Director of New Business Development

About This Role

The Director of New Business Development will grow revenue from institutional donors (multilateral organizations, United States Government (USG) mechanisms, other foreign government entities, complex foundations, and other institutional funding sources). They will lead and continue building a business development unit on the Water For People fundraising team (Donor Impact) with the ability to start small and think big. The Director of New Business Development can see an entire landscape and have an innate instinct around the highest-leverage position and strategy for the organization and the team. This position will inspire and build trust, both internally within the Donor Impact team/within the organization and externally by building relationships with stakeholders and donors critical to the growth of Water For People.

This role requires a strategist who is comfortable operating in a fluid, often ambiguous funding environment — someone who can track and interpret shifting USG policy and funding mechanisms, identify where Water For People can still credibly compete for USG-adjacent or successor funding, and, at the same time, lead a deliberate diversification of our institutional donor base toward multilateral organizations, complex foundations, and non-US governmental donors. This includes the climate funding landscape — bilateral and multilateral climate finance mechanisms, and adaptation and resilience funds— which represents an increasingly important and fast-growing source of institutional funding relevant to Water For People's work. This is not a role for someone who needs a fully mapped-out playbook; it requires sound strategic judgment in gray areas where the rules and opportunities are still taking shape.

Water For People is in an early development phase in the institutional donor space. The Director of New Business Development is an experienced professional who will guide and shape Water For People's growth and will continue building organizational capacity that moves us away from reactively going after opportunities and toward a proactive approach with tools and processes.

New Business Development is a relatively new function at Water For People, and this role is as much about building as it is about executing. We need someone nimble, flexible, and entrepreneurial — comfortable standing up a new business unit without an established roadmap, and willing to adjust course as the organization and the external funding environment continue to evolve. A significant part of this work is internal: socializing new processes and procedures, and building buy-in and understanding across Country Programs, Global Programs, and peer teams so that NBD becomes a trusted, well-understood function within the organization. The rest is external: building and sustaining relationships with large institutional funders. The right candidate will move comfortably between both.

The Director of New Business Development is responsible for:

• Strategies we will pursue
• Deployment of who will do what.
• Accountability for how and at what point individual and team performance will be measured.

With a primary focus on increasing institutional support at Water For People, the Director of New Business Development will build the strategy. This strategy will be in line with our organizational strategic plan, Destination 2030 and our organizational growth strategy.

In This Role You Will

Strategy Development:

• Collaborate with Water For People's Global Leadership Team, country teams and Global/Regional Influence teams to develop a comprehensive business development strategy in the institutional landscape
• Monitor, interpret, and translate the evolving and often ambiguous U.S. government funding environment — including the dissolution of USAID and the reorganization of remaining foreign assistance functions — into actionable guidance for the organization on where Water For People can still credibly pursue USG-adjacent or successor funding.
• Lead the implementation of the business development strategy including coordinating actions of relevant stakeholders that is inclusive of multisectoral consortia and global South-South opportunities.
• Lead a proactive strategy to diversify Water For People's institutional donor portfolio beyond USG, deepening relationships with multilateral organizations, foundations, and non-US governmental donors.
• Propose, cost out, and oversee strategic investments in new business development and the budget planning cycle.
• Contribute to identifying emerging areas for Water For People to shape opportunities with institutional donors.

Networking & Representation:

• Develop an engagement strategy with key stakeholders within the new business development strategy.
• Lead the NBD unit to identify, track and position for relevant upcoming institutional funding opportunities — U.S. government, multilateral, and other — in coordination with country offices, partner organizations, and relevant Water For People technical teams.
• Represent Water For People at external events, donor meetings and conferences, leveraging an existing network of institutional funder relationships across global and Africa-region donors.
• Navigate and build relationships within the climate funding network — bilateral and multilateral climate finance mechanisms, adaptation and resilience funds, and climate-focused foundations — as a growing and increasingly critical institutional funding stream for WASH work.
• As travel permits, conduct or coordinate prospecting visits to Water For People's country offices to identify and prepare for upcoming funding opportunities by gathering and analyzing intelligence.
• Manage the pre-solicitation capture stage preparations and bid planning including intelligence gathering, partnership building, and bid strategy development.

