Senior Budget Development Advisor - Business Development

• remote type
• Open to Remote

• locations
• London, UK
• Nairobi, IHUB, Kenya

• time type
• Full time

• posted on
• Posted Yesterday

• job requisition id
• JR00001267

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world's worst humanitarian crises, helping to restore health, safety, education, economic wellbeing, and power to people devastated by conflict and disaster. Founded in 1933 at the call of Albert Einstein, the IRC is one of the world's largest international humanitarian non-governmental organizations (INGO), at work in more than 40 countries and 29 U.S. cities helping people to survive, reclaim control of their future and strengthen their communities. A force for humanity, IRC employees deliver lasting impact by restoring safety, dignity and hope to millions. If you're a solutions-driven, passionate change-maker, come join us in positively impacting the lives of millions of people world-wide for a better future.

IRC’s Crisis Response, Recovery & Development department (CRRD) leads and delivers the IRC’s work in crisis-affected contexts around the world. In FY24, we served over 36M crisis-affected people with high quality humanitarian programming. This was achieved by over 16,000 staff across 350 office in 40+ countries, working to deliver more than 600 individual grants and contracts and an annual budget in excess of $830M.

The Awards Management Unit (AMU) within CRRD is responsible for identifying, securing and managing all funding from government donors for the IRC. AMU is a bridge between donors and the IRC’s work on the ground. The team leads donor engagement, provides expert technical advice to colleagues delivering our services around the world, ensures consistency and compliance with donor policies and procedures, and manages associated risk. The unit also supports all IRC staff working on awards from government donors and partnerships. AMU supports a grants and contracts portfolio of ~$750M over the past year, with total value in excess of $1B.

Role Purpose and Overview
The Senior Budget Development Advisor is responsible for leading IRC’s efforts in improving public donor budgeting and developing pricing strategies to strengthen business development competitiveness. In collaboration with the Program finance and Controller and the proposal leadership team, the role will develop strategies and practices and introduce new budget preparation tools, templates, processes, and trainings to ensure that IRC can achieve its ambitious organizational goals.  

In close collaboration with Finance, tThis position provides training on new and established tools, processes, priority donor requirements, as well as developing continuous learning modules for improving competitive pricing at the country and global levels. Additionally, the role will provide guidance, reviews, and technical assistance throughout the business development lifecycle, ensuring a delicate balance between cost recovery, risk mitigation, price competitiveness, and compliance with internal policies and donor regulations. On occasion the role will serve as a pricing lead for strategic or complex proposals.

The ideal candidate will have a successful track record of working on new business efforts in international development with donors such as the World Bank and other multilateral development banks, UK FCDO, ECHO, EU, or US Government. As a member of the Business Development Quality and Systems Team they will contribute to strategic and operational initiatives across the Global BD Team.

Responsibilities

Pricing Systems, Tools and Processes
•    Lead the strengthening and implementation of pricing and cost strategies across IRC in collaboration with Finance, Proposal Leadership, and other key stakeholders, balancing cost competitiveness and cost recovery.
•    In collaboration with Global Finance and Pricing team, introduce and/or strengthen budget preparation tools, templates, processes, and workflow within IRC to support IRC’s ambitious business development goals.
•    Conduct an analysis of different cost recovery models (including INGOS, contractors, UN, etc.) to establish improved and viable cost models.
•    Conduct research and evaluate key cost drivers in relation to different management/delivery structures, highlighting risks and opportunities for cost optimization to ensure competitiveness in an increasingly shrinking market. This includes aspects such as labor rates, employment regulations, travel expenses, training venue costs, operational cost, local inflation rates, procurement of equipment and supplies, and security requirements. 
•    Lead the development or modification of pricing related tools seeking to deliver high-quality cost and business application materials.  
•    Contribute to Business Development management and strategic operationalization as part of the Business Development Quality and Systems Team.

Capacity Building 
•    Develop training and other Capacity Building tools to strengthen IRC pricing and costing capacity at the global, regional, and country level.
•    Integrate tools and training into the BD Process review. 

