Global Director – Business Development

Women for Women International

Global Director of Business Development leading Women for Women International’s institutional fundraising strategy. Responsible for securing funding and building partnerships across regions and technical areas.

Posted 6/24/2026full-time🇬🇧 United KingdomLeadWebsite

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Shape and lead WfWI’s global institutional funding strategy, ensuring it reflects organisational priorities and regional realities.
Represent WfWI externally, building and nurturing relationships and identifying partnership opportunities that enhance competitiveness and visibility in fundraising.
Manage the global pipeline, working with regional teams to track opportunities and ensure timely, coordinated submissions.
Lead and mentor a global team of business development professionals, fostering a culture of collaboration, learning, and excellence.
Lead annual planning and revenue forecasting for the Business Development Unit, contribute to organisational leadership forums, and report regularly to WfWI’s International Board, UK Trustees, German Supervisory Board, and US Board of Advisors.
Oversee donor intelligence systems and CRM processes, ensuring accurate pipeline tracking and forecasting, while maintaining budget compliance and ethical fundraising principles.

Requirements

What you’ll need

Located in Germany, Iraq, Nigeria, UK or US with the existing right to work. (A)
Proven track record of successfully achieving multi-million USD awards, increasing annual income by at least USD 5M a year in new business. (A)
At least 10 years of experience in institutional fundraising, with a strong record of securing government, foundation, and multilateral grants in Africa, Europe, UK and the USA. (A)
Extensive experience managing donor relationships across geographies. (A)
Strong experience in developing complex, multi-country and multi-year proposals, with excellent writing, budgeting, and compliance skills for restricted funding. (A)
Demonstrated leadership of teams and cross-cultural management capabilities. Passionate about working in partnership internally to achieve results through knowledge-sharing at both the country, regional and global level. (A)
High levels of self-awareness and strong conflict management skills.
Strong analytical, planning, and CRM (Salesforce preferred) proficiency.
Commitment to WfWI’s mission and values, with familiarity with global gender, development, or humanitarian sectors.
In addition to fluent written and spoken English, competency in a second language spoken in a region where we work (French, Arabic, Dari, German, Swahili etc.)

Benefits

Comp & perks

We offer a competitive, location-adjusted salary package based on local market conditions and experience.
Other benefits apply depending on location.
Equal Opportunity Employer.

ATS Keywords

✓ Tailor your resume

Applicant Tracking System Keywords

Tip: use these terms in your resume and cover letter to boost ATS matches.

Hard Skills & Tools

institutional fundraisinggrant writingbudgetingcomplianceproposal developmentpipeline trackingrevenue forecastingdonor relationship managementmulti-country proposalsmulti-year proposals

Soft Skills

leadershipcross-cultural managementcollaborationanalytical skillsplanningconflict managementself-awarenessknowledge-sharingmentoringcommunication