Job Description

Position Summary

The Senior Director of International Development is WFCU's senior-most owner of institutional business development, award and project leadership, and the WFCU grants portfolio. This is a strategic, externally oriented leadership role, not a grants administration position.

The role leads the full BD cycle: opportunity identification, capture strategy, technical and cost design, partner structuring, proposal development, and funder negotiations. Once awards are secured, the Senior Director owns their management through closeout as the primary project leader. The role also drives the strategy and performance of WFCU's expanding grant-making portfolio.

The role is intentionally durable and self-sustaining: direct billability to awarded projects offsets a portion of its cost over time; the grants portfolio provides a stable base when the BD pipeline is between awards. High-level donor negotiations and strategic external representation are conducted jointly with the WFCU President.

Core Responsibilities

Business Development & Institutional Capture

• Own and actively manage WFCU's institutional opportunity pipeline, awards calendar, and funder strategy across bilateral donors (USAID, EU, FCDO, IDB, GEF), multilateral agencies, and foundations.
• Lead capture strategy for priority opportunities: track donor directions, analyze competition, scope consortium roles, develop positioning, and lead pre-solicitation engagement.
• Lead concept notes, proposals, technical approaches, cost designs, and partner structures; negotiate partner and subcontract agreements; make and document go/no-go recommendations.
• Represent WFCU at donor forums, conferences, and external events; support the President in high-level donor negotiations and strategic partnership development.

Award & Project Leadership

• Serve as primary project leader for WFCU-held awards from acceptance through closeout - accountable to donors for results, compliance, budget management, and reporting.
• Develop and oversee project workplans, procurement (within approved authority), and partner and consultant performance against milestones.
• Coordinate with WOCCU's TA team to translate awards into clear scopes and delivery expectations under the co-implementation framework; guide execution decisions and ensure rapid start-up and closeout.
• Track costs, manage indirect cost recovery, and coordinate with Finance / Operations on cash flow and audit readiness.

WFCU Grants Portfolio

• Lead the strategy, performance, and impact of WFCU's grant-making portfolio, including Financial Literacy, Financial Inclusion, GWLN, WYCUP, and Global DE grants.
• Ensure grant decisions, disbursements, and compliance align with WFCU priorities, donor requirements, and governance processes.
• Supervise the Financial Technician; maintain accurate dashboards, impact evidence, and donor-ready reporting.

WOCCU Technical Assistance Partnership

• Engage WOCCU's TA team as delivery partners on WFCU-led awards, with clear inter-enterprise scopes and contractual arrangements.
• Maintain structural clarity: WFCU owns funder strategy, proposals, award accountability, grants, and donor reporting; WOCCU owns TA design and delivery.

Strategy & Reporting

• Provide the President with regular reporting on pipeline, awards, grants, financial discipline, and compliance for quarterly Board updates.
• Contribute to annual planning and the FY2028 recommendation on whether to scale, continue, redesign, or discontinue the dedicated BD function.

Decision Rights

• Approves: routine portfolio workflow, consultant deliverables, grant and award administration within approved policy and budget; procurement within delegated authority.
• Recommends: opportunity qualification, proposal pursuit, partner structures, go/no-go decisions.
• Escalates to President: material financial exposure, contractual commitments, final submissions, award acceptance, and high-level donor negotiations.

Qualifications

Required

• 8+ years of international development experience with a demonstrated record in business development, proposal leadership, and award management.
• Proven track record winning competitive bids from bilateral or multilateral donors, applicants are encouraged to indicate proposals led and awards won.
• Direct experience leading technical and cost design, managing full award lifecycle (start-up through closeout), and negotiating with donors and partners.
• Strong proposal writing, stakeholder management, and cross-functional leadership skills.
• Bachelor's degree in international development, finance, economics, public policy, or related field.

Preferred

• Experience in financial inclusion, credit unions, cooperatives, or community finance.
• Familiarity with consortium, subaward, and co-implementation structures.
• Spanish or Portuguese proficiency.
• Master's degree or equivalent advanced qualification.

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