Resource Acquisition and Management Specialist

About the Role

World Vision has spent 75 years working to help children facing the greatest hardship move beyond poverty and live fuller lives. Guided by Christian faith, the organization serves children from all backgrounds, including those in the world’s most challenging settings. This opportunity sits within a global team of more than 31,000 staff across nearly 100 countries.

World Vision International Ethiopia is working in a funding environment that is increasingly competitive and constrained. The Resource Acquisition and Management (RAM) function is expected to operate with sharper focus, tighter coordination, and greater discipline in donor positioning, proposal development, active grant management, and institutional learning.

The Resource Acquisition and Management Specialist supports resource mobilization and grant portfolio oversight across development, humanitarian, and fragile-context programming. The role leads assigned donor, Support Office, sector, or portfolio relationships and helps ensure that World Vision International Ethiopia develops high-quality, practical, and competitive funding opportunities that match the FY26-30 strategy, the Integrated Programming Framework, donor requirements, and operational realities.

This position also strengthens grant management by working closely with Operations, Technical Teams, MEAL, Finance, Supply Chain, Support Offices, and partners. The specialist must keep records clear, follow through on actions, support compliance, and capture learning that improves future proposals, donor engagement, and portfolio results. Strong proposal writing, donor engagement, coordination, documentation, and follow-up are essential, along with the ability to help shape integrated programme design that creates measurable impact for children and communities.

Key Responsibilities

• Take the lead or provide support in engaging donors and Support Offices for assigned portfolios, sectors, and opportunities.
• Keep donor intelligence, funding pipelines, partner maps, and opportunity trackers current and usable.
• Advance donor positioning through intelligence gathering, briefing notes, entry-point identification, and coordinated follow-up.
• Lead or contribute to Go/No-Go decisions by documenting strategic fit, feasibility, cost recovery, risk, compliance, and partner factors.
• Coordinate concept notes, proposals, expressions of interest, and grant applications from start to finish.
• Ensure proposal design matches the FY26-30 strategy, the Integrated Programming Framework, donor expectations, and operational capacity.
• Work with Technical Teams, Operations, MEAL, Finance, Supply Chain, Security, Communications, and partners to keep proposals realistic, integrated, and fully costed.
• Manage timelines, workback plans, section assignments, review cycles, and readiness for final submission.
• Include strong evidence, field input, value for money, safeguarding, GEDSI, localization, climate resilience, conflict sensitivity, and sustainability where applicable.
• Coordinate budget development and make sure budget narratives align with Finance and technical inputs.
• Upload proposals or support portal submissions and ensure there is a proper record of what was submitted.
• Capture lessons from proposal development, donor comments, and process improvements for future use.
• Provide RAM oversight for active grants assigned to the portfolio, working with Grant Operations Managers, Operations, Finance, MEAL, Technical Teams, Support Offices, and donors.
• Act as the RAM contact point for assigned grants from award negotiation through startup, implementation tracking, reporting, amendments, and closure.
• Support award negotiations by reviewing donor requirements, budget revisions, compliance issues, and internal approvals.
• Help ensure strong startup by communicating and documenting donor requirements, deliverables, timelines, budget controls, and reporting expectations.
• Monitor grant health, reporting deadlines, contractual deliverables, donor requirements, and major risks for the assigned portfolio.
• Work with Grant Operations Managers on implementation follow-up, burn rate, report quality, donor issues, and compliance risks.
• Review donor reports for quality, consistency, donor alignment, and clarity of results presentation.
• Support contract management processes, including amendments, extensions, budget realignments, no-cost extensions, and donor approvals.
• Maintain donor communication logs and archive key decisions properly.
• Help prepare for donor meetings, monitoring visits, audits, evaluations, and portfolio reviews.
• Ensure grant files are complete, accessible, and aligned with RAM tracking systems.
• Escalate major grant risks promptly through the agreed RAM and Operations channels.
• Keep complete, up-to-date records for all assigned opportunities and grants in trackers and shared folders.
• File final proposals, budgets, Go/No-Go records, donor submissions, agreements, amendments, reports, and closure documents correctly.
• Maintain current acquisition and grant management trackers for the assigned portfolio.
• Support Global Horizon Tracking and other World Vision grant management systems as needed.
• Document donor preferences, proposal lessons, implementation learning, audit findings, and closeout lessons.
• Support after-action reviews, proposal debriefs, and learning sessions for major opportunities and strategic grants.
• Prepare donor briefs, portfolio summaries, pipeline updates, and handover notes when required.
• Prevent critical institutional knowledge from being lost in personal email, desktop folders, or informal conversations.
• Work with Technical Teams so programme priorities are translated into fundable concepts and donor-facing products.
• Coordinate with Operations to make sure designs and active grants are practical and informed by field realities.
• Work with MEAL to embed evidence, indicators, learning, accountability, and reporting into designs and grant management.
• Partner with Finance to strengthen budget quality, cost recovery, financial reporting, and compliance.
• Engage Supply Chain, Security, P&C, Communications, and other support teams for relevant proposal and grant inputs.
• Contribute to regular RAM portfolio reviews and cross-functional discussions on grant performance.
• Promote clear role boundaries between RAM, Operations, Technical Teams, MEAL, Finance, and Support Offices.
• Support partner identification, mapping, due diligence, and engagement for assigned opportunities.
• Ensure local partner roles are considered early during proposal design when relevant.
• Assist with partner capacity discussions related to proposal development, compliance, reporting, and grant management.
• Record partner engagement history, strengths, risks, and future opportunities.
• Encourage localization approaches that are practical, compliant, and aligned with donor expectations.
• Support capacity building for staff and partners on proposal development, donor compliance, grant management, and documentation.
• Share tools, templates, lessons, and examples that improve acquisition and grant management quality.
• Help orient new staff or colleagues who take over donor, Support Office, or portfolio responsibilities.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in International Development, Humanitarian Studies, Project Management, Social Sciences, or a related discipline.
• Master’s degree in a relevant field is preferred.
• Training or certification in humanitarian standards, grant acquisition, and grant management is preferred.
• Experience supporting the capacity building of local partners is preferred.
• At least 5 years of progressively responsible experience in grant acquisition and management, ideally within an INGO setting and covering both development and humanitarian programming.
• A demonstrated history of securing and managing major grants from bilateral, multilateral, and/or private donors.
• Good working knowledge of donor regulations such as USG, EU, UN agencies, FCDO, UNOCHA, and similar funding bodies.
• Background in designing and managing programmes that apply HDP Triple Nexus principles.
• Strong skills in proposal writing and budget development.
• Well-developed interpersonal, negotiation, and donor relationship abilities.
• Comfort using MS Office, online donor portals, and project management tools.
• Strong command of written and spoken English.
• Ability to work in Amharic and English.
• World Vision is a child-focused organization with zero tolerance for violence or abuse against children or adults, including sexual exploitation or abuse. Suitable background checks are required, and the organization will not hire anyone whose background is not appropriate for work with children or vulnerable adults, even if the role does not involve direct contact.
• World Vision Ethiopia does not request any money for job applications. Applicants are advised to be cautious of any advertisement or process asking for payment or personal information upfront.
• Only local applicants may apply.

Additional Information

This is a full-time, onsite role based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The organization emphasizes transparency and fairness in recruitment and warns applicants against fraudulent job ads or requests for payment.

No stipend or salary details were provided in the source.

Competencies

• Protects self and others by acting safely and responsibly
• Builds strong working relationships
• Learns continuously and develops professionally
• Works effectively with partners and collaborators
• Focuses on delivery and results
• Demonstrates accountability
• Improves processes and encourages innovation
• Adapts well to change