Business Development Manager

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.

What we are looking for:

• 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