Senior Regional Officer of Institutional Funding

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Fecha límite:
December 31 or until a significant number of qualified candidates have been identified

About This Role
The Senior Regional Officer of Institutional Funding & Partnerships for Latin America leads capture (prepositioning) and partnership development efforts to secure institutional funding from multilateral agencies, foundations, and government donors across the Water For People's Latin American countries (Guatemala, Bolivia, Peru, and Honduras). This role focuses on advancing strategic prospecting with regional partners, negotiating teaming agreements, supporting early project design, and positioning the organization for competitive proposal opportunities. The position will report to the Director of New Business Development (NBD) with additional accountabilities for supporting the country directors and Influence roles at the country and regional levels in partnership cultivation and business development prospecting. The role will also provide as needed surge support for proposal management on opportunities for our other regions.

The Senior Regional Officer will oversee aspects of Water For People's business development processes for proposal opportunities, including management, development and production of compliant, timely and high-quality proposals for the Water For People's work in Central and South America. The Senior Regional Officer will monitor trends to support the Director of New Business Development in strengthening capacity efforts and other training initiatives to mainstream industry best practices in business development among the country-level teams.

In This Role You Will

Capture Management

• Identify, research, and prioritize institutional funding opportunities with donors in Latin America, coordinating prospecting and engagement plans with regional teams.
• Manage the full pre-award lifecycle, proposal teams, for new business development from prepositioning/capture management through the award handover and launch process.
• Begin early positioning by influencing funder requirements, identifying "go/no-go" criteria, and preparing internal resources for a possible proposal.
• In collaboration with the NBD Director and Regional Director, analyze the competitive landscape and organizational readiness for potential pursuits.
• Facilitate strategic partnership development, negotiation of teaming agreements, and positioning activities to maximize success before proposal launch.
• Work with country teams, technical experts, and leadership to ensure alignment of capture activities with regional and organizational goals.
• Lead capture strategy sessions to increase preparedness and competitiveness of proposals to institutional donors.
• Oversee opportunity-specific stakeholder mapping, competitor intelligence, and donor analysis to maximize capture success.
• Ensure timely documentation and sharing of capture intelligence, lessons learned, and market insights to strengthen future proposal efforts.
• Provide guidance, mentorship, and capacity building for country teams and junior business development staff on prepositioning best practices.

Proposal Management

• In consultation with the NBD Director, country teams, and Regional Director, coordinate outreach to strategic partners in alignment with the country-focused strategies for institutional funding.
• Mobilize resources to manage the production of proposals, including budgets, deliverables and timelines with Finance, Compliance, and Program Staff within the region and globally.
• During live bid process, create and customize proposal management resources, track technical and cost proposal progress to ensure milestones are met, and ensure that every member of the proposal team, including sub- and prime contractors, knows what is expected of him/her and when tasks are due.
• Liaise with Country Program employees to enable full and effective utilization of grant management processes and systems; providing trainings, onboardings, answering queries on process guidance, and providing input in grant negotiation opportunities with partners.
• Manage cross-functional communication and develop knowledge management resources for institutional opportunities at every stage (i.e., pre-capture, capture, live bid, post-submission, and post-award).
• Package and submit technical and financial/cost proposals, as well as associated annexes in compliance with donor guidelines for sequencing, page numeration, etc.
• Oversee and ensure the strategic documentation and archiving of key business development discussions, decisions, and lessons learned throughout the proposal development process, enabling seamless knowledge transfer and alignment with organizational goals.
• Lead the establishment and enforcement of protocols for the organization, storage, and accessibility of critical business development information and documents on SharePoint, ensuring compliance with business development guidelines and processes.
• Provide high-level coordination and guidance for the new business development team, including managing the logistics of complex proposal processes, facilitating proposal meetings, and producing comprehensive records of key actions and outcomes to drive informed decision-making.
• Provide surge or as needed support on management of proposals for other regions.

Strategic Partnership Cultivation and Relationship Management

• Lead and facilitate internal partnership strategy sessions with Country Directors to determine best-fit collaborations for revenue-generating opportunities.
• In consultation with the NBD Director, Regional Director, and Country Directors, initiate stakeholder outreach engagement and relationship-building with prospective funders and partners before a solicitation is issued – including hosting preparation sessions for donor site visits.
• Lead pre-capture and capture efforts, building relationships with implementing partners, government counterparts, and funding institutions.
• Represent the organization with external partners, donors, and consortia at events, meetings, and conferences nationally and regionally.
• Maintain and strengthen collaborative relationships to enhance organizational positioning and expand strategic funding networks.

You Will Excel In This Role If You Have

• Bachelor's degree required. Master's degree preferred.
• At least 8 years of experience in business development, capture management, partnership development, or proposal design for nonprofit fundraising in Central and South America.
• Extensive experience in engagements, and/or relationships with bilateral and multilateral donors in the region.
• Demonstrated ability to develop and execute prospecting, positioning, and engagement strategies for institutional donors.
• Experience securing funding from Latin American institutional donors, bilateral aid agencies, and multilateral funders.
• Strong cross-cultural communication and negotiation skills.
• Analytical skills for donor intelligence, market analysis, and opportunity tracking.
• Demonstrated organizational abilities, with aptitude for managing multiple priorities.
• Proficiency in Spanish and English are required.
• Ability to work independently with teams across multiple time zones.

Bonus Points If You Have

• Familiarity with Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP) or similar business development and proposal management methodologies.

More About This Role

• Ability to travel 20% of the time within the Latin America and Central America regions.
• Willingness to work in an open office environment at a Water For People office in Bolivia, Honduras, Guatemala or Peru. Candidates must be legally authorized to work in their country of residence.
• Ability to work outside regular business hours to meet with team members located in other time zones, such as the US.