Business Development Administrator
November 2024
About EDI Global
EDI Global provides world-class data collection, research, and monitoring, evaluation, research and learning (MERL) services to a variety of international development clients in Africa. From our offices in Nairobi, Dar-es-Salaam and London, we provide evidence and measurement services to a broad range of donors, universities, research institutes and philanthropic foundations.
Since our foundation in 2002, EDI Global has grown to become one of East Africa’s most respected MERL consultancies with a strong reputation for high-quality survey design and data collection aimed at assessing international development programme impacts, measuring results, and evaluating potential solutions to poverty. We work across multiple sectors and have conducted numerous research projects in agriculture, economic development, education, health, social protection, and water and sanitation.
In late 2018, EDI Global became part of Mathematica. Mathematica applies expertise at the intersection of data, methods, policy, and practice to address complex social challenges and improve wellbeing around the world. Mathematica creates and uses evidence to help bilateral and multilateral donors, government agencies, nongovernmental organisations (NGOs), and philanthropic and private sector actors improve programmes, refine strategies, and advance knowledge.
Over the past two decades, Mathematica has developed a large portfolio of international development work that spans more than 50 countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Europe. Mathematica’s work provides actionable learning to guide decision-making and improve outcomes in a range of policy areas, including health, agriculture, climate change, energy, education, and workforce development.
Title: Business Development Administrator
Location: Nairobi, Kenya (Hybrid)
Salary: Competitive
The Role Job Summary
The Business Development (BD) Administrator plays a key role in supporting Mathematica and EDI Global’s growth through managing and enhancing the business development pipeline, particularly for USAID and other large partnerships. This entry to mid-level position is suited to a self-starter comfortable working with various systems, including SharePoint and Mathematica’s internal Project Information Management Systems (PIMS), to organize, track and update business development information.
The BD Administrator will work closely with Mathematica’s USbased BD team to prioritize tasks, manage recruitment efforts for proposal development and maintain internal systems. The position requires flexibility to accommodate time zones and overlap with the U.S.-based team, along with the ability to thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment. As a permanent role, this position offers strong growth and development opportunities within EDI Global’s expanding team.
Responsibilities
• Business forecast review. Scan and review the USAID business forecast and Grants.gov site for relevant opportunities.
• Proposal pipeline. Add proposal updates (from the forecast) and enter proposal information regarding staffing, partnerships, competition, solicitation details, and other high-level updates.
• Capability statement library. Upload capability statements (capes) to this library on a weekly basis, if not more often (depending on requests from partners and external audiences).
• Past Performance Reports (PPR) Library. Upload submitted PPRs to this library. This is a new library on the Global SharePoint, with ongoing work required to set up and finetune the layout.
• Consultants. Initiate and manage consultant and vendor agreements, coordinate onboarding with HR, and track consultant activity for BD team oversight. It also involves reviewing consultant invoices and submitting them for team approval.
• USAID Q&A. Prepare and organize questions for the quarterly USAID business forecast Q&A and represent the BD team in the live session, documenting and reporting key insights.
• Develop and update BD guidance documents. Develop and update BD guidance documents, adapting tools like the capture slide deck, proposal folder guidelines, and capture checklists to support evolving BD processes.
• BD surge support tasks. Coordinate surge support tasks for the BD team, maintaining an updated list of assignments, staff support, and task statuses. Contribute to these tasks directly and oversee global staff and consultants involved in their execution. Provide regular updates to ensure efficient collaboration and task completion.
• Proposal recruitment. Draft sample recruitment calls for key roles such as Chief of Party (COP), Deputy COP, MEL Advisor, and Finance/Grants Manager. Assist proposal teams with LinkedIn/Devex postings by providing BD team guidance and coordinating with HR for external posting.
• Proposal deliverables. Develop capability statements, draft Request for Information (RFI) responses, and support proposal deliverables by conducting background and partner research as needed. Contribute to multiple RFI responses and prepare capes for anticipated opportunities.
• Administrative responsibilities. The Administrator manages multiple essential administrative tasks for the BD team, including overseeing permissions, organization, and updates on the Global SharePoint site. Responsibilities include maintaining proposal pipeline access, creating libraries, and ensuring materials are organized in the appropriate folders. The Administrator also coordinates with global staff regarding SharePoint material storage. Additional administrative tasks include, but are not limited to:
– Develop and manage internal BD team agendas in OneNote, and facilitate bi-weekly BD meetings, documenting discussions as needed.
– Lead and take notes during weekly USAID Pipeline meetings, bi-weekly BD meetings, and support capture teams in kick-off and capture meetings.
– Create and maintain the proposal management folder system and work with Editing and Production teams to update proposal processes.
– Complete bid sheets in PIMS, manage the BD consultant table, and update the Pipeline Gantt chart bi-weekly.
– Conduct background research to support BD efforts.
Candidate Profile
Education & Experience
• Bachelor’s degree preferred in a business-related course.
• Experience in business administration, project management or a related field is advantageous.
Skills & Attributes
• Proficiency with administrative and project management systems such as SharePoint, PIMS and other digital tools.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills for building relationships and liaising between U.S. and local partners.
• Strong problem-solving skills, with an innovative and flexible approach to challenges.
• Ability to work effectively within flexible schedules, including some overlap with U.S. working hours.
• Commitment to improving systems, processes and ways of working.
How to Apply
All correspondence, at this stage, should be via Oxford HR. To apply for this post, click on the “Apply” button on the job advert page, complete our online application form, and submit your CV and cover letter as two different documents, which should be prepared before applying as they will be considered in the application process.
The cover letter should be no more than two pages long and explain why you are interested in this post and how your skills and experience make you a good fit.
The document should be saved in PDF in the following format: Your First Name-Your Last Name-Document Name-Date (mmyy) e.g., Pat-Jones-CV-112024-EDIGlobal or Pat-JonesCoverLetter-112024-EDIGlobal.
Timeline
Closing Date: 4th December 2024
First Interview: 12th December 2024
Second Interview: 19th December 2024
Selection Process
All candidates will receive an update regarding their application after the closing date. We advise candidates to add the role email to their safe senders list and regularly check their spam folder.
Equality Statement
Equality and diversity are at the core of EDI Global’s values. Staff are expected to work collectively and individually to promote a constructive and sensitive approach to others from a variety of backgrounds, where the work of others is valued and respected.
Queries
If you have any queries on any aspect of the appointment process, need additional information, or would like to have an informal discussion, please email at pwasonga@oxfordhr.com in the first instance.
About Oxford HR
Oxford HR is a B Corp certified leadership consultancy. Having worked within a diverse range of institutions, from not-for-profits and charities to governments and corporate environments, we’ve seen the powerful impact that the perfect team can have.
Finding innovative leaders can be a challenge; and yet their transition into leadership is vital to an organisation’s mission and success. We work across the globe to search for a support remarkable leaders and teams, improve their board effectiveness and support on a range of leadership functions.
Learn more at: oxfordhr.com