[Hiring] Director of Special Projects @Raising The Village Career Page

Role Description

Raising The Village is creating a Special Projects team to drive catalytic growth opportunities that match our ambitions for scale. This team will be responsible for identifying large-scale funding opportunities and co-creating enterprise bets with funders in growth areas highly aligned to RTV's expansion plans.

Ideal candidates will have excellent go-to-market instincts and track record, demonstrating sustained follow through and engagement with catalytic philanthropy. Directors have ideally managed multiple multi-million dollar opportunities and engaged regularly with donors with 8+ figure capacity. Senior Managers will have either directly led complex sales with 7+ figure donors OR played critical roles in supporting larger efforts, with guidance from more senior team members.

We are looking for 1-2 team members to seed this team. We are open to hiring at multiple levels, depending on candidate experience and track record.

Special projects candidates must:

• Have excellent data fluency and analytical skills, paired with clear and concise verbal and written communications.
• Be experienced in leading highly cross-functional and complex projects with significant iteration (with donors and internal teams).
• Work with extremely high velocity while maintaining detail orientation and quality.

Key Responsibilities

• Opportunity sourcing and strategic definition:
  • Proactively surface, evaluate, and shape a pipeline of high-upside “big bet” opportunities, informed by organizational priorities, leadership direction, and relevant external trends.
  • Turn early, ambiguous ideas into actionable strategies—articulating a clear theory of change, measurable success metrics, required resources, and explicit stage gates for go/no-go decisions.
  • Use pragmatic analysis (simple models, sizing exercises, decision frameworks) to support prioritization and clarify tradeoffs.
• End-to-end leadership of big bets:
  • Serve as the single accountable owner for one priority opportunity at a time, moving it forward quickly over weeks to months and building a repeatable approach that improves the portfolio's success rate over time.
  • Orchestrate cross-functional work across Product, Programs, Research, Finance, and other teams to unlock step-change revenue and impact opportunities.
  • Distill complex information into clear internal alignment and persuasive external messaging.
• Partner and funder engagement:
  • Support – and when appropriate, lead – high-stakes engagement with major philanthropies, foundations, and strategic partners.
  • Cultivate new relationships with prospective funders and key influencers, starting from initial outreach through to active partnership.
  • Create tailored engagement strategies, pitch materials, and meeting plans designed for specific funders and partnership contexts.
  • Partner closely with senior leadership to prepare for critical conversations, negotiations, and decision points.

Qualifications

• 7+ years complex sales and/or fundraising roles.
• Track record of managing complex and cross-functional projects, end-to-end.
• Experience engaging directly with donors as relationship managers, project managers, or subject-matter experts.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with strong attention to detail.
• Commitment to excellence in execution and follow through.
• Highly organized, with the ability to manage multiple deadlines and relationships effectively.
• Collaborative, thoughtful, and aligned with RTV's mission and values.
• Must be able to travel 3-4 times per year to one of our countries of operation for team retreats, donor field visits, or other events.

Benefits

• Group RRSP matching program, up to 5%.
• Medical, dental, vision, and travel insurance.
• 4 weeks of vacation.