Senior Program Development Manager under the direct supervision of the Executive will leads ARD’s program development and resource mobilization functions. The position is responsible for identifying funding opportunities, leading high-quality concept notes and proposals, supporting strategic partnerships and consortia, and ensuring proposal processes are compliant, coordinated, timely, and aligned with ARD strategy and donor priorities.
The Senior Program Development Manager works closely with Programs, MEAL, Finance, Operations/Logistics, Communications, and Senior Management to ensure strong program design, realistic budgeting, and competitive submissions.
Duties and Responsibilities
Under the direct supervision of the Executive Director (or assigned supervisor), the Senior Program Development Manager shall perform the following duties:
A. Funding Intelligence and Pipeline Management
- Identify and track relevant funding opportunities (institutional donors, UN agencies, INGOs, foundations, private sector) aligned with ARD priorities.
- Maintain an up-to-date funding pipeline, calendar of calls, and internal bid decision records.
- Conduct donor mapping and competitor/partner analysis to position ARD effectively.
B. Proposal and Concept Note Development
- Lead and coordinate proposal development processes from go/no-go decision to final submission.
- Draft and/or oversee the drafting of high-quality concept notes and proposals, ensuring clarity, evidence-based logic, and strong alignment with donor requirements.
- Coordinate technical inputs from sector leads and ensure strong theories of change, logframes/results frameworks, workplans, and risk analysis.
- Ensure cross-cutting integration: gender equality, conflict sensitivity, safeguarding/PSEA, disability inclusion, accountability to affected populations (AAP), and environmental considerations where relevant.
- Ensure compliance with donor templates, eligibility requirements, annexes, and submission procedures.
C. Budgeting and Costing Coordination
- Coordinate closely with Finance and Operations to develop accurate, compliant, and competitive budgets and budget narratives.
- Support costing assumptions, staffing structures, procurement planning inputs, and value-for-money considerations.
- Ensure consistency between technical design, workplan, and budget.
D. Partnership and Consortium Development
- Identify, build, and manage relationships with potential partners (local and international) for joint programming and consortia.
- Lead partnership discussions for program design, division of roles, and joint submissions.
- Support partner due diligence processes and documentation required for proposals and award negotiations.
- Contribute to the development/review of MoUs, partnership agreements, and teaming arrangements (in coordination with management/legal as applicable).
E. Quality Assurance and Compliance
- Establish and enforce internal proposal quality assurance processes (review checklists, compliance checks, red-teaming, final sign-off workflow).
- Ensure proposal documentation is complete and audit-ready (annexes, CVs, policies, registration docs, past performance references, etc.).
- Maintain an organized archive of all submitted proposals and donor communications.
F. Donor Engagement and Representation
- Support and/or lead donor engagement, including capability statements, donor meetings, and follow-up communications.
- Contribute to donor relationship management through timely responses, clarifications, and participation in relevant coordination platforms as assigned.
- Support negotiation phases post-selection, including revisions, budget adjustments, and final submission packages.
G. Team Capacity Building and Internal Systems Strengthening
- Build the capacity of ARD program and support teams on proposal development, donor compliance, budgeting, and reporting through coaching, mentoring, and structured trainings.
- Develop practical internal tools and guidance (proposal checklists, donor compliance notes, logframe guidance, reporting calendars, budget narrative templates) to standardize quality across teams.
- Provide hands-on support to Project Managers and Grants/Programs staff on donor communication, reporting preparation, evidence collection, and audit readiness.
- Lead periodic refresher sessions on cross-cutting standards (AAP, safeguarding/PSEA, gender and inclusion, conflict sensitivity, environmental considerations) and how to apply them in implementation and reporting.
- Support onboarding of new program staff by orienting them on ARD program development cycle, donor standards, and internal coordination procedures.
- Promote a learning culture by organizing after-action reviews for major submissions and key project milestones, translating findings into process improvements.
H. Learning, Knowledge Management, and Capacity Building
- Develop and update standardized proposal tools (templates, boilerplates, standard narratives, past performance library).
- Capture lessons learned from proposal outcomes and improve processes accordingly.
- Provide coaching and training to ARD teams on proposal writing, logframes, donor compliance, and program design.
Application should contain the following attachment:
Curriculum Vitae ( PDF)
Two up to date and recent references required (write in CV).
Please submit your CV in English to recruitment@ashuor.org and with “Senior Program Development Manager – Kirkuk” in the subject line
The deadline is 23-Dec-2025, by 4:30 pm. Only short-listed applications will subsequently be called for interview. Incomplete applications will not be considered.