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.

Job Overview:

The IRC’s Airbel Impact Lab designs, tests, and scales life-changing, cost-effective solutions for people affected by conflict and disaster. By applying the IRC’s deep technical expertise and field experience with multi-disciplinary problem-solving in humanitarian contexts, we work to develop breakthrough solutions.

Reporting to the Director of Finance and Operations, the Business Development & Partnerships Senior Advisor will drive Airbel’s partnerships and business development (BD) priorities with public and private donors. They will work in close collaboration with Airbel leadership, grants and strategy teams, and global and regional technical leaders to develop and implement a global fundraising strategy. This position will provide business development and program design support on proposals, focusing on both private and public donors, as well as cultivating strategic partnerships. Overall, the Business Development & Partnerships Senior Advisor is co-responsible with Airbel Senior Leaders for setting the BD strategy, crafting compelling proposals, and driving ultimate bid success through donor intel and positioning, strong bid submission, and effective cross-functional collaboration.

Major Responsibilities

Strategy and Capture

• Develop and drive a global donor funding strategy for Airbel in collaboration with Airbel & Global leadership.

• Serve as the main BD focal point for Airbel, coordinate knowledge sharing with fundraising departments, and provide accurate guidance to Airbel Senior Leaders for bid development.

• Develop and oversee pipeline of upcoming funding and partnership opportunities.

• Work closely with internal stakeholders to plan for staff needs and business development capacity requirements to successfully write and budget for winning proposals.

• Adapt, strengthen, and roll out new and existing fundraising tools and processes.

• Coordinate internal competition processes.

Business Development and Program Design

• Lead proposal writing for Airbel-led proposals, ensuring overall quality, coherence and logic in project design, integration with other sectors as needed, meaningful engagement of partners, and adherence to IRC’s IMPACT quality standards and scale considerations.

• Review budgets to ensure consistency with the proposal design.

• Ensure Project Design Meetings take place on time and are of sufficient quality.

• Advance key decisions to senior leaders as relevant.

Partnerships Strategy

• Support defining and leading Airbel’s approach to partnerships including both global and local partnerships, ensuring successful pre- and post-award partnership operations.

• Lead coordination to drive all aspects of partnership strategy and management for Airbel, with a strong focus on building effective partnerships with local civil society and other local actor organizations.

• Develop and evolve tools, processes and ways-of-working to be fit-for-purpose for Airbel-led projects and strategic priorities.

• Identify and evaluate opportunities for private sector partnerships required to effectively deliver the Airbel strategy both as part of but also outside specific BD opportunities.

• Identify and evaluate opportunities for partnerships with academic or research centers with a goal of identifying more research partnership opportunities from the global South.

Experience and Skills

Required Experience:

• Demonstrable experience leading proposal development for multi-million-dollar humanitarian and/or development projects

• Demonstrated success managing complex portfolios and winning large awards

• Experience with major public and private donors (USAID, BHA, FCDO, ECHO, etc.)

• Track record of developing and implementing systems/processes across varied functional and technical program areas

• Experience building and negotiating partnerships, with understanding of localization and power-shifting trends

Required Skills:

• Strategic analysis and problem-solving using diverse data sources

• Ability to work independently and collaborate with remote, multicultural teams

• Stakeholder management and influence across organizational levels

• Strong project management and ability to balance competing priorities

• Fluency in English (French a plus)

Standard work environment with 20% global travel availability, sometimes on short notice.

Compensation:

Posted pay ranges apply to US and UK-based candidates. 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.

US Benefits:

We offer a comprehensive and highly competitive set of benefits. In the US, these include: 10 sick days, 10 US holidays, 20-25 paid time off days depending on role and tenure, medical insurance starting at $143 per month, dental starting at $6.50 per month, and vision starting at $5 per month, FSA for healthcare and commuter costs, a 403b retirement savings plans with immediately vested matching, disability & life insurance, and an Employee Assistance Program which is available to our staff and their families to support counseling and care in times of crisis and mental health struggles.

**Standard of Professional Conduct:**The IRC and the IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in the IRC Way – our Code of Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, Accountability, and Equality.

Commitment to Gender, Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion: The IRC is committed to creating a diverse, inclusive, respectful, and safe work environment where all persons are treated fairly, with dignity and respect. The IRC expressly prohibits and will not tolerate discrimination, harassment, retaliation, or bullying of the IRC persons in any work setting. We aim to increase the representation of women, people that are from country and communities we serve, and people who identify as races and ethnicities that are under-represented in global power structures.