EU Key Account Manager

EU Partnership and Key Account Manager

Oxford Policy Management have a vision for fair public policy that benefits both people and the planet. Our purpose is to improve lives through sustainable policy change. We work in partnership with leaders providing analytical and practical policy expertise through our global network to support low- and middle-income societies. We are looking for an experienced business development professional to act as our Key Account Manager for the EU.

If you have a track record of co-ordinating teams to deliver winning EU bids, and are looking to step up to a management role, this opportunity is for you!

You will be familiar with identifying experts and negotiating with them to form winning teams; designing commercial strategies and writing bid sections. You know how to ensure that our bids are compliant with EU requirements.

You will oversee and shape our relationship with the EU and lead on developing a corporate strategy for OPM in the EU market. You will develop and maintain a pipeline of opportunities that match our strategic objectives.

You have a thorough understanding of EU client requirements and keep abreast with changes in EU funding instruments, development cooperation policies and strategies, as well as procurement processes, feeding these back to ensure we offers solutions that answer EU needs. You will shape and implement our EU strategy to increase OPM revenue from DG INTPA and, potentially, other relevant DGs.

The position is based in Germany, preferably Berlin, managed by OPM Europe’s Country Director, and works in close cooperation with technical Practice Leads as well as business development colleagues based the U.K, Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. You will manage a small business development team.

Your responsibilities will include improving or setting up existing bidding processes and infrastructures (i.e. consultant databases, reference databases, bid text management etc.)

Core Responsibilities:

·         Develop our corporate strategy towards the EU; monitor and identify EU project opportunities relevant to OPM’s core expertise.

·         Increase business intelligence and provide internal capacity building on EU requirements.

·         Engage strategically with EU Institutions, including regular attendance of meetings and events in Brussels, collecting inputs from various stakeholders and updating partner and customer engagement databases accordingly.

·         Track opportunities, develop and maintain a pipeline of work.

·         Provide guidance on project opportunities to global Practice teams.

·         Identify partners, support and lead consortium negotiations with partners.

·         Manage the writing, budgeting, expert identification, review and submission of bids.

·         Monitor acquisition costs, win rates and margins across opportunities.

·         Support contract signature and inception phases with the EU. Guide technical teams to ensure compliance.

·         Provide advice and support on client expectations, requirements and compliance throughout the project cycle and ensure all EU funded projects implemented by OPM are compliant with EU guidelines and regulations.

Qualifications & Requirements

·         Proven experience in driving business development and developing winning proposals for DG INTPA.

Technical skills:

·         As a minimum, an undergraduate degree, preferably a graduate degree or equivalent in a relevant field.

·         Previous experience working on EU related business development is essential. 

·         Fluency in English is required, additional fluency in French and/or German is preferred. 

·         Ability to develop budgets, factoring tax, diverse modalities of employment costs and other operational costs into the budget analysis.

·         Experience in project recruitment.

·         Familiarity with standard compliance processes (due diligence of partners and consultants, security guidelines, internal go/no-go points etc.).

·         Demonstrable understanding of and interest in international development and working in an international/multi-cultural environment.

Why join us?

Our work bridges the gap between evidence and practice. We produce high-quality, leading thinking that addresses the drivers of poverty and barriers to sustainable growth to help bring about change where it is needed most. Working at OPM allows each of us to play our part in that over-arching mission.

Above all of this, we are committed to helping all of our employees to develop personally and professionally. Build your career with us and you’ll benefit from training and learning opportunities, internal knowledge sharing, and a network of experienced colleagues. We encourage a healthy work-life balance, and our working environment is informed by an open, supportive culture. OPM also offers a generous holiday allowance and private pension scheme, as well as a highly competitive salary.

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