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Posted by the organisation on ReliefWeb · Verified employer

Senior Program/Business Development Advisor (World Bank)

International Rescue Committee

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Job at a glance

Employer
International Rescue Committee
Position
Senior Program/Business Development Advisor (World Bank)
Location
Kenya, Germany or UK
Possible duty stations
Kenya, Germany or UK
Experience
6+ years with major institutional donors
Salary
Not stated in the advert
Application deadline
2 December 2026
Posted on VacancyKE
2 November 2026

VacancyKE summary

The International Rescue Committee is hiring a Senior Program/Business Development Advisor (World Bank) based in Kenya, Germany or the UK. You will lead capture and proposal development for complex, high-value World Bank opportunities within the Global Business Development team.

What stands out about this opportunity

  • Open to candidates in Kenya, Germany or the UK
  • Requires recent World Bank proposal example in cover letter
  • Up to 20% international travel
  • UK salary range GBP 58,476 – GBP 69,440

What’s offered

  • UK compensation: GBP 58,476 - GBP 69,440 annually.

Key responsibilities

  • Lead proposal development for complex public opportunities, including capture strategy, calendars and deadlines.
  • Collaborate with regional, country and technical teams to implement long-term capture strategies.
  • Lead strategic capture efforts including donor mapping, SWOT analysis and pre-positioning strategies.
  • Review and draft expressions of interest, concept notes and proposals for quality and compliance.
  • Advise technical and country teams on strategic approaches, guiding Go/No Go processes.
  • Conduct landscape analyses to identify strategic partnerships, focusing on local partnerships.
  • Conduct After Action Reviews and disseminate learnings across the organisation.
  • Draft positioning materials including capability statements and prior project reference sheets.

Who should apply?

A senior business development professional with extensive World Bank proposal management experience, fluent in English and French, seeking a global role in international humanitarian development.

Key requirements

  • 6+ years institutional donor procurement experience
  • Extensive World Bank experience
  • Fluency in English and French
  • Track record managing complex multi-partner proposals
  • Knowledge of World Bank compliance and regulations
  • Up to 20% international travel

Nice to have

  • Experience with multilateral and bilateral donors such as FCDO, French AFD or German BMZ.
  • Experience managing large development or humanitarian programmes.
  • Lived or working experience in Sub-Saharan Africa.

How to apply

Official source: Posted by the organisation on ReliefWeb · reliefweb.int. VacancyKE never charges job seekers.

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Original employer advertisement

Published by International Rescue Committee on reliefweb.int. Shown for reference; the employer’s version is the official one.

The employer’s advert
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.

**Global Business Development**

Within the Awards Management Unit, the Global BD team leads IRC’s public BD strategy and donor engagement for IRC’s international programs. The team brings together capacity across the organization to drive donor engagement and BD services to secure the public funding needed to deliver our work to clients. The team includes technical, operational and donor specialists able to lead our most complex proposals and manage our most important donor relationships.

***Please note that the candidates MUST INCLUDE a COVER LETTER and give a recent example or a World Bank Proposal they have led. Failure to include a cover letter will result in disqualification.***

This role is open to candidates located and with the right to work in Kenya, Germany and UK,

**The Purpose of the Role**

The Senior Program/Business Development Advisor (World Bank) will join a global BD team and will help drive IRC’s new business development efforts by engaging with global, regional, country, and technical staff throughout the business development cycle from opportunity tracking and positioning/capture planning to proposal development, and submission. The SPDA will primarily serve as capture and proposal manager, and s/he will also offer technical assistance and mentor staff working on proposals on relevant business development topics.

The ideal candidate will have significant high-level experience in managing capture and proposal development for opportunities that are complex or high-value nature. This should include a track record of successful multi-million dollar proposal development with the World Bank or other multilateral development bank. Experience of large funding proposals with other major government donors will be a distinct advantage.

**Key Accountabilities**

***Bid leadership and coordination (70%)***

- Lead proposal development for complex and strategic public opportunities, including capture strategy, management of proposal teams, calendars, and deadlines; strategy development with technical staff; consortium management and negotiations; recruiting; writing; production; and after-action reviews.
- Collaborate with regional, country, and technical teams to develop and implement opportunity-specific long-term capture and positioning strategies.
- Lead strategic capture efforts for frameworks, single opportunities and wider funding sources including donor mapping, SWOT analysis, support to win theme development, and relevant strategies for pre-positioning efforts.
- Contribute to strengthening IRC’s profile and relationships with key stakeholders, including donors, peer organizations, local partners, and government institutions to support opportunity-specific strategic planning and decision-making.
- Advises Technical Teams and Country Teams on strategic approaches for funding opportunities, guiding a robust and evidence driven Go/No Go process.
- Supports technical units and country teams to offer pitches to prospective partners to secure the most competitive consortia possible.
- Review and/or draft expressions of interest, concept notes, and proposals to ensure quality and compliance with donor standards.
- Collaborate with IRC’s pricing team and other budget leads, ensuring technical coherence and value for money with the cost proposal.
- Collaborate with Proposal Recruiters to identify and assess candidates for key personnel positions on proposals.
- Organize and manage internal processes to ensure IRC is always submitting the most competitive and compliant proposals.

***Business Development process improvement and knowledge management (10%)***

- Conducts After Action Reviews, Donor Feedback Reviews and capture wider learnings to disseminate to wider organization
- Contributes to and models the use of standard business development processes, tools, templates and information.
- May serve in short term mentor role to junior staff leading large bids for the first time.

***Partnerships and Strategy (20%)***

- Conducts landscape analyses as necessary to identify most strategic partnerships in public donor markets, with a particular focus on fostering local partnerships.
- Drafts high quality positioning materials as necessary, including capability statements and prior project reference sheets.
- Strengthening collaboration with internal stakeholders including country teams, technical units, and other team members.
- Contributes to country-specific BD strategies and BD action plans as necessary to support prioritization of new business development opportunities.
- Work with colleagues across IRC, in particular the BD Quality & Systems team to support change initiatives to continuously improve, evolve and innovate IRC approach to effective, mission aligned business development.

**Person Specification**

**Skills, Knowledge and Qualifications:**

- At least six years of focused experience working with major institutional donors on large and often complex procurements, with extensive World Bank experience required. Additional experience with other multilateral and bilateral donors such as FCDO, French AFD, or German BMZ is an advantage. \*
- Strong knowledge of World Bank compliance, rules, and regulations, along with familiarity with the policies of other relevant donors. \*
- Familiarity with standard Business Development processes, and a willingness to learn and apply IRC's BD guidelines.
- Fluency in English and French required.\*

**Experience:**

- Successful track record of acting as proposal manager on complex subject, multi-year, multi-partner proposals with minimal supervision\*
- 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
- The ability to work productively and accurately while under pressure in a fast-paced, demanding environment
- Experience managing large development or humanitarian programs- a strong understanding of program implementation and donor engagement throughout the project cycle will desirable.
- Lived and/ or working experience in Sub-Saharan Africa is an advantage.
- Ability to travel internationally (up to 20% of time)

**Compensation (UK):** (GBP 58,476- GBP 69,440 annually). 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

**Professional Standards:** All International Rescue Committee workers must adhere to the core values and principles outlined in [IRC Way - Standards for Professional Conduct](https://www.rescue.org/page/our-code-conduct). Our Standards are Integrity, Service, Equality and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on [Safeguarding](https://www.rescue.org/page/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.