Description

Location: London or Edinburgh, UK - Flexible working environement
Position Status: Full-time, Permanent
Salary: Starting salary for this role at GBP 44,320  -  commensurate to professional experience 

Valid unrestricted work authorization in the country in which you will be based (United Kingdom) is required at the time of application for this position.  

Closing date: Please submit application by April 10th   

About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is powered by the belief that a better world is possible. To do this, we know our teams do their best work when they are diverse and every team member feels that they belong. We welcome diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be stronger and have long term impact.

Mercy Corps in Europe (MCinE) has grown rapidly both in terms of the volume of activity and its complexity. The breadth and impact of our programmes makes Mercy Corps a unique and truly rewarding place to work. Our teams are proud of what we achieve in the field and we are always looking for talented individuals who share our passion and commitment.  

Position Summary 

The Contracts Pricing Advisor (CPA) position will play a key role in supporting the strategic commercial development efforts in response to contract funding opportunities from European institutional, Foundation and Corporate donors. Partnering with country programmes and other functions, this role will develop high quality commercial proposals, cost analysis and value for money analysis.  This will include involvement in pre-positioning efforts, leading and/or supporting the commercial bid development process as well as offering pricing support and guidance to teams during the implementation of contracts. They will ensure overall quality and commercial viability of cost proposals and bid submissions, while strengthening the capacity of regional and in-country teams to create cost-effective proposals and budgets. They will also be key in contributing to the development of tools, guidance and institutional knowledge on commercial contract bid development and the financial management processes of such bids. The role will include conducting financial due diligence on these opportunities (and potential partners), and assessing commercial viability and risk on a case-by-case basis.  

As we begin an intentional expansion of our contract work – to include new donors across Europe – this is an exciting time to join the Contracts Team and be a meaningful part of developing our contract portfolio and expertise.   

Essential Job Responsibilities 

Strategic Bid Development 

○        Bid Pre-positioning 

■        Tracking and Approvals: Participate in bid tracking and Go/No-Go decisions / contract approvals, particularly areas including cash flow analysis, risk and competitiveness. 

■        Engagement: Where appropriate, attend information-sharing meetings on potential opportunities e.g. FCDO Early Market Engagement Events. 

■        Develop draft budgets / pricing: Work with relevant HQ teams and in-country teams to develop draft budgets and commercial offerings, incorporating past experiences and lessons learned from previous bids 

■        Due Diligence: Participate in any Due Diligence of Lead Contractors or Subcontractors, to protect the organisation from any finance-related risks of association 

○        Cost & Pricing Development 

■        ITT analysis: Participate in analysis of Invitation to Tender packs, with a focus on finance-related requirements and commercial-related evaluation criteria. 

■        Bid development workshops: Where appropriate, participate in and support bid development workshops, or consortia meetings – either face-to-face or through conference calls. 

■        Cost & pricing development: Lead and manage the coordination of pricing models, cost proposals, detailed budgets and commercial tenders, including providing support on the development of internal cost budgets. 

■        Lead on the calculation of daily fee rates and the translation of the internal cost budget into donor templates & formats. 

■        Act as a focal point for relevant HQ, regional and country teams for the budgeting and large-scale commercial proposal processes, ensuring all bids are both competitive and commercially viable. 

■        Manage relationships: Create and distribute information packs for partners / subcontractors with supporting financial information and ensure documents meet Donor expectations 

■        Commercial narrative: Contribute and lead on the development of the narrative sections of the Commercial Tender, including financial plans, financial methodologies, value for money etc. 

Contract Mobilisation, Implementation and Management 

○        Contract Implementation: Support ongoing budget realignments (when required), both internally with HQ, regional and country teams and externally with donor positioning 

○        Financial monitoring: Support relevant HQ and in-country teams in the delivery of Contracts, focusing on accurate financial reporting and monitoring the financial position, against internal cost budget, to ensure the commercial success of a given Contract. 

○        Analysis: Where appropriate, provide insightful analysis, develop KPIs and guide reporting requirements, in order to drive operational performance. 

○        Feedback & Lessons Learned: Ensure that any financial / commercial lessons learned from implementation programmes are considered and factored in to future bids 

○        In country & Field visits: Where necessary, undertake field visits to train, support and monitor implementation teams, particularly during the mobilisation phase. 

 Development of policies, procedures and tools  

○        Policies maintenance: Maintain and where necessary feed into the development of policies related to the organisation’s contracts growth strategy– e.g. contracts and cost allocation; contracts and FX rates and application and utilisation of organisational margin 

○        Tool development: Develop and refine relevant tools to enable the organisation to make informed decisions about pursuing contracts and to successfully implement them – including cash flow projections and risk assessments 

○        Donor specific budget templates: creation of donor specific pricing templates to assist with the mapping of internal costs to fee rate budgets, pricing & rate cards 

○        Training and orientation: Contribute to the development of training and orientation sessions on relevant areas of contract pricing & budgeting and deliver them to appropriate audiences – including HQ and in-country teams – to ensure adoption of best-practice. 

