Director, Business Development, Clean Cooking Alliance

at  United Nations Foundation

POSITION OVERVIEW

The Clean Cooking Alliance (CCA) works with a global network of partners to build an inclusive industry that makes clean cooking accessible to the 2.4 billion people who live each day without it. Established in 2010, the CCA is driving consumer demand, mobilizing investment to build a pipeline of scalable businesses, and fostering an enabling environment that allows the ecosystem to thrive. Clean cooking transforms lives by improving health, protecting the climate and environment, empowering women, and helping consumers save time and money. In alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals and Net Zero Agenda, CCA is working to achieve universal access to clean cooking by 2030.
CCA seeks a Business Development professional with strong insight into the trends and opportunities of the international development funding landscape, deep funder networks in the international development sphere, and strong technical writing skills to help CCA maximize its ability to secure funding through responsive, high-quality proposals. The candidate should have a strong understanding of and ability to quickly comprehend and design a variety of clean cooking programs and projects in collaboration with CCA teams, including highly technical projects. The candidate should possess touchpoints with major funder organizations and a deep understanding of their funding strategies, priorities, and processes. The candidate should bring knowledge of larger trends within the funding landscape to help CCA identify high potential funding opportunities, position itself as a high-impact organization within the development sector, and engage with funders in an optimal manner. The candidate is a compelling writer with a talent for successfully translating technical concepts into clear and inspiring narratives that resonate with funders. The candidate is a leader driven by a passion for international development and the opportunity to contribute to systems-level change and would be excited to work at the cross section of clean energy transitions, climate change, women’s empowerment, and private sector development to elevate one of the most under-invested development challenges in the world.
The Director, Business Development, will join the Strategy and Development team to lead on technical proposal writing and support fundraising efforts for CCA. The Strategy and Development team is responsible for continued stewardship of the Clean Cooking Systems Strategy, including supporting fundraising and implementation of the Strategy Initiatives, developing and integrating CCA’s organizational strategy, providing advisory support to CCA leadership, program teams and partners, and leading special projects.
This role is based in Washington, DC or U.S. remote.

• Maintain relationships with key funding organizations and keep CCA apprised of changes in their funding strategies
• Work across teams at CCA to identify and solicit relevant funding opportunities, including through open proposal solicitations and targeted solicitations via curated funder relationships
• Maintain a fluent understanding of CCA’s strategy and the Priority Outcomes of the Clean Cooking Systems Strategy
• Strategize on optimal ways to position CCA with funders to maximize success
• Track macro trends in the funding landscape, elevating their implications for CCA’s priorities, programming, and positioning to the Leadership Team
• Identify and solicit funding opportunities in line with CCA priorities, including through open calls and in collaboration with CCA Leadership Team and program teams to identify targeted opportunities
• Thoroughly analyze and adhere to solicitation technical and format requirements
• Actively catalyze and support the development of pre-proposal materials
• Lead proactive writing planning processes, including facilitation of storyboarding or narrative building sessions when appropriate, and set expectations on writing practices among program teams
• Lead the writing and development of responsive, high-quality proposals for strategic funding opportunities approved for pursuit by the CCA Leadership Team; craft compelling and tailored narratives to anchor proposals for a range of funders
• Provide CCA teams with technical guidance in designing proposals and budgets to ensure adherence to funding opportunity requirements, technical proposal writing support, and reviewing and editing support as needed
• Provide Clean Cooking Delivery Units with technical guidance in designing proposals and budgets to ensure adherence to funding opportunity requirements, technical proposal writing support, and reviewing and editing support as needed, as part of CCA’s Delivery Units Network
• Manage technical proposal draft writing and review cycles across teams and incorporate feedback in a timely manner
• Provide ongoing training of CCA staff to increase the quality, responsiveness, and competitiveness of proposals through mentoring and formal training courses
• Work with external copy editors to finalize proposals
• Support the development and editing of technical reports, external-facing materials or other communications products as needed
• Strengthen and support internal relationships and processes across the organization leading to stronger, more cohesive proposal development efforts
• Contribute to tools, processes, and approaches to enhance the proposal development process.
• Establish and maintain CCA’s organization-wide proposal database, including up-to-date resources such as staff CVs, program and project overviews, and templates
• Other duties as assigned