Quality Assurance 
•    Review complex priority budgets for competitiveness of pricing, fee arrangements, the feasibility of implementation, and the overarching strategy to secure the proposal successfully. 
•    Provide guidance and strategies for creating intricate budget templates (e.g., breaking down activities by desired outcomes) to present cost-related aspects most efficiently for select competitive proposal. 
•    Forecast financial risks associated with commercial contracts and formulate or review fee rates that are specific to the nature of each solicitation and operational environment.
•    Review released complex and priority solicitations to advise budget lead on whether cost-related considerations might hinder the development of a competitive, compliant, and viable bid. 
•    Participate in Lime and Green Reviews for high priority bids to ensure financial soundness, as well as competitiveness. 
•    As assigned and needed, serve as a pricing lead for strategic or complex proposals

Qualifications

•    Bachelor's degree, preferably in business or public administration, finance, international development or similar discipline or equivalent work experience required.**
•    Minimum 7 years relevant experience in developing budgets, identifying costing strategies for international development efforts and implementing appropriate systems and processes.**
•    Proven knowledge of budget development and cost analysis, good practices; familiarity with project design methodologies, price-to-win approaches and proposal development processes is a plus.**
•    Experience with key international donors, such as USG, World Bank, FCDO, European and other donors experience.**
•    Experience with all aspects of price and cost proposal preparation, including business risks, pricing to win strategies, payment by results, and estimating practices.
•    Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, including the ability to effectively manage a variety of relationships in a multicultural environment.
•    Demonstrated ability to collaborate equally effectively with colleagues in ‘remote’ and diverse teams, including as team leader for proposals.
•    Demonstrated ability to contribute to strategic and operational thinking as member of a critical resource team.
•    Ability to travel internationally; (up to 10% of time)
•    Fluency in English required. French, Spanish or Arabic a plus.

 

Compensation: Ranges are based on various factors including the labor market, job type, internal equity, and budget. Exact offers are calibrated by work location, individual candidate experience and skills relative to the defined job requirements.

• UK Pay Range: £62,500 - £70,000

PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS

All International Rescue Committee workers must adhere to the core values and principles outlined in IRC Way - Standards for Professional Conduct. Our Standards are Integrity, Service, Equality and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Safeguarding, Conflicts of Interest, Fiscal Integrity, and Reporting Wrongdoing and Protection from Retaliation. IRC is committed to take all necessary preventive measures and create an environment where people feel safe, and to take all necessary actions and corrective measures when harm occurs. IRC builds teams of professionals who promote critical reflection, power sharing, debate, and objectivity to deliver the best possible services to our clients.

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Why Choose the IRC?

Work that has meaning: Every day at the IRC is a chance to make a difference through a purpose-driven career. Whether you're working directly with communities or providing support behind the scenes, you will be part of a dynamic team that is always innovating, scaling, and testing new and better solutions to ensure the best possible outcomes for the people we serve.

Global scale, dynamic workplace: At the IRC, we believe that the dynamic, global make-up of our team is our strength. When you join us, you're not just starting a job—you will be part of a global organization positively impacting millions of lives in over 40 get to work with colleagues from all around the world—working across time zones and regularly exchanging different ideas, perspectives and insights. You’ll join a team that is dedicated to fostering a supportive environment to create a workplace where everyone feels valued, respected, and heard.  

Challenging work, innovative solutions: We’re committed to excellence and innovation, and pride ourselves in setting industry-leading standards while practicing evidence and data-lead strategies. Come challenge norms, shatter conventions, and pioneer change while working on real, nuanced and complex issues we face in the world today.  

Community centered: We’re an empathetic community that truly cares for one another. Our comprehensive safety and security initiatives ensure a safe work environment, while our continuous learning and development programs provide ongoing opportunities for personal and career advancement.

Our Typical Recruitment Process

The interview process typically includes three rounds, though the number may vary depending on the role and level of seniority. It usually begins with a conversation with our recruiting team to learn more about you and your goals. This is followed by an interview with a hiring manager or business stakeholder to explore your background and provide more insight into the role. The final round focuses on assessing your role-specific expertise and may be conducted as a panel interview to evaluate your cross-functional strengths. Before extending an offer, we generally conduct reference checks, and after an offer is made, a standard background check is completed. While we strive for consistency, the process may differ based on the role, business unit, location, job type, legal requirements, and other factors.