The Business Development team is integral to meeting our firm’s ambitious goals and delivering impact. We change the world by helping our clients solve problems, we do this by finding great clients and winning projects. The BD intern is a key part of this time and your work will help us find, win, and deliver exceptional projects. This role keeps the Business Development function organized, provides research and analysis to drive decision making, and builds strong relationships and materials to position the firm for success.
You will love this work if you are excited about winning and want to see a firm like Karp Strategies increase its impact on the world. You should look forward to contributing at all levels in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment, are comfortable working in the unknown where you may need to learn as you go, and want to be hands-on in creating new opportunities to expand the firm’s portfolio of work. You should share our commitment to growing stronger communities and thriving economies, as well as our values toward diversity, equity, and inclusion.
This role will support our full funnel of business development activities and contribute to the firm’s strategic thinking. The intern will support data driven decision making through the management and development of our data, including the development of pipeline reports; manage agendas for key BD meetings that drive Go/No Go decision making; sourcing, researching relevant RFPs, RFQs, Proposals, and Leads, and providing analysis to support firm strategic decisions.
This role includes working with a wide range of diverse internal and external stakeholders to represent Karp Strategies’ unique capabilities and branding, supporting the development of our proposal materials, and communicating with a diverse range of audiences engaged in urban planning and economic development.The BD intern will report to Senior Associate, Business Development. This role will also work closely with the CEO, Leadership Team, Marketing Team, and Project facing staff.
We are looking for candidates who can work 20-25 hours per week, with the opportunity to extend hours based on your schedule and the firm’s needs. Priority is given to candidates who are able to spread those hours throughout the week (M-F) during normal business hours (9-5am ET) given the nature of the work to be completed.
Key Responsibilities
BD Support & Operations
- Serve as project management support to the Senior Associate, Business Development; participating across workstreams to ensure that project and task management is clear.
- Update internal business development systems, including our CRM, ensuring data across all business opportunities is up to date.
Market Research & Go-To-Market Strategies
- Drive content planning & policy initiatives to support the expansion of the firm’s impact and footprint. Develop business case(s) to present to CEO, Principals and other team members to generate buy-in for new initiatives or practice areas.
- Provide case studies and relevant market analysis, including deep-dives into key growth sectors for the firm, outlining opportunities, potential partners, and key information to support the firm's decision making and growth in critical sectors.
- Generate regular summary reports helping to identify new opportunities, analyze RFPs/RFQs, etc. to identify opportunities for the firm, evaluate competitive landscape and sectors to support continued growth.
Proposal Development
- Support internal and external BD meetings through: developing agendas, taking notes & minutes, identifying and managing key follow up items and communications with direction from the Proposal Manager. Join key meetings with external clients and proposal partners across the industry to help determine strategy and relationships.
- Support proposal strategy in partnership with Principals, Senior Associate, and other team members.
- Serve on proposal teams, helping to deliver excellent proposals through timely coordination of proposal schedule, strategy, and writing, including proactively project managing proposals to successful completion.
Relationship Management
- Develop a strong working knowledge of our capabilities to quickly identify and represent proposed work that would be a strong match for our unique skills and abilities.
- Working with the Leadership Team, manage key partnerships on an ongoing basis, setting strategies and plans for regular calls and updates.
- Ensure all external communications are entered into CRM and easily accessible to colleagues.
Benefits
Salary + Benefits
The salary range for this role is $25-33/hour based on previous relevant experience and skills. Placement of a candidate within this salary band will be based on the competencies crucial to success in the role of rated proficiency for each area.