○        Internal Engagement: represent the European Contracts Team and participate in relevant internal working groups focused on financial and commercial topics. 

●        External Engagement 

○        Negotiations: Contribute to negotiations with both potential and selected partners, as well as with donors, leading on the commercial finance aspects including, but not limited to: payment by results, fee rates, budget allocations etc. 

○        Partner support: Where partners are unfamiliar with contracts and contract pricing, provide orientation, support and guidance on budget creation, invoicing processes & requirements (where needed); reporting; budget templates and due diligence topics. 

○        Sector groups: Engage in sector platforms to contribute to relevant advocacy points and share information with peer organisations, e.g. through BOND Funding Group/Contracts Working Group. 

Reports Directly To: Senior Contracts Finance Manager  

Works Directly With: a variety of other team members and departments including global support  functions such as Programmes, Compliance, New Initiatives & Finance as well as Mercy Corps’ counterparts based in our country offices. 

Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders  

Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our program participants, community partners, other stakeholders, and to international standards guiding international relief and development work. We are committed to actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.  

Minimum Qualification & Transferable Skills 

●        5-7 years' experience in a commercial, financial or proposal development role in a wide variety of sectors, donors and geographic locations – with a proven track record of developing competitive pricing for donor funded programmes 

●        Extremely strong commercial acumen and understanding of developing contract pricing, including the calculation of fee rates, as well as financial modelling of profit and loss analysis, cash flow forecasting, planning, budgeting and management reporting. 

●        Demonstrable experience of tendering for and/or implementing  contract funded programming (as opposed to grant funded) with a focus on FCDO, European Union and other European institutional donors, desirable but not essential 

●        Strong negotiation skills and experience developing and negotiating multiple-partnership agreements during proposal development, with a key focus on financial and commercial areas  

●        Solid understanding of contractual and financial management principles and systems applicable to various contracts and subcontract types, including but not limited cost reimbursement, time-and materials, fixed price, frameworks, and performance / milestone-based.  

●        Very strong communication skills, both verbal and written business English. Ability to communicate clearly and effectively with multiple stakeholders (both internal and external)  

●        Proven ability to work productively with a wide variety of stakeholders to meet tight deadlines with an emphasis on producing quality products.  

●        Proficiency with MS Office software required (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint) - with an advanced proficiency in Excel preferred. 

●        Experience of computerised accounting packages is required. 

●        Qualified Accountant is desirable but not essential  

●        Experience in the humanitarian or development aid sector is desirable.  

●        Native level spoken and written English. An additional European language especially French, German, Dutch, Swedish (proficient or fluent) is desirable, but in no way essential. 

Success Factors 

The successful candidate will demonstrate clear empathy with organisations aims and values. They will be highly analytical and have attention to detail. They will be able to build effective and lasting relationships with colleagues and partners and will be able to motivate others while leading with energy. They will have excellent organisational, planning and time management skills, are a self starter and able to work both independently and as part of a team. They will be able to prioritise in a fast changing environment while working well under pressure. They have willingness and ability to travel internationally as required. 

●        Demonstrates a clear empathy with the organisation’s aims and values. 

●        Highly analytical with attention to detail. 

●        Able to build effective and lasting relationships with colleagues and external partners. Able to motivate others and lead with energy. 

●        Excellent organisational, planning and time management skills. 

●        A self-starter – able to work both independently and as part of a team. 

●        Able to prioritise in a fast-changing environment and to work well under pressure. 

●        Willingness and ability to travel internationally as required. 

Living/Environmental Conditions 

The position is based in the UK and may require occasional travel to areas with limited access to medical facilities and amenities. Mercy Corps’ team members represent the agency both during and outside work hours when deployed in a field posting. Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and MC's policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues 

Ongoing Learning 

In support of our belief that learning organisations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities we serve, we empower all team members to dedicate 5% of their time to learning activities that further their personal and/or professional growth and development. 

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion 

Achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and work together. Through our commitment to enriching our organisation with people of different origins, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of thinking, we are better able to leverage the collective power of our teams and solve the world’s most complex challenges. We strive for a culture of trust and respect, where everyone contributes their perspectives and authentic selves, reaches their potential as individuals and teams, and collaborates to do the best work of their lives. We recognize that diversity and inclusion is a journey, and we are committed to learning, listening and evolving to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive than we are today. 

Equal Employment Opportunity 

Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer that does not tolerate discrimination on any basis. We actively seek out diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be collectively stronger and have sustained global impact. We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all. We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work. 

Safeguarding & Ethics  

Mercy Corps is committed to ensuring that all individuals we come into contact with through our work, whether team members, community members, program participants or others, are treated with respect and dignity. We are committed to the core principles regarding prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse laid out by the UN Secretary General and IASC and have signed on to the Interagency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of our team members. As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive work environment, team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner, respect local laws and customs, and to adhere to Mercy Corps Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct elearning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.