Associate Manager, Pre-award needed at eHealth Systems Africa

Purpose of the position 

• The Associate Manager, Pre-award is responsible for leading the budgeting process for new business opportunities and renewals, ensuring that donor budgets are compliant with both organizational and donor-specific guidelines.
• This role will also oversee pre-award activities such as review of RFP, development of budgets, development of teaming agreement and compliance reviews for due diligence.
• Approximately 60% of the role will focus on proposal costing and budget development, while the remaining 40% will involve managing pre-award processes that ensure smooth coordination between finance, programs, and grants teams.

What you’ll do 

• To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. Other duties may be assigned:
• Here’s the revised Associate Manager, Pre-award job description, with 60% focus on proposal development and 40% on other pre-award activities:

Proposal Development and Budgeting (60%)
Lead Proposal Budgeting Process:

• Manage the full proposal budgeting process using organizational or donor-specific templates for both new proposals and renewals.
• Collaborate with the programs team to capture project activities, estimate personnel level-of-effort, and ensure costs align with project needs.
• Prepare budget briefings for senior management review, ensuring clarity and alignment with organizational goals.

Budget Documentation and Review:

• Maintain well-documented records supporting all pricing used in proposals for audit and review purposes.
• Work closely with programs and other cross-functional teams to develop and edit cohesive cost proposal inputs, ensuring a balanced presentation of narrative, numeric, and graphic information.
• Review and analyze financial data to provide recommendations for improving cost proposals and ensure alignment with grant terms.

Cost Proposal Development:

• Participate in drafting budget narratives that clearly explain how project activities and personnel costs contribute to the overall project scope.
• Oversee the sourcing and verification of pricing information and unit costs to ensure budget accuracy.
• Support timely and compliant submission of cost proposals that meet donor specifications and deadlines.

Broader Pre-award Management (40%)
RFP/RFA Management:

• Prepare and maintain RFP/RFA review checklists and ensure they are complete and accurate before project design meetings.
• Collaborate with the New Business Development (NBD) team and Subject-Matter Experts (SMEs) to review and verify financial and compliance aspects during the proposal pre-work process.

Partnership and Agreement Management:

• Conduct vetting and debarment checks for potential funding partners in line with organizational policies.
• Prepare and review teaming agreements, Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs), Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs), Letters of Agreement (LOAs), and Letters of Intent (LOIs), ensuring they meet internal and donor standards before submission for approval.

Contractual Compliance:

• Extract key contractual requirements from award documents, updating relevant project management systems (e.g., Asana) with key deadlines, conditions, and responsibilities.
• Review final contract and grant terms, along with budgets, to ensure compliance with both donor and internal requirements before submitting them for execution.

Internal Coordination and Reviews:

• Collaborate with the Finance, Programs, and grants teams to ensure seamless coordination across departments during the pre-award phase.
• Conduct reviews of budgets and contractual terms to guarantee adherence to donor expectations and legal requirements.

Who you are
The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill and/or ability required to successfully perform this job:

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Business Administration, Accounting, or a related field; a Master’s degree is preferred.
• At least 5 years of experience in proposal budgeting, costing, and pre-award processes within a non-profit or international development context.
• Strong numerical and analytical skills with a proven ability to manage and develop competitive, accurate budgets.
• Experience working with donor guidelines (e.g., BMGF, USAID, EU, DFID) and preparing compliant budgets.
• Excellent project management skills, with the ability to manage multiple deadlines and proposals simultaneously.
• Strong collaboration and communication skills, with the ability to work cross-departmentally.
• Proficiency in financial software (e.g., Excel, ERP systems) and project management tools (e.g., Asana).
• Action-oriented and resilient in a fast-paced environment
• Familiarity with the types of development and humanitarian programs eHA conducts.
• Strong work ethic, customer service orientation and willingness to roll-up sleeves when necessary; strive for continuous improvement.
• Willingness to travel to countries where eHA operates.

Certifications and Licenses:

• ACCA, CFA, ACA, Certified Public Accountant (CPA) or equivalent is desired.