Leadership

• Communicate the NBD vision, priorities and processes across the organization.
• Oversee all aspects of the new business development proposal process including proper submission of high-quality, responsive, winning bids through the negotiation and award.
• Monitor and report on achievement of Water For People goals, targets and projections associated with NBD revenue.
• Develop and implement NBD policies and best practices at the organizational level, with rigorous oversight of budget management, procurement compliance, and proposal processes.

Market Analysis & Landscaping:

• Track, analyze and interpret institutional donor trends — and share the findings with the DI Team, Chief Growth Officer and Global Leadership Team.
• Make actionable information available to leaders to support positions, leads development and decision making.

Organizational Positioning:

• Provide strategic guidance for our regional BD officers on stratregic proposals, including competitive analysis, leads development, value proposition, partner agreements, negotiation, win themes, cost strategy approval and final sign off.
• Foster cross functional collaboration across Water For People teams to achieve strategic positioning, effectiveness and efficiency.
• Clearly define, document, and communicate — across the Donor Impact team and the broader organization — where New Business Development's approach, scope, and donor remit are the same as, and where they differ from, Major Gifts, so that both teams and their internal stakeholders have a shared, unambiguous understanding of how the two functions work together.
• Support and build the capacity of Country Directors and country teams to engage directly with institutional donors and cultivate their own in-country donor relationships and networks — this role is expected to strengthen country-level fundraising capability, not centralize all institutional relationships at HQ.

People Management:

• Build and lead a staffing structure that reflects organizational priorities and proactively addresses the needs across the NBD function.
• Directly and effectively manage people: provide clear, consistent coaching, guidance and mentorship to direct reports; set expectations; and hold the team accountable to them.
• Shares knowledge, information, skills and subject matter expertise among the team and ensures the timely communication of issues while encouraging good working relationships with other functions/teams.
• Manages the NBD unit, including maintaining team spirit and performance, setting annual goals, encouraging career development, addressing issues within the team, and ensuring equitable distribution of work.
• Support the recruitment and retention of qualified business development professionals and consultants.

You Will Excel In This Role If You Have

• An established, credible network of institutional funder relationships spanning both global and Africa-region donors — including multilateral organizations, non-US governmental donors, foundations, and USG or USG-successor funding mechanisms.
• Demonstrated ability to develop, implement, and adapt institutional donor-focused business development strategies in a rapidly changing and, at times, ambiguous funding environment.
• Strong strategic thinker with the proven ability to see the full institutional funding landscape, identify the highest-leverage opportunities, and translate strategy into an actionable, prioritized plan.
• Demonstrated success building a new function, team, or business unit from the ground up — including designing and socializing new internal processes and procedures — comfortable operating with nimbleness and flexibility in an entrepreneurial, still-forming environment.
• Proven, hands-on experience directly managing and developing people — including coaching, performance management, and building a cohesive, geographically distributed team.
• Demonstrated experience overseeing and enforcing operational processes — budget management, procurement compliance, and proposal management — with strong attention to organizational policy and reporting discipline.

Bonus Points If You Have

• .Master's degree in international development or related field and a minimum of ten years work experience in a business development setting; OR
• Bachelor's degree in international development or related field and a minimum of twelve years work experience in a business development setting.
• Working knowledge of the climate finance landscape (e.g., bilateral and multilateral climate funds, adaptation and resilience financing) and how it intersects with WASH funding.
• Working knowledge of blended finance and results based finance grant-making mechanisms.
• Strategic insight to guide country-level staff as they build their own network of relationships in the business development landscape.
• Financial management experience, including budget development experience.
• Demonstrated ability to provide advice to leadership teams on business development opportunities, investments, and budgets.
• Advanced computer proficiencies with Microsoft Office programs including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint and Outlook.
• Spanish proficiency.

More About This Role

• The ability to travel 15% of the time domestically and internationally to the global south.
• This position will work remotely. Water For People will seek candidates from the following states: AZ, CO, DC, FL, GA, IN, KY, MD, NC, OH, OR, SD, TX or VA.
• Candidates must be a citizen or legally authorized to work in the USA to be considered for this position.
• Ability to work outside regular business hours to meet with team members located in other time zones, specifically in Eastern Africa, India and Latin America.

Director of New Business Development - Water For People