Team Lead – Business Development Unit (Dublin-based)

The role

Plan International Ireland is looking for a Team Lead for our Business Development Unit (BDU). In this role, you will lead our strategy to expand our funding base paying particular attention to institutional donors including the European Union (ECHO/INTPA), Education Cannot Wait (ECW), Irish Aid and UN agencies, while exploring new opportunities.

Reporting to the Head of Programmes, you will seek to maximise new business opportunities, including identifying new grant opportunities, leading proposal development and ensuring strong tracking of our grants portfolio in close co-operation with our Country Offices (COs) and partners. The BDU under your leadership will also support Plan International Ireland Desk/Emergencies Officers and Plan COs to strengthen their ability to engage donors and to write quality proposals adhering to donor and Plan internal requirements, processes and standards.

This is an exciting time to join Plan International Ireland as we continue to implement our focus on supporting 1.5 million programme participants to help them Learn, Lead, Decide, Survive and Thrive!

Your tasks

• Strategic funds acquisition with bilateral and/or multilateral donors (e.g. Education Cannot Wait, UN agencies, ministries as well as European and global donor agencies)
• Proactive identification and positioning for upcoming funding opportunities
• Establish trusting and reliable working relationships with Country and National Offices as well as other departments within PII
• Lead the BDU on upcoming funding opportunities, with a strong focus on European Union funding, such as INTPA and ECHO as priority stakeholders, with a secondary focus on donors such as the UN and other multilaterals.

Key Responsibilities

Business development

• Develop and operationalise a grant mobilisation strategy in line with Plan Ireland’s geographic and thematic priorities
• Identify grant opportunities in close coordination with the Head of Programmes and Programme Unit leads
• Engage closely with Plan’s EU Liaison Office and ensure Plan International Ireland is strategically placed within the federation to funding opportunities
• Strategically plan pathways for engaging potential new donors and strategic partners

Proposal development

• Lead proposal development for donors and support cross-organisational teams to respond to funding opportunities in collaboration with Programme Unit Leads
• Collaboration with and travel to Country Offices (CO) when required to work with Plan CO teams to design effective proposals and to devise budgets
• Ensuring all donor and PII compliance requirements are addressed at proposal design stage

Donor Relations

• Establish trusting working relationships with representatives from donor agencies, members of the Plan federation and other relevant stakeholders
• Ensure Plan International Ireland is compliant with thematic and requirements for continued work with EU INTPA and ECHO and advise Head of Programmes of changing requirements
• In cooperation with the Programme Unit leads, coordinate engagement on internal Plan requirements for supporting Plan Country Offices to throughout funding applications
• Keep track of donor guidelines and regulations in close collaboration with the Compliance Unit and ensure streamlining into funding applications and internal knowledge management

Other

• Line managing Business Development Officer(s) to deliver high performance in their contribution to the aims of the BDU
• Liaise with Programme Unit leads and coordinate with CO counterparts to strengthen the capacity of CO Teams staff and their ability to generate resources for successful proposals (technical, funding, material).
• Work with the Compliance Unit to ensure a strong grant monitoring system in terms of projections and forecasting
• Active participation in strategic and operational processes within the programmes department
• Contribute to continuous learning and knowledge management
• Engage in relevant networks and working groups as required

Your profile

Essential:

• Successfully completed university degree in a humanitarian or development-relevant subject
• Professional experience in leading teams
• At least five years of practical professional experience in a senior Business Development role in development cooperation and/or humanitarian/disaster risk management (at least three years of which abroad)
• Strong track record in securing institutional grants experience with national and international donor requirements & project cycle management
• You will have experience of managing and prioritising your own workload, meeting tight deadlines
• Excellent written skills and the ability to coordinate all participants in the grant acquisition process
• Experience of managing and leading small teams as part of an agile organisation
• Experience in applying international humanitarian standard and program quality standards including finance and compliance
• Willing and able to travel to remote locations in project countries on short notice
• Strong commitment to children’s and girl’s rights
• Very good MS Office skills
• Excellent written and spoken English skills
• Team player, flexible and solution-oriented

Desired:

Donor experience with EU ECHO & EU INTPA, Education Can Not Wait (ECW), or UN organisations

• Experience in relevant thematic areas of Plan (especially education & protection) and the Humanitarian-Development-Peace-Nexus approach
• Experience working West and/or Central Africa
• French language skills

Salary and benefits

• Work for a certified “Great Place to Work” organisation
• Plan International Ireland operates a salary scale, as well as a broad range of employee benefits.
• This role is graded as a Level 4 within our salary scale, with an expected range of between €45k and €57k. Placement on the scale will be dependent on level of experience and fit within the role.
• In addition to salary, Plan International Ireland provides several employee benefits, some of which include:
  • Private Health Insurance for all employees (from commencement date)
  • Comprehensive health and pension package
  • Matching company pension contributions up to 5% (once probation is complete)
  • Flexible working hours (core hours of 10am to 4pm daily, minimum of 37 hours per week)
• As an employee you will be able to sign up to the Bike-to-Work scheme, or the TaxSaver scheme for DART, LUAS, and Dublin bus users
• Hybrid working option on completion of probation
• Learning and career development, including technical skills, management, and professional development.

Safeguarding

Plan International is committed to safeguarding people within our programmes from exploitation and abuse and has specific policies on this commitment (including a Code of Conduct) which outlines the expected behaviour and the responsibility of all staff, consultants, and other organisational representatives. Any candidate offered a job with us will be expected to sign our Safeguarding Policies and Code of Conduct as an appendix to their contract of employment and agree to conduct themselves in accordance with the provisions of these documents.

Location & work permit

The Programme Team Lead role will be based in Dublin. Applicants must have a valid work permit at the time of applying to enable them to work in Ireland.