Dev-Afrique Development Advisors is an African-led, Africa-based advisory and implementation firm committed to solving complex development challenges across the continent. Through partnerships and networks across African countries, we provide high-level advisory services, develop practical strategies, and support local implementation for governments, development institutions, foundations, businesses, and implementing organisations.
Our work sits at the intersection of policy, technology, institutional strengthening, and implementation, with experience spanning agriculture, health, climate and conservation, water and sanitation, digital public infrastructure, geospatial systems, and impact assessment.
About the Position
We are looking for someone curious about how Agriculture, Health, and WASH priorities are evolving across Africa; confident enough to build relationships before opportunities are published; and disciplined enough to move a promising lead from early intelligence to a well-managed pursuit.
Working closely with the Director, Business Development & Strategic Partnerships and Dev-Afrique’s technical teams, the Assistant Manager will build sector intelligence, identify and qualify opportunities, cultivate partners, coordinate capture activities, and contribute to compelling bids. The role is designed for a professional who wants to build recognised sector depth and grow into broader business development and partnerships leadership.
What Success Will Look Like
Within the first 6 months, success will mean that Dev-Afrique has:
- A stronger and more credible pipeline of qualified opportunities across Agriculture, Health, and WASH.
- Better visibility of donor priorities, country programmes, procurement forecasts, and sector trends.
- Deeper working relationships with potential clients, consortium partners, technical institutions, and consultants.
- Well-managed pursuits with clear owners, actions, timelines, partner strategies, and win themes.
- Current, high-quality sector capability materials, project references, consultant profiles, and market intelligence briefs.
Key Responsibilities
1. Opportunity Scouting & Pipeline Development
- Proactively monitor Requests for Proposals, Requests for Quotations, Expressions of Interest, framework opportunities, grants, procurement forecasts, and other relevant opportunities.
- Build and maintain a live pipeline across Agriculture, Health, and WASH, with clear next steps, owners, partners, timelines, and an honest assessment of the likelihood of progression.
- Assess opportunities against Dev-Afrique’s capabilities, strategic priorities, eligibility, competitive position, and delivery capacity, and prepare clear recommendations for bid/no-bid decisions.
- Identify follow-on and adjacent opportunities arising from existing projects, client relationships, technical work, and sector conversations.
- Keep assigned opportunity records accurate and current, prepare concise pipeline updates, and follow up so agreed pursuit actions do not stall.
2. Sector Intelligence & Market Positioning
- Become Dev-Afrique’s internal point of reference for business development intelligence across Agriculture, Health, and WASH.
- Monitor donor strategies, country programmes, policy developments, funding announcements, procurement platforms, and emerging themes relevant to the three sectors.
- Map clients, programmes, decision-makers, competitors, implementing partners, consulting firms, research institutions, technology providers, and other market actors.
- Prepare short, decision-useful intelligence briefs that explain what has changed, why it matters to Dev-Afrique, and what action the firm should consider.
- Work with technical colleagues to identify where Dev-Afrique has a credible value proposition and where additional expertise, evidence, or partnerships are required.
3. Strategic Partnerships & Relationship Management
- Build and maintain working relationships with development agencies, government institutions, foundations, implementing organisations, consulting firms, technical institutions, and private-sector actors.
- Help potential partners understand Dev-Afrique’s capabilities, country knowledge, technical strengths, and value as an African advisory and implementation partner.
- Identify organisations that can complement Dev-Afrique’s technical reach, geographic presence, past performance, or eligibility for specific opportunities.
- Support partnership discussions, due diligence, capability exchanges, partner assessments, and documentation of agreed pursuit roles.
- Represent Dev-Afrique at relevant sector events, webinars, roundtables, networking forums, and partner meetings, with clear and timely follow-up.
- Maintain an active network of sector consultants, subject-matter experts, and potential key personnel beyond individual bids.
4. Capture, Proposal & Bid Development
- Coordinate or support end-to-end development of expressions of interest, proposals, concept notes, framework applications, and partnership submissions within the assigned sectors.
- Bring clear client, competitor, evaluation, and partner intelligence into pursuit planning and proposal development.
- Support the development of win themes, value propositions, partner strategies, staffing approaches, methodologies, and technical narratives.
- Coordinate timelines, inputs, compliance requirements, reviews, partner documents, consultant information, budget inputs, internal approvals, and submission logistics.
- Draft and refine assigned proposal sections, capability statements, cover letters, project references, and past performance documentation.
- Ensure submissions are responsive, compliant, persuasive, accurate, and professionally presented.
5. Internal Collaboration & Business Development Discipline
- Work closely with technical experts, project teams, leadership, operations, finance, and external consultants to keep priority pursuits coordinated.
- Model strong business development discipline through reliable follow-up, accurate documentation, advance planning, and early escalation of risks.
- Help colleagues recognise opportunities arising from technical delivery, client feedback, sector events, and professional networks.
- Contribute to post-submission reviews and ensure that lessons improve future pursuits and reusable business development assets.
- Maintain orderly sector folders, trackers, databases, partner records, and reusable materials so that knowledge is easy to retrieve and apply.
Required Qualifications, Experience & Skills
- Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture, Public Health, Development Studies, Economics, International Development, Environmental Health, Business, Public Policy, or another relevant discipline. A relevant postgraduate qualification is an advantage but is not essential.
- 5 to 6 years of relevant professional experience in business development, partnerships, programme development, consulting, donor-funded projects, market development, or a related field.
- Practical exposure to at least two of the three focus areas, with the interest and ability to develop credible market knowledge across Agriculture, Health, and WASH.
- Demonstrated experience identifying opportunities and contributing meaningfully to proposals, partnerships, client engagement, or programme development.
- Experience supporting consortium formation, partner engagement, consultant mobilisation, or multi-organisation proposals.
- Strong research, analytical, proposal writing, presentation, coordination, and stakeholder communication skills.
- Good understanding of the African development donor landscape and familiarity with consulting assignments, technical assistance, grants, or implementation programmes.
- Ability to manage several opportunities and deadlines without losing accuracy, momentum, or follow-through.
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications and comfort with pipeline trackers, procurement platforms, CRM systems, and collaborative workspaces.
- Ability to work effectively in multicultural and multidisciplinary teams.
What Will Make You Stand Out
- Evidence that you have personally identified or helped shape an opportunity rather than only joining after proposal development began.
- Existing relationships with organisations working in Agriculture, Health, or WASH in Africa.
- Practical experience engaging consortium partners and coordinating partner or consultant documentation.
- Ability to explain why an opportunity is attractive, what it would take to win, and when Dev-Afrique should choose not to pursue it.
- Familiarity with strategic consulting or advisory firm business models.
- An entrepreneurial mindset and the confidence to manage ambiguity in a fast-moving, mission-driven environment.
Our Offering
Dev-Afrique offers more than a job. We provide meaningful work, exposure to development institutions and projects across Africa, and a supportive environment that values initiative, creativity, sound judgement, and collaboration. This role offers direct learning through close work with the Director, technical leads, consultants, and the wider leadership team, together with the opportunity to develop genuine sector depth and progressively take ownership of a defined business development portfolio. Competitive fixed compensation and highly attractive performance-linked incentives tied to business origination and closure.
