Head, Business Development Unit (BDU)

Job Title

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) invites applications for the internationally recruited position of Head, Business Development Unit (BDU).

About IITA

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) is a not-for-profit institution that generates agricultural innovations to meet Africa’s most pressing challenges of hunger, malnutrition, poverty, and natural resource degradation. Working with various partners across sub-Saharan Africa, we improve livelihoods, enhance food and nutrition security, increase employment, and preserve natural resource integrity. IITA is a member of CGIAR, a global agriculture research partnership for a food-secure future. Please visit http://www.iita.org/ for more information on IITA.

Position Overview

As IITA implements its 2024–2030 Strategic Plan, the Institute is establishing a Business Development Unit (BDU) — a new institutional function designed to professionalize and coordinate the full continuum from funding intelligence and proposal development to portfolio performance and donor compliance. This is a leadership role: the Head of BDU will build the unit from the ground up, integrating existing functions, establishing new systems, and positioning IITA as the partner of choice for the next generation of large-scale agricultural investment. Increasing competition for funding and evolving donor requirements require a coordinated and strategic approach to resource mobilization, proposal development, and project oversight. The Business Development Unit (BDU) aims at strengthening institutional competitiveness, funding success, and delivery performance.

The Head, Business Development Unit (BDU) reports to Deputy Director General Partnerships 4 Delivery and Research 4 Development. The position will provide strategic leadership and operational management of the Unit, ensuring that IITA maintains a strong funding pipeline, secures high-value partnerships, develops competitive proposals, and delivers projects efficiently and in compliance with donor requirements.

Position Responsibilities

Resource Mobilization and Partnerships

• Lead institutional resource mobilization efforts to secure diversified and sustainable funding.
• Develop and implement IITA’s institutional business development and resource mobilization strategies to access public and private sector funding.
• Build and maintain strategic relationships with bilateral and multilateral funders, foundations, development finance institutions, private-sector partners, and philanthropic organizations.
• Establish and lead funder intelligence and funding opportunity tracking.
• Advise senior leadership on partnerships, funding strategies, donor intelligence

Project Development and Proposal Management

• Develop value propositions and funder engagement materials.
• Lead negotiations and partnership discussions related to major funding opportunities.
• Oversee the development of high-quality concept notes, proposals, and business cases from identification to submission.
• Ensure high-quality and competitive proposals, their compliance, and alignment with donor requirements.
• Coordinate multidisciplinary teams and their contribution to proposal preparation
• Establish proposal review and quality assurance mechanisms.
• Support staff capacity building initiatives related to project development, donor compliance, and portfolio management.

Project Implementation and Portfolio Oversight

• Oversee institutional project portfolio performance and implementation quality.
• Ensure compliance with donor requirements.
• Monitor project performance, timelines, and budgets,
• Promote effective knowledge management and documentation of project achievements and lessons learned.
• Oversee reporting, documentation, audits and donor communications.
• Develop and maintain project performance dashboards and management information systems.
• Monitor proposal success rates and continuously improve proposal development.