Senior Cost and Pricing Manager

About TechnoServe:

At TechnoServe, we believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to build a better life. For over 50 years, we have given smallholder farmers and entrepreneurs the skills, connections, and confidence to lift themselves out of poverty. We leverage the power of markets and the private sector to create sustainable economic growth to benefit people and the planet. Our unique mix of business solutions, deep knowledge of local contexts, and data-driven insights is helping to fight poverty across Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

TechnoServe staff are local–95% are from the countries in which they work. We put a high premium on collaboration and entrepreneurship. We hold ourselves and each other to the highest standards of integrity and transparency. And we focus on delivering lasting impact for our mission.

Job Summary:

Reporting to the Director of Budget and Pricing, the Senior Manager of Cost and Pricing is responsible for ensuring TechnoServe develops cost-effective, competitive cost proposals that fully cover TechnoServe’s direct and indirect costs. The Senior Manager leads the cost proposal function of new business development, assisting the business development teams to secure large-scale, multi-million dollar grants and contracts. The Senior Manager of Cost and Pricing also reviews and approves smaller cost proposals and budget realignments developed by other TechnoServe personnel.

Primary Functions & Responsibilities:

•  Review and analyze donor solicitations to understand the terms and conditions and guide/advise Proposal Managers on unique or risky contract terms.
•  Partner with TechnoServe’s business development team, Regional Directors, and other senior staff to analyze new business opportunities in Strategic Resources Committee meetings to advise on risks for go/no-go.
•  Prepare clarification questions to donors/clients in response to solicitations.
•  Continuously update and enforce policies, procedures, templates, and tools to facilitate consistently high-quality, competitive, and financially advantageous cost proposal development throughout the organization.
•  Oversee the preparation and submission of all major cost proposals (taking personal ownership for key opportunities, as appropriate), including the budget, cost rationale, risk analysis of key donor terms and conditions, and post-submission clarification.
•  Lead and develop cost proposals across TechnoServe’s regional divisions and donors in coordination with the Operations and Program Development teams, ensuring alignment between the technical proposal and budget. Participate in program design discussions and advise on cost effective approaches to the technical design and management plan. Budget for full cost recovery while also making a strong business case to the funder for the value for money offered by TechnoServe.
•  Oversee budgets developed by external partners, reviewing subrecipient cost proposals and providing feedback and advisory to these partners to ensure their budgets align with the technical design and meet TechnoServe and donor standards.
•  Review and approve cost proposals developed by other cost and pricing staff or regional financial staff, providing guidance on best practices to ensure accuracy, completeness, and compliance.
•  Manage budget realignments with project management and finance staff during program implementation to ensure accuracy and continued alignment with funder regulations, agreement conditions, and TechnoServe standards.
•  Supervise and mentor a small team of cost & pricing managers.
•  Train cost and pricing staff as well as relevant Program Development, Operations, and Finance staff on cost proposal development.
•  Review draft award terms related to budget and financial reporting and flag items for clarification/negotiation before award signature, and manage the handover of the budget and financial reporting requirements to the project team.
•  Ensure the smooth transfer of knowledge to budget and award management teams upon notification of a successful proposal.
•  Maintain a library of cost data used for new cost proposals.
•  Other duties and tasks as assigned.

Basic Qualifications:

•  Bachelor’s degree, preferably in Business, Finance, Economics, or related field, with minimum of 10 years of experience, preferably in international development; or Masters degree with minimum of 7 years of experience.
•  Proven analytic and budgeting skills, including the ability to model the costs of different program designs.
•  Experience developing and managing large cost proposals for a wide variety of donors and clients, including US and other government agencies, foreign governments, multilateral organizations, foundations, and corporate donors, under a range of budget mechanisms (cost reimbursement, fixed price, fixed labor rate/T&M, CPFF, etc.)
•  Experience directly supervising other cost & pricing professionals or other finance/operations personnel
•  Advanced proficiency in Excel and Google Sheets.

Travel: Travel up to 5 %

Preferred Qualifications:

•  Experience developing solutions to maximize cost recovery with donors that limit indirect rates or other costs.
•  Experience and comfort working with globally-dispersed teams, including direct reports.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

•  Excellent interpersonal and communication skills and the ability to effectively collaborate with diverse groups of US and international colleagues and to provide mentorship to staff in both direct reporting and matrix management relationships.
•  Knowledge of USDA and other US government agency contracting and assistance regulations, in particular 2 CFR 200, 22 CFR 228, and the FAR, as well as regulations from other international development donors.
•  Strong organizational and problem-solving skills and attention to detail.
•  Ability to work independently and efficiently in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment.

Supervisory Responsibilities: Manages a small team of cost and pricing professionals

This position is based in the United States, and can be performed remotely from an approved US state. Candidates who are located within a commutable distance to our Arlington, VA Headquarters, will be expected to work from HQ on a hybrid schedule. The current hybrid schedule is two days per week in the office, and three days from home. Candidates must have US work authorization at the time of application. TechnoServe will not provide sponsorship for this position.

We encourage all qualified individuals who share TechnoServe's vision of improving the lives of others through proven business solutions to apply.

With our commitment to diversity, we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and affirmative action employer and do not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, color, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, HIV/AIDS status, protected veteran status, disability and all other protected classes.

We are also proud of our commitment to protecting staff, partners, and beneficiaries from abuse and exploitation and thoroughly vet all final candidates through rigorous background and reference checks.

If you have a disability that affects your ability to use our online system to apply for a position at TechnoServe please contact the Human Resources at recruitment@tns.org or call +1 202 785 4515.