The Opportunity
You
will lead resource mobilization, grant acquisition, and funding partnerships to
deliver our country strategy and sustainable impact. This is particularly an
exciting time to join the team, as we are embarking on the development of our
next five-year country strategy, which will be designed alongside Kenyan youth
to meet the aspirations, priorities, and needs of children and youth across the
country. Within the BDM role, you will be expected to secure and grow
diversified, high-quality funding and impactful partnerships.
This will be achieved by leading opportunity identification; donor and partner engagement and consortium building; program design and proposal development; strengthening country-wide business development capability and processes; and collaborating effectively with the wider Plan International membership to deliver on our global mandate.
You
must also be able to meet the current fundraising realities: more selective and
competitive funding opportunities; deepened demand for new partnerships,
value-for-money and sustainability strategies; and expanded opportunities in
market-driven development, commercial contracting, blended finance and impact
investment, and local fundraising.
Key Responsibilities
- Provide strategic direction for PIK in the evolving funding
landscape, lead the 2027–2032 Resource Mobilization Strategy, build
values-based partnerships, represent in coordination forums, contribute to
country leadership, and ensure accountability through Plan International
Kenya (PIK) Board reporting and Youth Advisory Panel engagement.
- Lead donor and partner cultivation, build a diversified funding
pipeline, and guide evidence-based “go/no-go” decisions. The role drives
responsible private sector engagement, pursues innovative finance
(blended, climate, outcomes-based), strengthens humanitarian mechanisms,
builds competitive consortia with diverse actors, and expands local
fundraising through Kenyan corporates, foundations, and high-net-worth
individuals.
- Drive PIK’s funding and partnership agenda by cultivating diverse
donor relationships, building a balanced pipeline across grants,
contracts, humanitarian and local sources, and guiding evidence-based
investment decisions. Lead responsible private sector engagement, pursue
innovative finance (blended, climate, outcomes-based), strengthen
humanitarian programming, build competitive consortia with civil society
and private actors, and expand local fundraising through Kenyan
corporates, foundations, and high-net-worth individuals.
- Secure and shape PIK’s funding portfolio by leading capture
planning, overseeing high-quality proposal development, and ensure strong
theories of change with integrated gender, inclusion, safeguarding, MEL,
and risk management. Facilitate co-creation with donors and partners,
prepare compelling value-for-money narratives and budgets, and implement
rigorous quality assurance across bids, budgets, and compliance to
maximize competitiveness and sustainability.
- Build and sustain a high-performing business development function:
lead and mentor the BD team, strengthen systems and tools, and expand
country-wide capability in future-facing funding modalities. Drive
continuous learning from bids to improve competitiveness, ensure smooth
transitions from pre-award to post-award, and embed strong processes for
pipeline tracking, partner frameworks, and compliance to maximize funding
success and organizational resilience.
- Accountable for fundraising targets, transparent reporting, donor
engagement, timely compliant proposals, after-action reviews, and
performance of the BD team.
- Plan International has a robust global policy for Safeguarding and
PII policy for Preventing Sexual Harassment Exploitation and Abuse; and
Gender Equality and Inclusion principles and Implementation Standards and
Guidelines as applicable to your area of responsibility. You will
therefore have a responsibility to adhere and enforce adherence of staff
and associates within your sphere of responsibility.
- You will be trusted to take on additional assignments within the
scope of work as assigned by your supervisor on need basis.
Qualifications
- Someone with Master’s degree in international development, business,
economics, public policy, or related field (or equivalent professional
experience).
- You should possess 10+ years’ of experience in business development
/ resource mobilization including successful leadership of complex bids
and partnership negotiations for development and humanitarian
opportunities.
- You should demonstrate success in securing funding from multiple and
diverse funding sources such as grants, private sector, commercial
contracts, impact investment, innovative finance, and local fundraising.
- Someone with digital fluency with BD systems (pipeline), advanced
Excel (including development and review of complex, cost-competitive
budgets), collaboration platforms, responsible use of approved AI tools,
and PowerPoint and other visual tools to develop compelling donor-facing
materials.
- Someone with proven experience building and leading high-performing
teams, setting clear objectives, coaching and developing talent, and
creating accountability to deliver results in fast-paced environments.
- You should have experience working in Kenya and/or similar contexts;
knowledge of key donor landscapes and compliance expectations.
- Someone with excellent written and verbal communication skills.
How to Apply
