Lead, Strategic Pursuits and Innovation Alliances

Company Description

Innovation Village Group is a multi-entity innovation platform. The Group combines an economic development agency, a venture platform, industrial and creative manufacturing infrastructure, and capital deployment vehicles.

Together the group works with governments, development finance institutions, multilateral agencies, foundations, and corporates to build the systems that allow enterprise and industry to scale.

Job Description

The Role

IVG's growth runs through institutions: sovereign agencies, development banks, UN bodies, foundations, and corporate partners. You will own the engine that converts that institutional landscape into signed mandates, funded programmes, and long-term alliances.

This is a capture and partnerships leadership role. You will run a live pipeline of procurement opportunities and capital prospects across multiple portals and counterparties, qualify and prioritise them against Group capability, lead bid and proposal production to submission, and cultivate the relationships that move opportunities from cold to committed. 

What You Will Own

• Pipeline. Build, maintain, and ruthlessly prioritise the Group pursuit pipeline across public procurement (national e-procurement portals, World Bank, AfDB, IsDB, UN agencies) and institutional capital (DFIs, foundations, bilateral programmes, sovereign windows).
• Capture. Lead capture planning for priority pursuits: counterpart mapping, win themes, teaming and consortium formation, pre-positioning, and pricing strategy in coordination with finance.
• Proposals and bids. Direct end-to-end production of bids, concept notes, expressions of interest, and investment memoranda. Ensure every submission is compliant, on time, and at executive standard.
• Alliances. Originate and manage strategic partnerships with multilaterals, DFIs, government agencies, corporates, and academic and innovation networks, with clear partnership theses and account plans for each priority counterpart.
• Intelligence. Run a structured scanning discipline across tender portals, funding calls, policy developments, and counterpart movements, and translate findings into decisions for Group leadership.
• Governance. Maintain the opportunity tracker as the single source of truth, run a regular pursuit review cadence with the CEO and entity leads, and report conversion, pipeline value, and win rate.

First Year Outcomes

• A qualified, scored pipeline covering all Group entities, reviewed on a fixed cadence, with clear go and no-go decisions documented.
• A measurable lift in submission volume and win rate on public and institutional tenders, with at least [CONFIRM] major mandates closed.
• Three to five anchor institutional alliances moved from introduction to active agreement or programme stage.
• A repeatable capture and proposal playbook adopted across the Group, reducing dependence on the CEO for routine pursuit production.

Qualifications

• Eight or more years in business development, capture management, partnerships, or institutional fundraising, with at least three in a leadership capacity.
• A demonstrable record of winning competitive tenders or securing institutional funding from bodies such as the World Bank, AfDB, IsDB, UN agencies, bilateral donors, DFIs, or major foundations.
• Fluent in the mechanics of public procurement and development finance: eligibility rules, evaluation criteria, consortium structures, and compliance requirements.
• An exceptional writer and document producer. You can take a complex institutional brief and return a tight, compliant, persuasive submission under deadline.
• Comfortable and credible in senior rooms: permanent secretaries, country directors, investment officers, and board members.
• Highly organised and systems-minded. You build trackers, cadences, and playbooks, and you keep them alive.
• Deep familiarity with the East African institutional landscape strongly preferred; experience across multiple African markets is an asset.

Additional Information

How We Work

IVG operates on a long time horizon and a systems thesis: fix the system, not just the entrepreneur. The work is demanding, the standard is executive, and the mandate is significant. You will have direct access to Group leadership, real ownership of a pipeline  and the opportunity to shape how a new type of African development institution engages the world.

What We Offer:

• Competitive Compensation: Attractive salary and performance-based bonuses.
• Comprehensive Benefits: Health insurance
• Professional Growth: Continuous learning and development opportunities.
• Work-Life Balance: Flexible work environment to support a healthy work-life balance.
• Impactful Work: Opportunity to work on transformative projects that shape the future of innovation in Africa.
• Inclusive Culture: A diverse and inclusive workplace where your ideas and contributions are valued.