Business Development Account Executive DR

Plan International is an independent humanitarian and development organization that promotes children's rights and girls' equality. We believe in the power and potential of every child, but these are often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion, and discrimination. And girls are disproportionately affected. Working alongside children, young people, our supporters, and partners, we strive for a just world by addressing the root causes of the challenges faced by girls and all vulnerable children.

We support children's rights from birth to adulthood. We empower children to prepare for and respond to crises and adversity. We drive change in practice and policy at the local, national, and global levels using our reach, experience, and knowledge. We have been building powerful partnerships for children for over 85 years and are now active in more than 80 countries.

ROLE PURPOSE

The Business Development Account Executive role exists to maximize institutional income generation for Plan International through the management of funding accounts and proactive donor engagement.

This is a result oriented role that drives the full fundraising lifecycle, from opportunity identification and donor positioning to proposal development, negotiation and portfolio growth, and acts as an interface between donor and partner representatives (including international cooperation actors, the private sector and the public sector), internal teams, and the global Plan organization.

In this capacity, the Business Development Account Executive provides crucial inputs, information and data on new funding acquisition opportunities and donor loyalty actions for the assigned account portfolio, and serves as a reference point specialised in specific donor profiles or funding streams, ensuring deep understanding of donor priorities, requirements and ways of working in order to optimize income generation and long-term partnerships.

ACCOUNTABILITIES

Account Management (Build and maintain proper relationships with development & humanitarian donors)

•    Represent Plan International and its subsidiaries, in close coordination with Country Representatives and relevant colleagues, to ensure effective positioning and representation in local and national institutional coordination spaces related to international cooperation.
•    Build and maintain relationships with public and private, profit and non-profit organisations that demonstrate interest in social, development and humanitarian programmes.
•    Manage assigned institutional accounts with targeted donor representatives, fund managers and partners, developing a strong understanding of their priorities, objectives, funding mechanisms and ways of working.
•    Present Plan International’s programmes and funding opportunities to donors and partners based on the assigned account portfolio.

•    Build and maintain effective working relationships with internal stakeholders, including Global Hub, Regional Hub and National Offices.
•    Gather, analyse and apply donor, market and competitor intelligence to inform engagement strategies and opportunity development.
•    Identify, contract and manage external consultants where required for the development of complex funding proposals.
•    Establish relationships with new potential institutional donor representatives and partners, including for joint bidding and consortium opportunities.
•    Co-lead the development and implementation of engagement plans for assigned donor portfolios.
•    Provide advice and guidance to internal stakeholders on donor priorities, methodologies, requirements and ways of working.

Management of funding portfolio
•    Provide key inputs and analysis for fundraising landscape assessments and opportunity identification across the cluster and individual countries, including donor and competitor intelligence.

•    Manage portfolio planning and calendars to ensure compliance with donor requirements, including proposal submissions, reporting obligations, donor communications and international visits.
•    Lead grants resource mobilization efforts, including during humanitarian response situations, ensuring donor opportunities are identified, developed, secured and followed up.
•    Lead contract negotiation processes with donors and/or National Offices for the assigned portfolio, ensuring all financial, legal, compliance and risk management standards and targets are met.
•    Lead proposal packaging for the assigned portfolio, converting programme designs into competitive, donor-aligned funding proposals.

Work collaboratively between the countries of the cluster
•    Work closely with Country Office and Programme & Humanitarian Unit teams to build and sustain a diversified, long-term institutional funding portfolio across the cluster.
•    Guide and support Programme, Finance and other internal stakeholders to ensure full understanding of donor and grant conditions and compliance requirements.
•    Coordinate internal stakeholders (Programmes, Finance, Communications, PMERL and others) to ensure projects and proposals are fit for donor priorities and requirements.
•    Ensure alignment of internal inputs throughout proposal development, negotiation and portfolio management processes.
•    Provide qualitative data, business intelligence and market insights to support recommendations to the Cluster Business Development Manager, Go/No-Go Committees and Cluster Management Teams regarding donor opportunities and portfolio decisions.

