Senior Associate / Assistant Manager – Business Development

Position: Senior Associate / Assistant Manager – Business Development Function: Central Business Development (CBD) Location: India / Remote Position Type: Full Time Start Date: 1st September 2026 (earlier preferred) About Athena Infonomics Athena Infonomics is an impact solutions group that applies social science research, data analytics, and technology to advance global development. Athena works with governments, multilaterals, bilateral agencies, foundations, nonprofits, impact investors, and private-sector partners across areas such as governance, technology, analytics, public health, education, WASH, climate, economic development, and digital public infrastructure. Role Overview Athena Infonomics is seeking a Senior Associate / Assistant Manager – Business Development to join its Central Business Development (CBD) team . The role will primarily support lead business development for Athena’s AI, API/DPI, technology, data, and digital transformation practice areas, while also contributing to broader BD analytics, opportunity intelligence, market research, and proposal development support. The selected candidate will work under the CBD team leadership and in close coordination with the concerned technical practices to identify relevant opportunities, conduct donor and market intelligence, support proposal development, strengthen partner and competitor mapping, and help translate Athena’s technology and AI-related capabilities into strong BD and proposal positioning. This role is suited for someone who is structured, analytical, proactive, and comfortable working across business development, technology-enabled development, research, and data-driven decision-making. The candidate should be able to manage multiple workstreams, work with senior stakeholders, and use digital and GenAI tools responsibly to improve BD efficiency and quality. Key Responsibilities Lead Business Development Support for AI, API, Technology and Digital Practice Areas Support lead business development efforts for Athena’s AI, API, data, technology, digital transformation, ICT, digital public infrastructure, and data governance-related opportunities. Track and assess opportunities from multilaterals, bilaterals, foundations, government agencies, DFIs, research institutions, and private-sector clients relevant to AI and technology-enabled development. Conduct early-stage opportunity assessment, including client fit, technical alignment, eligibility, competitive landscape, likely partners, positioning strategy, and bid/no-bid inputs. Support the development of opportunity briefs, donor/client notes, partner mapping documents, and competitive intelligence summaries. Help build and maintain a focused pipeline for AI, API, digital governance, data systems, ICT, digital transformation, and technology-enabled development opportunities. Work closely with technical teams to understand Athena’s capabilities and translate them into BD-ready positioning notes, capability statements, concept notes, and proposal inputs. Support outreach preparation, including background research on clients, donors, competitors, partners, and relevant decision-makers. Identify emerging market themes and funding trends in AI for development, digital public infrastructure, GovTech, data governance, responsible AI, digital transformation, digital economy, and technology-enabled service delivery. Proposal Development Lifecycle Support Serve as a Central BD point of contact for assigned Athena practices, with a strong focus on technology, AI, data, analytics, and digital transformation-related workstreams. Support the end-to-end proposal development lifecycle, with a focus on coordination, documentation, compliance, formatting, research inputs, proposal packaging, and submission readiness. Work closely with technical practices, finance, HR, operations, leadership, and external partners to coordinate proposal inputs and timelines. Track proposal requirements, deadlines, eligibility criteria, evaluation criteria, submission formats, annexures, and compliance checklists. Support the preparation of expressions of interest, concept notes, capability statements, technical proposals, organizational profiles, CV matrices, past performance references, partner documentation, and submission annexures. Provide proposal research and content support for opportunities in AI, data governance, ICT, digital public infrastructure, API ecosystems, and other technology-enabled development areas. Support proposal positioning by identifying relevant Athena experience, comparable assignments, team credentials, partner strengths, and client priorities. Facilitate information flow between practices and the Central BD team to ensure timely decision-making and coordinated pursuit of opportunities. Maintain quality and consistency across proposal documents, ensuring alignment with donor/client requirements and Athena’s strategic positioning. Help practices translate technical strengths, project experience, emerging ideas, and reusable knowledge into BD-ready materials. Support post-submission documentation, proposal archiving, learning notes, and internal debriefs. Maintain updated repositories of practice credentials, sector experience, project references, CVs, case studies, capability statements, and reusable proposal content. Business Development Analytics Be part of the BD Analytics function and support daily, weekly, and monthly analytics requirements. Maintain and update BD dashboards, trackers, pipeline databases, opportunity logs, CRM entries, and reporting templates. Support analysis of opportunity pipelines, proposal conversion rates, donor/client trends, sector priorities, win-loss patterns, proposal timelines, and practice-level BD performance. Prepare periodic reports and summaries for leadership, practice teams, and internal BD reviews. Ensure accuracy, consistency, and timeliness of BD data across internal systems and reporting formats. Identify insights from BD data that can inform prioritization, resource allocation, pipeline planning, and strategic decision-making. Support analytics around AI, technology, and digital opportunities, including donor trends, opportunity volume, win/loss patterns, and competitive positioning. Market, Donor, Partner and Competitor Intelligence Conduct structured market research on donors, clients, funders, competitors, primes, consortium partners, and emerging opportunity areas. Track procurement trends across multilaterals, bilaterals, foundations, government agencies, development finance institutions, and technology-focused development programmes. Prepare market intelligence notes on AI, digital transformation, data governance, GovTech, API ecosystems, digital public infrastructure, and responsible AI. Support partner mapping for specific bids and broader strategic positioning, including identifying potential primes, subs, technology partners, research partners, and local implementation partners. Track competitor activity, awarded contracts, framework participation, relevant past performance, and positioning in Athena’s priority markets. Contribute to internal intelligence trackers and summaries that support bid/no-bid decisions, capture planning, and strategic outreach. GenAI-Enabled BD Process Improvement Use GenAI tools responsibly to support proposal research, summarization, content structuring, compliance review, market research, knowledge management, and first-draft development. Help identify use cases where GenAI can improve efficiency and quality in BD workflows. Support the development of reusable prompts, templates, checklists, opportunity assessment formats, and guidance notes for BD and proposal teams. Apply good judgment in reviewing GenAI-supported outputs for accuracy, confidentiality, originality, relevance, and alignment with Athena’s quality standards. Stay curious about new AI-enabled productivity tools and assess how they can support BD analytics, market intelligence, propos