Business Development Specialist II, Proposal Writer

About CRS

Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. CRS works to save, protect, and transform lives in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality. CRS' relief and development work is accomplished through programs of emergency response, HIV, health, agriculture, education, microfinance and peacebuilding.

 

Job Summary

CRS’ Institutional Donor Engagement and Advancement (IDEA) department advances the agency’s strategic position by engaging new and existing institutional donors to acquire and steward resources that deliver excellent programs to advance Vision 2030, CRS’ Agency Strategy. Teams within the department focus on three main pillars: engaging donors and strategic partners, acquiring new business, and delivering on the outcomes as outlined in the institutional award agreements, in compliance with donor requirements. The Business Development Specialist (BDS), II – Proposal Writer is part of IDEA’s larger Growth Strategy and Support Unit (GSSU), which is a team that supports the department’s acquiring new business pillar by providing high-quality business development surge support to CRS country programs, regions and HQ teams on strategic funding opportunities. 

 

More specifically, the position is part of the GSSU’s proposal writing team, which is composed of two other Proposal Writers. The BDS II – Proposal Writer will contribute to the production of persuasive, audience-focused proposals in support of CRS’ mission to serve poor and vulnerable people. The position will provide specialized assistance to cross-disciplinary and cross-functional teams, particularly in proposal writing. 

 

Roles and Key Responsibilities

 

Providing Business Development Surge Support:

• Serve as lead writer for high-value, complex proposals. Develop technical narrative outlines and draft proposal sections with technical input, as agreed with the technical design lead and other proposal team members. Synthesize inputs from multiple authors, with attention to clarity, readability, sentence structure, style and voice.
• Work closely with the proposal coordinator, technical design lead and sector leads, other proposal team members and stakeholders, including partners, to develop well-written, well-organized and cohesive concept notes, expressions of interest and proposals aligned with donor requirements and CRS standards.
• Collaborate with the technical design lead to ensure local context and knowledge is fully reflected in proposal products. 
• Serve as editor for complex technical proposals, editing in accordance with AP and CRS house style, focusing on improving readability by shortening sentences, eliminating redundancies, rearranging sentences to improve transitions and clarifying exhibits and references. 
• Support other writing/editing tasks (including reports, marketing material, executive communication, etc.) as required (less than 10% time).
• Participate in design workshops and other proposal strategy, preparation and review activities and synthesize inputs from various data sources and stakeholders.
• Maintain close communication with the technical design lead and proposal coordinator throughout the proposal development process to ensure expectations are aligned and deadlines are met.
• Work with CRS technical and partner staff to evaluate and integrate reviewer comments, as appropriate.

 

Supporting Relevant CRS Communities of Practice: 

• Develop key proposal writing tools and resources, including guidance, training materials and internal and external capacity statements, to support the wider CRS BD Community of Practice.
• Serve as an active member of the CRS Proposal Writer Community of Practice, collaborating on joint projects and deliverables, supporting other members with guidance and attending relevant meetings.
• Contribute to CRS' Business Development Community of Practice and advance CRS Business Development practices through contributions to other initiatives. 

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in English, communications, international development or related field.
• Minimum five years of experience in international development, with at least three of those years writing competitive funding proposals or other persuasive, audience-focused technical com