Business Development Manager

Position Title: Business Development Manager

Location: Remote - United States, Kenya, United Kingdom

Reports to: Business Development Director

Type of Role: Full-Time, Fixed-Term (12 months)

About Village Capital

Village Capital is a US domiciled 501(c)(3) that delivers entrepreneur support programs and manages blended pools of investment capital. Known for its innovative approaches to supporting founders building solutions to social, economic, and environmental challenges, Village Capital unlocks social and financial capital for early-stage companies to maximize business and impact growth.

Since 2009, Village Capital has supported over 2,000 startups that have raised over $9 billion in follow-on investment capital.

Role Overview

At Village Capital, business development means raising grant funding and catalytic investment capital, not traditional sales or nonprofit fundraising. This function requires fluency in how philanthropic, blended and impact capital work and engaging with funders and investors that deploy them.

The Business Development Manager is a critical execution role sitting at the intersection of international development fundraising, blended finance and impact investing. This is not a generalist BD role and not a traditional nonprofit fundraising role. It requires direct familiarity with funders, capital providers and funding mechanisms operating in this space.

This role independently owns the end-to-end execution of the BD function, managing the day-to-day pipeline from prospecting and opportunity qualification through proposal development, CRM management, collateral creation, and reporting. This role serves as an operational backbone for the team, enabling the BD Director to focus on strategic partnerships, high-complexity opportunities, and relationship management.

Candidate Profile

You are someone who:

• Is comfortable engaging, not just with traditional institutional funders, but with private philanthropy, family offices, and impact investors
• Understands the funding landscape in the intersection of grant funding, blended finance and impact investing, and can speak confidently to funders operating across philanthropy and impact investments
• Has a track record of significant grant and investment wins
• Is detail oriented, and views prospecting as both an art and a science, going the extra mile to identify the right prospects
• Manages day-to-day responsibility with little oversight
• Is as comfortable maintaining a CRM as writing a narrative funder or board facing report
• Can build program budgets as well as funder-facing versions
• Thrives in complexity—managing different funders, types of capital, proposal formats, and balancing competing priorities without losing attention to detail
• Operates with precision, organization, and a strong sense of accountability across multiple concurrent workstreams
• Collaborates effectively across regional program and investment teams, supporting their business development efforts without needing constant guidance

Responsibilities

Lead Generation, Prospecting, and Outreach

Own prospecting as a primary, dedicated function by independently researching and identifying funding prospects across private philanthropy, family offices, foundations, corporations, bilateral and multilateral organizations, and high-net-worth individuals active in blended finance, impact investing and international development. Build, maintain, and continuously grow a structured pipeline aligned with Village Capital’s priorities.

• Develop targeted prospect lists and briefs for conferences, campaigns, events, and priority funding windows
• Execute sequenced outreach (cold emails, follow-ups, meeting requests, and preparation) to advance pipeline opportunities
• Identify non-obvious, high-fit funders and escalate qualified leads for relationship advancement

Proposal and Concept Note Development

Own the full drafting cycle for proposals and concept notes—from initial RFP/CfP screening through final submission—independently and with minimal oversight. Manage submission logistics end-to-end, including procurement registrations and deadline tracking.

• Independently draft concept notes and proposals across grant funding and impact investing contexts, including non-traditional formats as the funder environment evolves
• Support complex proposals by owning sections and coordinating cross-functional inputs
• Drive proposal processes to ensure high-quality, on-time submissions
• Maintain and improve reusable proposal content and templates to increase speed and quality

Collateral Development and Communications Support

Develop and maintain funder-facing materials (one-pagers, decks, briefing materials, and reusable templates) to ensure high-quality, ready-to-use content. This role is expected to produce these materials independently without relying on the Communications team for every deliverable.

• Prepare briefing materials and background research ahead of funder calls
• Produce pipeline summaries and funding digests to provide leadership visibility into BD activity, including draft board reporting

CRM Management and Pipeline Administration

Maintain the CRM as the system of record for all BD activity at Village Capital, ensuring all prospect records, interaction logs, and pipeline stages are accurate and current. CRM ownership means maintaining data hygiene and pipeline visibility, not a system build or technical development.

• Log all outreach efforts in real time and actively follow-up with colleagues to ensure their BD interactions are captured in the CRM consistently
• Generate pipeline reports and activity summaries for leadership
• Flag stale records, data gaps, and pipeline anomalies to maintain visibility and data reliability

Business Development Reporting and Team Support

Function as the operational backbone of the Business Development function, enabling the Director to focus on strategic prospecting, funder relationships, and complex proposals.

• Liaise with cross-functional teams to coordinate proposal inputs, support funding renewals and keep submissions on track
• Contribute execution-level insight and pipeline visibility in team meetings and internal discussions

Qualifications

• Proven experience in proposal development, grant writing, and lead generation, or business development at the intersection of blended finance, impact investing and private philanthropy.
• Direct exposure to blended finance, impact investors, family offices, and systems change funders is preferred. Experience with bilateral/multilateral funders is not sufficient for this role.
• Demonstrated ability to independently draft, edit, and submit high-quality proposals, concept notes, or similar submissions in response to RFPs and Calls for Proposals without significant oversight
• Strong research skills, with the ability to identify non-obvious funding prospects
• Experience building and managing prospect pipelines, outreach lists, and structured databases
• CRM proficiency, with discipline for real-time data entry, regular updates, and record accuracy; experience as a power user or super user of CRM preferred
• Ability to generate clear pipeline reports and activity summaries for leadership, as well as draft board reporting
• Strong document management, version control, and deadline management across multiple concurrent workstreams
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in international development, communications, business, public policy, or a related field

Compensation & Benefits

• Kenya: Base salary of Ksh4,500,000 - 5,500,000, commensurate with skills and experience, in addition to a monthly health allowance.
• United Kingdom: Base salary of £50,000 - £60,000, commensurate with skills and experience, in addition to a monthly health allowance.
• United States: Base salary of $70,000 - $85,000, commensurate with skills and experience. Additionally, we offer a health benefits package including medical, dental, vision, and life insurance, as well as a 401(k) with up to a 3% match.

For all employees, we offer a fully remote work environment, flexible PTO, and stipends to support your growth and well-being — including annual professional development and wellness allowances, a remote work stipend, and monthly reimbursement for cell phone and internet.

How to Apply

Please submit your resume and a one-page pitch (max. 500 words, PDF). This replaces a cover letter. Answer all three parts, using the headings below. Applications without the pitch, or with a standard cover letter instead, will not be reviewed.

1. Your win (approx. 150 words). Describe one grant, investment or partnership you helped secure. Name the funder or funder type, the capital type (grant, catalytic/first-loss, debt, equity, blended) and the approximate amount. Then be precise about what you did: what did you write, own or lead, and what did others do?

2. Your pitch for Village Capital (approx. 250 words). Choose one real private foundation, family office, impact investor, corporate or high-net-worth-backed vehicle you believe should fund Village Capital. Write the opening pitch you would send them. Tell us why this funder, why now, and what you would ask for.

3. Why you (approx. 100 words). In a few sentences, tell us why you are the best person for this role.

We are looking for how you think, how you write, and whether you understand the world we operate in.

Equal Opportunity Statement

Village Capital is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive and equitable environment for all employees. We encourage applications from candidates of all backgrounds, identities, and experiences.