Director, USG Portfolio

Position Title: Director, USG Portfolio

Location: VA Office, HQ Office, U.S. Hybrid, or U.S. Remote  

Department: Development  

Reports to: VP, Development

POSITION SUMMARY 

Position Overview: The Director, USG Portfolio provides strategic leadership for the organization’s U.S. Government (USG) growth portfolio. The Director is responsible for defining and executing portfolio-wide business development strategies, driving sustainable pipeline growth, and increasing competitive positioning across priority technical sectors and donor accounts.

This role serves as a senior leader within the Development team, partnering with Executive Leadership, Portfolio Directors, Technical Leaders, and external stakeholders to identify, qualify, and capture high-value funding opportunities. The Director oversees USG portfolio performance, advances strategic partnerships, guides capture and proposal investments, and ensures alignment between organizational priorities and growth objectives.

The Director is accountable for pipeline health, win rates, market positioning, and long-term revenue growth while fostering a collaborative growth culture across the organization.

Major Responsibilities

USG Portfolio Strategy and Leadership (30%)

• Develop and lead the organization's strategic growth agenda for U.S. Government-funded opportunities.
• Partner with Program Portfolio Directors to develop multi-year portfolio growth strategies aligned with organizational priorities, technical capabilities, and geographic expansion goals, based on USG market insights.
• Provide leadership and oversight of the USG opportunity pipeline, owning revenue targets and ensuring alignment with organizational investment priorities.
• Advise executive leadership on critical aspects of the USG portfolio: trends, federal procurement strategies, competitive positioning, and emerging opportunities.
• Lead go/no-go decision-making and investment prioritization processes for the USG portfolio.
• Direct portfolio forecasting, pipeline health assessments, and revenue planning activities.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to senior leadership regarding USG growth risks, opportunities, and market dynamics.
• Define growth metrics, dashboards, and reporting frameworks to improve organizational decision-making and accountability for the USG portfolio.

Opportunity Management & Competitive Positioning for USG Opportunities (40%)

• Provide executive oversight of strategic cultivation and positioning efforts for high-value and priority pursuits.
• Conduct market intelligence research including competitor analysis, funding trends, and client priorities.
• Qualify opportunities based on strategic fit, win probability, and resource requirements and prepare business justifications and resource plans for prioritized pursuits.
• Ensure early positioning for upcoming competitive solicitations through pre-RFP intelligence gathering.
• Lead pre-positioning strategies and cultivation activities to increase win probability and strengthen competitive differentiation.
• Guide pursuit planning, teaming strategies, resource allocation (in partnership with the Director of Development Operations), and competitive assessments for major USG opportunities.
• Ensure effective integration of technical, operational, financial, and partnership strategies throughout the opportunity lifecycle.
• Oversee proposal quality standards and development processes across the portfolio.
• Champion continuous improvement initiatives that increase proposal quality, efficiency, and competitiveness.
• Monitor and analyze competitor activities, procurement trends, and donor priorities to inform growth strategies.

 Partnership Engagement (10%)

• Serve as account owner for select, high-priority U.S. Government agency stakeholders and partners. Provide strategic relationship management support to Executive Leadership through capture and communication of business intelligence, agency priorities, and potential growth opportunities.Negotiate and manage complex partnership arrangements, consortium structures, and teaming agreements.

• Identify and cultivate strategic alliances that support portfolio growth and market expansion objectives.
• Partner with Program and Communications teams to develop impactful collateral for communicating offerings to USG funders and to support visibility and positioning efforts.
• Serve as a senior-level representative for business development initiatives at conferences, industry events, and engagement forums.
• Support succession planning, talent development, and workforce planning within the Development team.
• Champion cross-functional collaboration to align technical excellence, program implementation, and new business growth objectives.

Quality, Learning & Knowledge Management (20%)

• Ensure compliance with organizational policies, donor regulations, and development procedures.
• Monitor portfolio performance through key performance indicators, including pipeline value, capture effectiveness, win rates, and revenue growth.
• Lead lessons-learned reviews and institutional knowledge-sharing initiatives.
• Drive data integrity and effective utilization of Costpoint, Salesforce, and other development systems. Maintain pipeline tracking systems in Costpoint and Salesforce.
• Present portfolio performance updates and strategic recommendations to executive leadership.
• Lead and mentor professional growth of development personnel, proposal contributors.
• Provide strategic guidance to Program teams on growth planning and positioning activities.
• Support Development Operations to embed usage of digital platforms for development (e.g., Salesforce) to enhance cross-organization transparency and accountability for development KPIs.
• Partner with the Director of Development Operations to champion continuous improvement initiatives that increase proposal quality, efficiency, and competitiveness.
• Monitor and analyze competitor activities, procurement trends, and donor priorities to inform growth strategies.

POSITION QUALIFICATIONS

Education

Bachelor's degree required. Master's degree in International Development, Business Administration, Public Policy, International Relations, or related field strongly preferred.

Experience

• Minimum 12 years of progressively responsible experience in international development business development, growth strategy, and capture management.
• Demonstrated success leading large, complex USG pursuits and strategic growth initiatives.
• Proven record of securing major ($15M or greater) competitive awards from USAID/Department of State, USDA, and other U.S. Government agencies while functioning as a strategic account executive or in another new business lead role. Additional experience securing awards from multilateral donors, and other ODA funding sources (e.g., DFAT, FCDO) is preferred.
• Experience leading and working within cross-functional teams and influencing senior executives in matrixed organizations.
• Experience supporting business development teams to adapt approaches to proposal development and business intelligence collection and analysis to increase efficiency and win rates.
• Prior experience managing and developing business development teams preferred.

Position-Specific Skills and Competencies

• Deep and current expertise in federal acquisition and assistance mechanisms, donor procurement practices, and international development funding environments.
• Exceptional strategic planning, capture management, and portfolio leadership capabilities.
• Strong executive presence with the ability to influence senior stakeholders and external partners.

• Advanced relationship management and partnership development skills.
• Proven ability to make complex business decisions with incomplete information.
• Ability to translate market intelligence into actionable growth strategies.
• Demonstrated success balancing strategic vision with operational execution.
• Strong financial and business acumen; able to effectively harmonize technical approaches with cost realities.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite and Copilot required.
• Experience with Salesforce, Costpoint, and other development analytics tools.
• Exceptional written, presentation, negotiation, and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to effectively communicate with executive leadership, clients, donors, and partners.

Languages

Proficiency in English required. Additional languages preferred.

Required Travel

Up to 10% domestic and international travel for relationship management, strategic partnership development, industry representation, and organizational growth initiatives.

Physical Demands: Typical office environment with continual sitting or standing required.

Salary Range: The salary range for this position is $165,000–$175,000, commensurate with experience, skills, and internal equity. Winrock offers competitive pay and an excellent benefits package.

Must be authorized to work in the United States.

Winrock is an equal opportunity employer committed to providing equal employment opportunity for all people. All qualified applicants receive consideration for employment regardless of race, color, religion, sex, gender, national origin, age, disability or any other basis protected by law. 
At Winrock we have a clear mission: Empower the disadvantaged, increase economic opportunity and sustain natural resources through unwavering dedication to accountability, equity, innovation, integrity and transformation.