Project Design Specialist II (Remote)

Catholic Relief Services is an international humanitarian and development organization serving communities in need worldwide. The Project Design Specialist II leads strategic project design and capture activities, advises teams on proposal development, facilitates participatory design sessions, and strengthens agency-wide design resources and capabilities.

Responsibilities:

• Serve in the Design Lead role for strategic opportunities, which includes leading capture activities, setting a plan with country and regional leadership to form strategic partnerships and engage key stakeholders, leading literature review, needs assessment and technical analysis exercises, facilitating strategy selection work, and contributing to proposal writing, MEAL design and budgeting to ensure the preparation of competitive and responsive proposals
• Advise and support teams in developing proposal development plans, ensuring design processes are responsive to donors and adhere to CRS and industry best practices in both capture and proposal phases
• Plan and facilitate in-person and hybrid design sessions and workshops that ensure participatory design and effective stakeholder engagement. Ensure design facilitation materials are accessible using KML best practices and aligned with appropriate adult learning approaches
• Support the roll-out of the revised flagship resource, ProPack,including socialization efforts, audience-specific introductory sessions, as well as collaboration with Global Programs leaders to tailor and deliver project design trainings (virtual or hybrid)
• Support the design “line of expertise” ensuring that ProPack and related agency tools and resources for design are routinely updated, and best practices are documented and disseminated agency wide. Support the formation of a CRS Design Community of Practice (CoP)
• Track and analyze project design trends in the broader international development industry, including donor-specific approaches. Contribute to CRS' wider Business Development Community of Practice and advance CRS Business Development practices through contributions to other initiatives and cross-agency committees/ working groups
• Working with BD focal points, support the design and development of Resource Mobilization strategies, ensuring effective alignment with region/agency strategies
• Build and maintain strong working relations with regions and with key internal global stakeholders to support regional and country teams to advance key positioning and capture initiatives, including identifying and implementing ways to better leverage results

Requirements:

• Exceptional knowledge of project design, including developing a design process, assessment plan, theory of change, results framework, and MEAL plan
• Familiarity with in or more key funding agencies (World Bank, EU, FCDO, USG, foundations and corporations)
• Exceptional writing skills with expert command of English grammar and AP style
• Strong strategic, analytical, systems thinking and problem-solving skills, with a capacity to both see the big picture and give attention to detail
• Strong communication, presentation and relationship management skills
• Proactive, resourceful, solutions-oriented, detail-oriented and results-oriented
• Team leadership abilities and coaching/mentoring skills
• Strong knowledge designing projects for a variety of bilateral and multilateral donors and across technical areas, particularly multi-sectoral projects
• Demonstrated ability to learn and write about a broad range of technical sectors
• Experience using MS Windows and MS Office packages, information management systems and artificial intelligence (AI) tools
• Fluency in oral and written English required
• Must be willing and able to travel internationally approximately 35%
• Bachelor's degree in international development or related field
• Minimum eight years of experience in international development, with at least three of those years in BD, programming, or technical positions, preferably with experience leading design for complex proposals
• Two years' experience working in multi-cultural and/or multilingual work contexts
• Knowledge of CRS programs, justice agenda and Catholic Social Teaching principles a plus
• Ability to write proposals in Spanish, French, or another common institutional donor language a plus
• Working ability in French, Arabic, or Spanish a plus
• The note that candidates who are based in countries where CRS has a legal presence are preferred
• Master's degree in international development or related field
• At least two years' experience working in a developing country
• Demonstrated experience producing deliverables under tight deadlines and of exceptional quality
• Experience providing remote support to diverse teams strongly preferred
• Experience in developing content for and facilitating training related to project design. Knowledge of adult learning approaches