proposals for grants and/or commercial contracting (a plus).
• Strong communication and relationship management skills; ability to relate to, inspire and convene the right people at all levels.
• Proactive, resourceful, solutions and results oriented.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience of high value proposals over $10m preferred.
• Demonstrated experience, as a lead writer, contributing to competitive applications and proposals.
• Demonstrated ability to learn and write about a broad range of technical sectors.
• Familiarity with key funding agencies (USAID, UN Agencies, World Bank, USDA, BHA, EU, FCDO) a plus.
• Familiarity with business development standards, terminology and best practice, such as win themes and discriminators, preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to contribute as part of a team to produce high-quality deliverables under tight deadlines.
• Experience providing remote support to diverse teams preferred.
• 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.

Key Working Relationships:

Internal: WARO Regional Technical Advisors - BD; Business Development Manager (BDM); WARO Deputy Regional Director for Program Quality; the Business Development Community; WARO country program staff; IDEA and GSSU colleagues; Management & Finance staff; Program Quality and Technical staff.

External: Staff of partner organizations

Responsibilities

Roles and Key Responsibilities

Providing Business Development Surge Support:

• Serve as lead writer for high-value, complex or strategic opportunities. Develop technical narrative outlines and draft proposal sections with technical input, as agreed with the technical design leads.
• Synthesize inputs from multiple authors, with attention to clarity, readability, sentence structure, style and voice.
• Contribute to non-technical content, developing technical narrative outlines and integrating diverse inputs into a coherent whole.
• Close collaboration with Communication, BD and MEAL colleagues to compile country level documents that communicate CRS’ areas of expertise, such as past performance references and capability statements
• Work closely with the proposal development team to develop well-written, well-organized and cohesive concept notes, expressions of interest and proposals aligned with donor requirements and CRS standards.
• Serve as editor for complex technical proposals, editing in accordance with AP and CRS house style, focusing on improving readability by shortening sentences, eliminating redundancies, rearranging sentences to improve transitions and clarifying exhibits and references.
• Support other writing/editing tasks (including reports, marketing material, executive communication, past performance references, capability statements, etc.) as required (less than 15% time).
• Participate in and support design and reflection workshops, with the ability to synthesize inputs from various data sources and stakeholders.

Supporting Region and CRS Communities of Practice:

• Develop key proposal writing tools and resources, including guidance, training materials and internal and external capacity statements, to support the wider CRS BD Community of Practice.
• Serve as proposal coordinator when needed.
• Contribute to CRS' Business Development Community of Practice.
• Train and mentor staff to enhance BD skills across the region.
• Provide coverage for the Business Development Manager.