Senior Advisor, Proposal Pricing (P4)

Save the Children; Washington (District of Columbia); Hybrid; USD 96,000 - 133,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible schedules

Health care

Retirement plan

Learning & Growth

Hybrid work

Job summary

Save the Children is seeking a Senior Advisor, Proposal Pricing to lead cost proposals for large, strategic funding opportunities with USG and other institutional donors. You will coordinate with technical teams, country offices, and partners to develop budget narratives and annexes, while ensuring compliance and competitiveness.

The role emphasizes strategic pricing, process improvement, and mentoring staff within a dynamic, mission-driven nonprofit environment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience with at least 7 years in cost/price proposals.
• Advanced proficiency in budget development and Microsoft Excel.
• Familiarity with US government regulations, trends and practices.
• Experience with proposal development processes and partner negotiations.
• Strong written and spoken English; ability to convey pricing concepts clearly.

Responsibilities

• Lead cost proposal development for large, complex USG opportunities.
• Create cost and pricing strategies in collaboration with the proposal team.
• Coordinate with country offices, technical teams and partners to gather inputs.
• Mentor pricing staff and improve processes and templates.
• Ensure compliant, competitive cost proposals and timely submissions.

Skills

Analytical thinking

Attention to detail

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience

Tools

Microsoft Excel

MS Office suite

Job description

Save the Children

For over 100 years, Save the Children has been fighting for the rights of children. The right to a healthy start in life. To have access to education. To be in a safe environment, protected from harm. We work in some of the world's hardest-to-reach places - over 100 countries, including the U.S. No matter what your role is, when you join Save the Children, you're creating positive, irreversible change for children, and the future we all share.

The Role

As the Senior Advisor, Proposal Pricing, you'll be integral to our work in helping vulnerable children achieve a brighter future. You will provide leadership in Save the Children's efforts to achieve greater program results at scale through the successful pursuit of large and strategic funding opportunities from the US Government (USG) and other institutional donors. The Senior Advisor, Proposal Pricing provides leadership for the cost proposal development function of new business development, assisting the agency to secure large-scale, multi-million-dollar funding from institutional donors by supporting the largest and most complex opportunities. This position also serves as a subject matter expert for agency or departmental special projects, training content, and resource development and works closely with the Senior Director, Proposal Pricing to strategize on how to address pricing challenges.

Location

Hybrid - Washington DC office location

What You’ll Be Doing (Essential Duties)

Cost Proposal Development (65%)

Serve as Cost Lead, Cost Advisor, and/or reviewer as required. In particular, serve as cost lead on the largest and most complex opportunities from institutional donors, with minimal guidance and the ability to provide expertise while working with staff in Country Offices and technical teams. This position is expected to provide innovative solutions, problem solving, quality control to and/or directly support key elements of the proposal pricing process, including but not limited to:

• Serve as a member of proposal teams;
• Review and analyze solicitation documents, advising the team on requirements and raising points of clarification to the donor/client as needed;
• Create cost and pricing strategy in collaboration with proposal team leadership;
• Engage closely with Proposal Manager to set cost deliverable timelines and communicate closely on progress from capture through submission;
• Work with the Save the Children proposal team, including technical staff and country office staff, to collect budget inputs and develop a high quality, compliant, and competitive cost proposal, including a full detailed budget and budget narrative and all required Annexes and supporting documentation;
• Develop complex Microsoft Excel-based budgets, budget narratives, partner instructions/guidance, and relevant cost Annexes;
• Manage partner budget development, including reviewing and providing feedback on detailed partner budgets and budget narratives and negotiating budget matters with consortium partners to produce a compliant cost proposal;
• Facilitate budget review processes and provide strategic guidance to the team on areas affecting our compliance or competitiveness;
• Produce cost proposal volume for donor submission.

Strategic Leadership and Representation (15%)

• May lead agency special projects and department initiatives as lead subject matter expert.
• Serve as a subject matter expert on USG cost applications, advising peers on donor expectations and industry best practices.
• Support the development, improvement, and rollout of new or improved processes and resources, institutional strengthening and capacity building, and knowledge management and learning.
• Leverage deep specialized expertise in proposal pricing process to coach existing Pricing staff to anticipate potential challenges and to solve complex problems using analytical thinking, tools and judgement to identify innovative solutions in coordination with line manager. Able to convey proposal pricing acumen in plain terms to support proposal pricing colleagues with a range of experiences and backgrounds.
• Maintain strong relationships with other SCUS divisions, SC Members, SCI leadership, and relevant external networks to share knowledge, collaborate effectively, influence senior leadership for sound and informed decisions, and stay abreast of industry standards and the USG regulatory environment.
• As appropriate, represent SCUS and participate as needed in meetings and workshops.

