Job Description
Job Summary
The Senior Manager, Strategic Growth and Partnerships (SG&P) will play an important role in achieving the objectives of Land O’Lakes Venture37 Plan for Growth (P4G), focused on securing new business from priority United States Government (USG) customers including USAID and USDA; and contribute to securing new business from non-USG customers as needed. The Senior Manager will collaborate across the organization to ensure that thought leadership, innovation, and proven Venture37 approaches are incorporated into new business development strategy and program design. The Senior Manager’s primary focus will be supporting the SG&P team to develop a robust pipeline of USG opportunities and pursue priority opportunities through intel gathering and business capture efforts, and customer and partnership relationship development. The Senior Manager, SG&P will guide and inform the overall operations and knowledge management processes of the SG&P team and ensure the team is implementing best practices for new business development and other related business functions.
Strategy and Pipeline Development (30%)
- Ensure early intel capture and targeted pursuit of priority USG customers and procurements.
- Track funding opportunities across multiple USG customers, develop bid analyses and capture plans.
- Lead components of the SG&P strategy to prioritize key new business opportunities, define target and sector opportunities.
- Contribute to pursuit of non-USG opportunities, as needed
- Manage SG&P operational knowledge management processes and practices, including the management of Salesforce, Teams, DevLink and other knowledge management systems.
- Manage and update opportunities and contacts in Salesforce.
Customer and Partnership Development (30%)
- Cultivate and deepen connections with contacts globally for key existing and new customers, including deepening relationships with key USAID Missions (e.g. Economic Growth Team staff and other key influencers); develop and demonstrate strong understanding of key influencers.
- Lead the development and execution of customer development strategies; demonstrate working knowledge of customer strategies to inform capture and institutional knowledge base.
- Support broad collaboration across the organization, to include close collaboration with the in-house Design and Technical Team, to promote innovative and impactful Venture37 approaches.
- Lead and represent Venture37 in key customer and partnership meetings to increase awareness of Venture37 and increase Venture37 competitiveness on specific new business opportunities.
- Cultivate and expand relationships with implementation partners including international NGOs, priority local partners, private sector companies and academic institutions.
Proposal Development (30%)
- Fill key proposal roles, particularly technical writer, proposal lead – with responsibilities including development of partnership strategy and scopes of work, and sub-partner relationship management.
- Lead and orchestrate project design sessions incorporating theory of change to create compelling, innovative and customer responsive solutions.
- Conduct in-country reconnaissance to collect/analyze data informing proposal design.
- Ensure technical requirements and details are aligned with cost proposal development in close collaboration with finance and costing teams.
- Manage on-time, compliant and cost-effective delivery of proposals.
Marketing (10%)
- Lead the development of customer-appropriate pitch decks, technical papers and other marketing collateral that showcase V37’s work and thought leadership.
- Conduct marketing trips to meet with key customers and organize customer visits to Land O’Lakes to influence program design.
- Position Venture37 for new business opportunities at industry events.
Required Experience/Knowledge (to be able to perform this job):
- University degree in International Studies, International Development, Business Administration, Agriculture, Economics or related field plus a minimum of five years relevant work experience, or combination of additional education and experience to total seven years.
- Demonstrated understanding of emerging trends in international agriculture/economic development.
- Experience developing and maintaining partnerships and securing business from -USG clients including USAID and or USDA.
- Experience leading teams to design competitive bids for donor funding, with expertise designing programs underpinned by causal models, technical writing and partnership development/management; budget expertise a plus.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English, with emphasis on proposals and marketing materials.
- Ability to work and lead effectively in a team environment and work with people of diverse backgrounds in various cultural settings.
- Proactive, detail-oriented, flexible and able to focus and guide others in accomplishing time-sensitive work.
- Ability to travel and work effectively in developing countries.
Preferred Experience/Knowledge:
- Masters Degree in International Development, Agriculture, Economics or related field.
- Experience living and/or working in developing countries, particularly in Africa and Asia.
- Experience with non-USG customer proposal development.
- Experience working on projects with an agriculture focus.
- French, Spanish and/or Portuguese language skills.
Closing Date: 2023/10/02