[Hiring] Chief Development Officer @The LaunchCode Foundation

Role Description

LaunchCode is looking for a Chief Development Officer to lead fundraising for Hire Human, our new national AI upskilling and job placement initiative. You will own fundraising strategy, major giving, and grant relationships end to end — helping us scale from serving thousands each year to tens of thousands. Strategic fundraising and earned revenue make our free, open-to-all programs possible.

Essential Duties/Responsibilities:

• Design and execute a multi-year national fundraising strategy for the Hire Human initiative, aligned to LaunchCode's national growth goals.
• Lead major giving — build, manage, and close a personal portfolio of major donor and institutional relationships.
• Own grant strategy and execution end to end: prospecting, proposal development, submission, award management, and reporting.
• Manage and develop a small team for donor relations and grant support.
• Build the relationships and pipeline needed to scale Hire Human from a regional to a national program.
• Serve as the primary external face of LaunchCode for institutional funders and strategic partners, including travel as needed.
• Collaborate with the executive and finance teams to integrate fundraising into overall organizational growth, revenue goals, and forecasting.

Qualifications

• Demonstrated track record of personally closing six- and seven-figure gifts or grants.
• Experience building or scaling a development function, ideally in a lean or startup-like environment.
• Deep network of existing funder, foundation, and major donor relationships.
• Comfort operating with significant autonomy and limited layers of support.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including grant writing and donor-facing presentation.
• Passion for AI, continued learning and workforce development.

Requirements

• 9+ years of nonprofit development experience in progressively responsible leadership positions with at least 5 years in a senior leadership role, including direct responsibility for major gifts and grants.

Preferred Experience

• Experience fundraising for workforce development, education, or tech-sector nonprofits.
• Familiarity with national foundation and federal/state workforce funding landscapes (e.g., DOL/ETA).
• Experience managing a small team through a period of rapid growth.
• Experience with Asana, AI tooling and HubSpot or similar CRM/fundraising tools.
• Maintain an active CFRE certification.

Physical Requirements/Travel Requirements

• Occasional travel (5 -10%) to various LaunchCode events as needed.
• Prolonged periods of sedentary work in an office environment, necessitating extended periods of sitting at a desk and working on a computer.
• Candidates should possess visual acuity for focusing on computer screens and documents, as well as manual dexterity for operating standard office equipment.
• Occasional lifting of light to moderate objects up to 15 pounds.

Benefits

• 12 paid holidays and accrue 25 days of Paid Time Off per year.
• 100% employer-funded medical, dental, and vision insurance premiums for employees and 75% employer-funded premiums for dependents.
• 401k contribution match up to 6% after 6 months, immediate vesting.
• 12 weeks of fully paid parental leave after 1 year.

Company Description

LaunchCode is a nonprofit cultivating and adding new talent to technology ecosystems across the nation through free, accessible technical education, job readiness training, and innovative talent solutions for companies of all sizes. At LaunchCode, we know that while talent is evenly distributed, opportunity is not. Our innovative model removes barriers and opens doors to aspiring technologists from all walks of life. We value passion, drive, and aptitude over credentials and believe it is imperative that companies should, too.