Youth Technical Advisor Ii, New Business Development Unit

Who We Are

IREX is a global development and education organization. We strive for a more just, prosperous, and inclusive world—where individuals reach their full potential, governments serve their people, and communities thrive. With a projected annual portfolio of more than $100 million and more than 600 staff worldwide, we work with partners in more than 100 countries in four areas essential to progress: cultivating leaders, empowering youth, strengthening institutions, and increasing access to quality education and information.

Young people are a tremendous force for positive, transformational change at the local, national, and global levels. IREX has been supporting and developing youth changemakers for over 50 years, and currently has nearly 40 youth-serving programs in 100 countries. IREX’s proven approach to youth development promotes relevant education, professional development, civic engagement, and job skills. We focus on catalyzing and empowering youth and youth-serving organizations and institutions to build their abilities to drive change in their communities around the world.

The Technical Advisor II position is essential to IREX’s impact goal of engaging youth to strengthen their leadership skills, workforce readiness, and civic participation. A strategic mindset, ability to fashion creative solutions to problems, ability to work across teams, and proven leadership of teams to capture business opportunities and to develop winning funding proposals are key ingredients of this position. The advisor assesses the fast-evolving environment of youth-focused development programs and corresponding donor priorities and develops key insights and partnerships to strengthen funding proposals and help IREX design highly effective youth programs. The advisor also leads or supports technical approaches and tools to strengthen the competitiveness of IREX. The position is directly responsible for positioning IREX to effectively pursue funding opportunities and generate new business. Specifically, they are responsible for helping grow IREX's portfolio of programs that relate to, primarily, IREX’s Youth impact goal and special initiatives.

The Technical Advisor II is an integral part of the NBDU team. They will report to the Senior Development Manager of the New Business Development Unit of the Strategy and Development Group. They will also be expected to support, participate in, or lead select bids and proposals for governmental donors. In addition, the Technical Advisor II coordinates activities with other members of the NBDU team, members of the IREX Practices and field offices.

The Technical Advisor II supports effective implementation of the IREX's Business Development Annual Business Plan, the NBDU strategy and the expected results of the NBDU goals, and aspects of the annual business plan of the Strategic Partnerships Unit. They will actively contribute to the overall growth of IREX and will identify, design, and secure new funding opportunities to expand IREX's program opportunities in core program areas worldwide. This work will involve international travel.

On occasion, the Technical Advisor II may work directly with IREX projects to offer technical solutions to clients and partners in areas of technical expertise, foster productive relationships with clients, and look for creative ways to expand the scope and diversity of existing technical initiatives.

Are you the next member of our team?

Your Background & Skills

• Experience designing and writing winning proposals for donor funded projects, a preference for a positive track record designing and drafting proposals in response to USAID-funded program solicitations.
• 10+ years of relative experience.
• You must have unrestricted authorization to work in the United States, Kenya, Guatemala, or Jordan.
• Ability to manage proposal development efforts and ensure quality and timely submission.
• Strong donor, partner, and peer collaboration and negotiation skills.
• Analytical and strong writing skills.
• Fluent, professional, written and spoken English required; other languages encouraged.
• Demonstrated experience and expertise in Positive Youth Development (PYD) approaches that support youth to contribute to their full potential.
• Ability to conceptualize and write winning proposals for projects funded by the Department of State, USAID, and other donors.
• Positive approach to iterative proposal drafting, able and willing to effectively incorporate varied inputs into proposal drafts.
• Technical expertise in positive youth development strongly preferred.
• Bachelor’s degree required; graduate degree preferred.
• Ability to remotely cultivate new partnerships and build complementary consortia for effective program implementation.
• Strong experience and knowledge of best practices in youth development.
• Outstanding interpersonal, intercultural and collaboration skills.
• Willingness to travel to developing countries, estimated at up to 20% of the time.
• 6-8 years of experience in positive youth development and established network of international development client, partner, and practitioners contacts in sectors relevant to IREX's core areas.
• Seasoned team player with a dedication to collaborative program design and proposal development. processes that inclusively leverage the expertise and diverse perspectives of stakeholders globally.

Your Daily Tasks

• Harmonize all IREX’s youth-focused development efforts to ensure they are in full alignment with strategy and are grounded in rigorous competitiveness analysis.
• Experience in supporting positioning events as relevant to youth NBD opportunities.
• Contribute to priority sectors for business development.
• Oversee the development of relevant new business promotional materials and their dissemination to target audiences.
• Contribute to ensure IREX is fully prepared to pursue new business opportunities.
• Track and gain intelligence to advance IREX' s new business opportunities.
• Review funding trends and intel to inform business development.
• Write technical narratives, concepts, expressions of interest, or other documents.
• Conduct market and donor assessments.
• Help identify COPs and other key personnel and participate in interviews.
• Conduct field assessments including PEA-type analyses.
• Identify and assess gaps in IREX’s youth-focused capabilities and proactively address those gaps in collaboration with the IREX’s Strategy and Development Group and in coordination with IREX’s Global Programs.
• Cultivate new partnerships around the globe and effectively engage new partners in proposal development processes.
• Mentor and train staff and interns when required.
• Lead proposal development efforts to ensure quality and timely submission.
• Leverage technical expertise to increase quality of proposals and IREX positioning.
• Contribute to country strategies for priority countries.
• Other support duties as needed.
• Help create dynamic and forward-leaning solutions in IREX’s funding proposals to donors.
• Promote IREX's participation and represent IREX in conferences and industry functions.
• Write technical narratives, concepts, expressions of interest, or other documents.
• Develop and manage relationships with IREX' s clients, partners, etc.
• Assess youth programs and initiatives in the sector with the purpose of enhancing the competitiveness of IREX’s business proposals.
• Contribute to proposal development in strategy meetings and partner discussions.
• Identify and assess new and emerging solutions deployed in youth programs.
• Conduct reconnaissance missions for project development.
• Lead proposal management efforts using consistent business development processes.
• Lead initiatives, including direct youth engagement activities on the ground, to position IREX as a dynamic provider of solutions to some of the most pressing problems facing youth globally.

IREX will make reasonable accommodations in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments of 2008.

We conduct background checks on all successful candidates.

This position is eligible for Telework. The eligible employee is a regular, full-time DC, Kenya, Guatemala, or Jordan -based staff who works from a worksite outside the DC, Kenya, Guatemala, or Jordan offices for one or more days a week.

This position is not eligible for Immigration Sponsorship.

NO PHONE CALLS PLEASE

EOE – Equal Opportunity Employer

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer, including disability/vets.