Senior Business Development Specialist at the Management Sciences for Health (MSH)

The Management Sciences for Health (MSH), a global health nonprofit organization, uses proven approaches developed over 40 years to help leaders, health managers, and communities in developing nations build stronger health systems for greater health impact. We work to save lives by closing the gap between knowledge and action in public health.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Senior Business Development Specialist

Job Requisition ID: R4399
Location: Abuja
Job type: Full-time

Responsibilities

• With Country Representative, lead development and execution of new business strategy, positioning action plan, and key influencer engagement plan for MSH at the country level based on quantitative and qualitative market analysis.
• Maintain positive relationships with decision makers and key influencers from government; current and potential public and private donors; current and potential international and local partners; and competitors at the country level; and communicate and advocate for MSH capabilities.
• Contribute to the development of new funding opportunities and partnerships/other support within two primary private markets; 1) the philanthropic market for global health, and 2) “shared value” partnerships with the for-profit health market, in partnership with technical staff and MSH’s Global Teams across PDG, SPBD and Communications, as appropriate.
• Contribute to the development of framework agreements between MSH and Donor Partners including Corporate Partners to support key MSH programs in Nigeria, as appropriate.
• Support the global rollout of MSH Nigeria’s Business Plan and Global Strategy, ensuring links to the country positioning plan, as appropriate.
• Ensure that content from country projects relevant to MSH’s future positioning are identified, organized and shared with the Communications Department for processing and uploading to the internal/external website and MSH Salesforce.
• Engage with the MSH Country Representative and Project Directors to track and analyse country trends, donor news, and market data; and gather intelligence on specific new funding opportunities, competitors, international and local partners.
• Serve as active member of country leadership team.
• Maintain current information on existing and potential funders, competitors, and partners in the Salesforce database.
• Develop competitive analyses for all specific opportunities at Gate 1 within assigned country, according to established HPG procedures.
• Develop detailed technical analyses and business cases for all specific opportunities within assigned country, according to established procedures.
• Ensure bid-specific positioning plans build on competitive and technical analyses and are in place for all opportunities on the bid list within Nigeria. Ensure core positioning teams accountable through regular team meetings and reporting against plans.

Contribute to effective and efficient management of MSH positioning and proposal teams:

• Serve as core team member of positioning and proposal teams for all public and private sector opportunities within assigned country.
• Ensure that progress is made to execute bid-specific positioning plan.
• Ensure overall smooth communications between HQ and country levels, monitoring HQ/ country communications daily to ensure timely follow up and that agreed upon deliverables are completed on time.
• Ask for support if you perceive it is needed.
• Participate in all After Action Reviews (AARs), and actively engage with country leadership to share lessons learned and address areas for improvement.

Make sure we get the most out of positioning and proposal development travel:

• Ensure logistics and manage the overall calendar for all positioning and proposal development travel.
• Confirm internal and external meetings, in collaboration with CR and country leadership.
• Assist with background work, meeting preparation and follow up.

Make sure we get the local context right:

• Work with country team to gather and communicate accurate intelligence about the donor’s and government’s priorities relevant to that specific opportunity. Know and communicate who might participate in the TEC and what their priorities are.
• Lead development of situation analysis and gender analysis.
• Ensure bid-specific positioning plans build on competitive and technical analyses and are in place for all opportunities on the bid list within Nigeria. Ensure core positioning teams accountable through regular team meetings and reporting against plans.

Contribute to effective and efficient management of MSH positioning and proposal teams:

• Serve as core team member of positioning and proposal teams for all public and private sector opportunities within assigned country.
• Ensure that progress is made to execute bid-specific positioning plan.
• Ensure overall smooth communications between HQ and country levels, monitoring HQ/ country communications daily to ensure timely follow up and that agreed upon deliverables are completed on time.
• Ask for support if you perceive it is needed.
• Participate in all After Action Reviews (AARs), and actively engage with country leadership to share lessons learned and address areas for improvement.

Make sure we get the most out of positioning and proposal development travel:

• Ensure logistics and manage the overall calendar for all positioning and proposal development travel.
• Confirm internal and external meetings, in collaboration with CR and country leadership.
• Assist with background work, meeting preparation and follow up.

Make sure we get the local context right:

• Work with country team to gather and communicate accurate intelligence about the donor’s and government’s priorities relevant to that specific opportunity. Know and communicate who might participate in the TEC and what their priorities are.
• Lead development of situation analysis and gender analysis.
• Facilitate country contributions to project design and proposal inputs (eg. technical and competitive analysis, partner analysis, PPRs, capability statements, technical strategy development, proposal reviews).
• Identify effective Project Director candidates in your country, and work with the CR, Country leadership, and HR to secure their candidacy for specific bids.

Manage relationships with local partners and stakeholders:

• Help identify and conduct initial outreach to potential local partners (both core and resource partners).
• Make recommendations to the TSL and positioning/ proposal teams for local partner selection based on local knowledge and detailed analysis of performance at the country level.
• Support the execution of pre-teaming and teaming agreements.
• Participate in all partner meetings to ensure effective management of the partnership/ specific opportunity, and to build relationships for future opportunities.
• Ensure overall smooth communications between HQ and country levels, and local partners, during positioning and proposal development. Follow up to ensure agreed upon deliverables are completed on time and are of high quality.
• Manage relationships with key local stakeholders. Work with country team to collect any necessary proposal inputs such as letters of support/ collaboration

Qualifications

• Candidates should possess a BA or B.Sc Degree + 6 years, Master's Degree with 4+ years’ experience.
• Eight years of progressively responsible experience is preferred. 
• Extensive experience in public health, RRSH and health security is highly preferred. 
• Experience developing and managing successful proposals and donor relations.
• Experience working on projects funded by the US Government, the Global Fund, Gavi, FCDO and other donors required.
• Experience and knowledge of policies, strategic priorities, and regulations for non-US donors such as World Bank, UK Department for International Development, UN, Gates, etc. preferred.
• Experience developing and managing partnerships with government at national and sub-national levels, and private sector required.
• Experience in market analysis including scanning the environment for business opportunities and developing strategies for engaging and winning bids required.
• Experience in drafting business strategy and technical briefs for partner engagement required.
• Experience in external engagement and communications; presenting and communicating project and country impact.
• Excellent analytical and writing skills, including preparing briefing notes and PowerPoint slides.
• Strategic thinking, business acumen, and potentially financial acumen.
• Thorough knowledge of a variety of concepts, practices, and procedures within the learned profession, as well as applicable laws, regulations, and general instructions is required.
• Knowledge of the country’s health sector and donor priorities.
• Strong computer skills and Microsoft office suite applications.
• Strong interpersonal communication skills (written and verbal).
• Ability to work across cultures in a team-oriented environment.
• English language skills required.
• Occasional travel may be required within (25%) and outside of the country (10%).

Application Closing Date
14th October, 2024.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online