Monitor Performance of Institutional 
•    Monitor and measure portfolio performance against income targets and standardized performance metrics.
•    Compile, analyse and prepare portfolio and departmental data for presentation to Cluster Management Teams, Regional Hubs, Global Hubs and National Offices to support management decision-making and performance tracking.
•    Contribute to quarterly monitoring, reporting and annual planning processes related to institutional fundraising and portfolio management, in coordination with the regional office/hub.

Safeguarding
•    Ensures that Plan International’s global policies for Safeguarding Children and Young People and Gender Equality and Inclusion are fully embedded in accordance with the principles and requirements of the policy including relevant Implementation Standards and Guidelines as applicable to their area of responsibility. This includes, but is not limited to, ensuring staff and associates are aware of and understand their responsibilities under these policies and Plan International’s Code of Conduct (CoC), their relevance to their area of work, and that concerns are reported and managed in accordance with the appropriate procedures.

Other Duties
•    This job description does not contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time.

KEY RELATIONSHIPS

Internal:  

•    Plan staff at Cluster, CO and PU level, especially those involved in programme design, budget design and project implementation.
•    Plan staff in charge of account engagement like Programme & Humanitarian staff & Country Representative.  
•    Regional Hub staff, National Office staff, Global Hub and any other offices from Plan federation. 
•    Regional Head of Business Development and other Regional Business Development Team members.

External: 

•    Institutional donors (development and/or humanitarian). . 
•    International Cooperation and Embassies in-country
•    Partners.  
•    External public (individuals, civil society organisations, private sector).  
•    Government institutions.
•    Corporate Partners (companies, corporations, foundations and private institutions)
•    Providers (marketing & publicity and public relations agencies, consultants, translators, etc.)

TECHNICAL EXPERTISE, SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE

 Essential:

•    Bachelor degree in areas related to Business Administration, International Relationships, Development Cooperation, Marketing & Sales, Social Sciences or other related areas.
•    A minimum of 5 years of professional experience in grants management (design / implementation) and/or development sector.
•    At least 4 years experience in donor / partner engagement with private sector or public sector or international cooperation entities.
•    Demonstrable knowledge as a result of study, training or practical experience on grants acquisition and donor requirements, interests and priorities. 
•    Business acumen, result oriented and capable of developing sound business cases and building scenarios. 
•    Analytical skills, with a natural sense for what will work and what will not work.
•    Knowledge of the institutional and corporate fundraising market in countries of Latin America.
•    Listening skills with the ability to interpret the concerns and interests of external stakeholders translating them into attractive opportunities for investment in Plan’s priorities.
•    Communication skills – written, oral and presentation including well developed networking ability.
•    Fluency in Spanish and English is a must.
•    Strategic and Financial Skills.
•    Ability to implement donor and competitor mapping.
•    Experience in donor management with at least 3 of the following donor segments: local government, philanthropic entities (foundations/corporates), United Nations agencies, international cooperation actors donors and/or specific donors INTPA, ECHO, US Government, GAC, BMZ, GFFO, AECID or others cooperation agencies.

Desirable: 

•    Experience with local public (governmental) funding sources / public contracting.  

•    Certification in resource mobilisation and/or project management.

Equality, diversity, and inclusion are at the heart of everything Plan International stands for.

We want Plan International to reflect the diversity of the communities we work with, offering equal opportunities for all, regardless of age, disability, gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or beliefs, sex, or sexual orientation.

Plan International is built on a culture of inclusion, and we strive to create a work environment that ensures every team, in every office, in every country, is filled with diverse people, thoughts, and ideas.

We foster an organizational culture that embraces our commitment to racial justice, gender equality, girls' rights, and inclusion.

Plan International believes that in a world where children face so many threats of harm, it is our duty to ensure that, as an organization, we do everything we can to keep children safe. This means we have particular responsibilities toward the children we come into contact with and must not contribute in any way to harming or putting them at risk.