Required Profile

Level of education and experience

• Master's degree, equivalent degree, or equivalent experience in international development, international relations, social sciences, public policy, business administration.
• Minimum 5 years of work experience in business development with INGOs, consulting firms, or donor-funded programs.
• Proven record of leading the development and submission of high-value funding proposals to institutional donors.
• Experience coordinating large teams and supervising junior staff.
• Significant working experience within development and/or humanitarian sector including experience abroad, close to the point of impact of programmes.
• Experience in managing relations with institutional donors; experience with UN, INTPA and ECHO is a plus.
• Experience in designing gender-transformative programmes is a strong plus.

Knowledge and expertise

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English and French; Spanish or Dutch is an asset.
• Strong coordination, planning, and organisational skills; able to manage complex tasks and multiple deadlines.
• Advanced analytical and critical thinking skills; able to present complex information in a clear, accessible way.
• Excellent negotiation and representation skills; able to work effectively in multicultural and multidisciplinary environments.
• Proficiency with donor platforms (e.g., APPEL, PROSPECT).
• Good knowledge of compliance requirements of major institutional donors (e.g., DGD, DG INTPA, DG ECHO, UN) related to business development.
• Significant knowledge of at least one of the key sectors of Plan International Belgium: child protection, gender-based violence against girls, youth leadership, inclusive quality education or youth employment and entrepreneurship.
• Demonstrated ability to produce clear, concise reports, concept notes and other documentation.

Personal profile and skills

• Strong commitment to gender equality, children’s rights, diversity, and safeguarding.
• Results-oriented and proactive.
• Builds positive working relationships across teams.
• Collaborative and respectful when working with colleagues from diverse backgrounds.
• Effective intercultural communication skills.
• Adaptable to shifting contexts and priorities.
• Strong digital proficiency for remote work and online collaboration.
• Capacity to work autonomously and maintain high attention to detail.
• Acts in line with Plan International Belgium’s values.
• Willingness to travel for specific assignments in partner Plan International country offices.

The candidate must either already have a Belgian national number and/or a long-term work permit, or be able to obtain one within a month. This function is carried out from Belgium.

Plan International Belgium recruits a

Senior Business Development Specialist

About Plan International Belgium

For over 40 years, Plan International Belgium has been working to create a better world for all children, with a special focus on girls' rights. This begins with guaranteeing equal opportunities so that every girl can be free. 

Every girl has the right to an education and must be given the opportunity to fulfil her potential. Girls are still too often disadvantaged and discriminated against, sometimes even threatened and abused. 

Plan International Belgium is part of an ambitious international federation with projects in almost 80 countries. We generate impact through projects with and for children and young people, policy influencing and awareness raising. 

To translate Plan International Belgium's bold ambitions even more strongly into a better future for girls, we are looking for an experienced Senior Business Development Specialist with a strong background in gender-transformative programming (child protection, youth leadership, youth empowerment, education), in humanitarian and development contexts, to support the growth of its grants portfolio and to strengthen our Strategy & Innovation Department.

Objective of the function

The Senior Business Development Specialist contributes to the growth of Plan International Belgium’s grant portfolio by leading the development and submission of high-quality funding proposals. The position works closely with partner Country Offices and internal teams, and supports our Strategy & Innovation Department by identifying funding opportunities, coordinating multidisciplinary teams, and managing donor and partner relationships. The programme portfolio includes international programmes, both in development and humanitarian contexts, as well as domestic programmes implemented in Belgium. This  role focuses on gender-transformative programming in child protection, youth leadership, youth empowerment, and education, in both humanitarian and development contexts.

Key responsibilities

Business Development Management

• Identify, assess and advise on institutional funding opportunities aligned with Plan International Belgium’s Strategy (leading go / no-go sessions, advise on the best way to respond to bids).
• Lead the end-to-end process of developing and submitting funding proposals with internal teams, Domestic Programmes teams, Country Offices and partners:
  • Coordinate and assign specific proposal development tasks in close collaboration with relevant colleagues;
  • Facilitate project design sessions in coordination with relevant colleagues;
  • Take the lead of specific proposal development tasks, such as developing work plans, drafting the narrative, consolidating and editing written contributions, developing technical annexes, and other tasks as required.
• Lead quality assurance across all business development outputs, including:
  • Proposal review for technical accuracy, compliance, and formatting;
  • Alignment to the donor guidelines and compliance requirements ;
  • Alignment to Plan International Belgium standards;
  • Documenting lessons learned from submitted or unsuccessful proposals.
• Contribute to updates of the resource mobilisation strategy of Plan International Belgium.
• Contribute to the long-term reflection on innovative fundraising to mobilise new fundraising products that links private and institutional fundraising.
• Analyse donor trends and growth opportunities for the organisation.

Institutional Partnership management

• Contribute to building or maintaining relationships with Plan International Belgium key donors: DGD, DGD Humanitaire, Enabel, DG INTPA and DG ECHO.
• Support the donors’ engagement efforts of Priority Country Offices, for locally-based donors and field-based focal points (e.g. EU Delegations, Embassies).
• Support the influencing efforts towards a more systematic integration of gender in the agenda of institutional donors.
• Contribute to the development of partnerships with NGOs, academia, think-tanks for Domestic Programmes, and with private sector partners jointly with the Corporate and Major Donors Unit.

Capacity building and knowledge management

• Strengthening internal (including Domestic Programmes’ teams) and Country Offices’ skills in designing and writing projects.
• Support to the Country Offices’ and Domestic Programmes’ teams in strengthening donor relations at country level and in pre-positioning for upcoming funding opportunities.
• In collaboration with the Programme Finance Control Unit, contribute to providing technical guidance on donor rules and regulations to Country Offices’ and Domestic Programmes’ teams.
• Maintain internal business development systems (performance library, opportunities tracker, database of tools and templates).
• Supervise and mentor business development officers, interns, and consultants involved in the proposal development process as needed.

Networking and Coordination

• Build and maintain relationships within Plan International Federation (other National Organisations, Country Offices, Global Hub, Sectorial focal points), as well as with other international and national NGOs.
• Contribute to strategic analyses of Plan International Belgium’s positioning regarding key donors and partners’ Global Account Management.
• Represent Plan International Belgium in external meetings, networks, and relevant forums.
• Undertake additional duties as required, based on the evolving needs of the business and related work activities.

What do we offer you?

• A dynamic working environment within both a Belgian and an international context at a prominent international NGO.
• The opportunity to make a difference for girls and young women in our partner countries and in Belgium.
• Space for personal professional development, together with competent, passionate and committed colleagues.
• A competitive remuneration within the Belgian NGO sector with extra-legal benefits (group insurance, hospitalisation insurance, meal vouchers, free public transport between home and work, telework allowance, training budget).The monthly gross salary range for this position is categorized between € 3367 and 4140 €.

Plan International Belgium is located in the heart of Brussels, right next to the Brussels-Central railway station. We are partly working via telework.

Interested?

Then we would like to hear from you! Please send your CV and cover letter to job@planinternational.be with reference "Senior Business Development Specialist", before 30 August 2025.

As part of our Child Protection & Safeguarding policy, we ask each employee to provide a criminal record extract (Belgian ‘model 2’)

Equal opportunities are very important to Plan International! We therefore select you on the basis of your qualities and skills, regardless of your age, origin, gender, sexual identity, religion or other criteria unrelated to the position.