Knowledge Management and Learning (20%)

Create or update current tools and templates and identify the need for new tools, templates and guidance for cost proposal development for USG proposals and support capacity building efforts to build core business development competencies. This will include:

• Executing technical updates to resources;
• Supporting continuous improvement of the Proposal Pricing Team's tools and templates (identify need for revision/overhaul or creation of new solutions as business practices evolve);
• Troubleshooting and supporting end-user issues with use and application of tools and templates.
• Delivering trainings through a variety of modalities (in-person instructor-led trainings, virtual instructor-led trainings, mentoring and coaching, job aids, and on-the-job learning).

Required qualifications for the role

• Minimum of a bachelor's degree or equivalent experience, plus at least 7 years of relevant experience
• Experience in preparing cost/business proposals with different cost structures.
• Advanced proficiency in and knowledge of budget development in Microsoft Excel.
• Knowledge of pertinent US government regulations, trends and practices.
• Experience and familiarity with industry-standard proposal development and project design processes
• Experience working and negotiating with international and local consortium partners.
• Ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously with accuracy and attention to detail, and work under pressure with flexibility for competing/evolving priorities
• Must be comfortable working in a fast-paced and intense, deadline driven work environment.
• Up to 10% international travel required, sometimes with short notice.
• Professional proficiency in MS Office suite, including advanced Excel skills
• Professional proficiency in spoken and written English

Preferred qualifications for the role

• Experience with a non-profit organization or government contractor in the international development arena.
• Foreign language skills (particularly Spanish or French) preferred.
• Experience working with other institutional, multi-lateral, corporate and foundation donors.
• Experience delivering training and capacity building in cross-cultural environments.

Compensation

Save the Children is offering the following salary ranges for this position, dependent on candidate location:

• Geo 1 - NY Metro, DC, and other locations with labor costs significantly above national average: Target Salary for this position is $119,425 - $133,475 base salary
• Geo 2 - Locations around the US National Labor Cost Average: Target Salary for this position is $107,525 - $120,175 base salary
• Geo 3 - Locations significantly below the US National Labor Cost Average: Target Salary for this position is $96,050 - $107,350 base salary

The salary ranges listed above are for US based candidates. For candidates located outside of the US, salary ranges will be based on the salary scales of the local employer of record. Actual base salary may vary based on, but not limited to, relevant experience, base salary of internal peers, business sector, and geographic location (more information on job structure is available here).

About Us

We are looking to build an inclusive team at Save the Children. We offer a range of outstanding benefits to support this goal:

• Flexible schedules and time off: Flexible schedules, generous PTO, 11 paid holidays plus 2 floating holidays and hybrid working opportunities
• Health: Competitive health care, dental and vision coverage for you and your family
• Family: A variety of paid leaves: caregiver, parental/adoption, critical child illness and fertility benefits
• Employee Rewards Program: Annual merit increases and/or additional incentives for eligible employees
• Retirement: A retirement savings plan with employer contributions (after one year)
• Wellness: 15 safety and wellness days annually (if hired on or after July 1, safety and wellness days prorated to 8 days), mental health benefits and support through Calm and company-hosted events
• Employee Assistance Program: free and confidential assessments, short-term counseling, referrals, and follow-up services
• Learning & Growth: Access to internal and external learning & development opportunities and mentorships

Save the Children is committed to conducting its programs and operations in a manner that is safe for the children it serves and helping protect the children with whom we are in contact. All Save the Children representatives are explicitly prohibited from engaging in any activity that may result in any kind of child abuse.

Save the Children is committed to minimizing safety and security risks for our valued employees, ensuring all are given training, support and information to reduce their risk exposure while maximizing the impact of our programs for children and families. Our shared duty, both agency and individual, is to seek and maintain safe working conditions for all.

If you require disability assistance with the application or recruitment process, please submit a request to [e-mail].

Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities

This employer is required to notify all applicants of their rights pursuant to federal employment laws.

For further information, please review the Know Your Rights notice from the Department of Labor.