[Hiring] Senior Director, Development @America's Promise Alliance

Role Description

The Senior Director of Development is a member of America’s Promise Alliance’s External Affairs team responsible for the end-to-end management and growth of a portfolio of national philanthropic funders and prospects. Reporting to the Vice President of External Affairs, the Senior Director ensures that priority funding relationships and opportunities move forward with strong preparation, clear next steps, high-quality materials, disciplined follow-through, and consistent stewardship.

This role is designed for an experienced institutional fundraising professional who has managed a large national portfolio and has a demonstrated track record of building funding pipelines around new or emerging ideas. As APA launches its new strategic plan and expands its Collective Action work, the Senior Director will help translate organizational priorities into fundable opportunities, identify and cultivate aligned prospects, and manage opportunities from early research and positioning through proposal development, funding, stewardship, reporting, and renewal.

This is not primarily a frontline fundraising role. APA’s CEO, Vice President of External Affairs, and other senior leaders will often serve as the primary relationship holders for national funders. The Senior Director serves as the internal development lead behind those relationships—bringing strong fundraising judgment, anticipating what is needed next, equipping senior leaders for funder conversations, and independently driving the execution required to move the portfolio forward.

Key Responsibilities

• Portfolio Management
  • Manage a portfolio of current and prospective institutional funders, ensuring each relationship has a clear strategy, next steps, timeline, and path toward cultivation, solicitation, stewardship, or renewal.
  • Conduct ongoing prospect research and qualification to identify new funding opportunities aligned with APA’s strategic priorities and emerging bodies of work.
  • Build and maintain strong funder pipelines, including identifying gaps, recommending new prospects, and helping expand APA’s base of philanthropic support.
  • Prepare high-quality meeting briefs and other materials that equip the CEO, Vice President of External Affairs, and other senior leaders for effective funder conversations.
  • Translate funder conversations and relationship activity into clear follow-up, next steps, and portfolio actions.
• High-Quality Fundraising Deliverables, Cultivation, and Stewardship
  • Lead the development of high-quality proposals, concept papers, reports, renewal requests, stewardship materials, and other funder-facing deliverables.
  • Translate APA’s strategy, programs, and emerging ideas into clear, compelling fundraising narratives and cases for support.
  • Coordinate across program, finance, research, communications, and other teams to gather the information and inputs needed to produce strong funder materials.
  • Support donor cultivation and stewardship by developing tailored materials, follow-up communications, updates, and other touchpoints that strengthen relationships over time.
  • Manage proposal and reporting processes from initial planning through submission, including timelines, internal review, budget coordination, and quality control.
  • Ensure funder commitments, reporting requirements, and stewardship expectations are met consistently and on time.
• Development Operations and Systems
  • Maintain accurate and current portfolio information in Salesforce and other development systems, including funder records, opportunities, activities, next steps, and relationship history.
  • Help strengthen and maintain development processes, tools, and workflows that support consistent portfolio management, moves management, and team execution.
  • Track deadlines, commitments, and future actions across assigned funders and prospects, ensuring nothing is lost between meetings or workstreams.
  • Support portfolio reviews by maintaining clear visibility into pipeline activity, prospect movement, renewals, and other key indicators.
  • Help identify opportunities to improve how the Development team works, including systems, documentation, handoffs, and cross-functional coordination.
  • Contribute to a culture of strong project management, accountability, and follow-through across the Development function.

Ideal Candidate

• Seasoned institutional fundraising professional who combines strong fundraising judgment with exceptional portfolio management, writing, and cross-functional execution.
• Comfortable operating behind senior relationship holders and can build funding markets around emerging ideas.
• Brings enough experience and judgment to manage a high-volume national portfolio with limited day-to-day direction.
• Understands how national philanthropy works and can distinguish activity from meaningful progress.
• Brings structure to a large and complex portfolio, prioritizes effectively, and manages toward goals.
• Can build a funder market around an emerging idea and develop a credible path from prospect to investment.
• Turns complex or incomplete information into clear, persuasive, accurate funder materials and executive briefs.
• Anticipates what senior leaders need and provides clear recommendations.
• Creates strong systems, meets deadlines, and follows through consistently.
• Builds productive relationships across teams and navigates competing priorities.
• Works effectively in a growing organization where priorities and opportunities evolve quickly.
• Deep belief in strengthening youth-serving organizations and advancing opportunity and mobility for young people.

Qualifications

• Eight or more years of experience in nonprofit development, institutional philanthropy, foundation relations, or a related field.
• Demonstrated track record of managing a substantial portfolio of national foundations, corporations, or other institutional funders.
• Experience building and growing funding portfolios around new programs, innovations, initiatives, pilots, or systems-change work.
• Experience conducting funder landscape research, qualifying prospects, and developing cultivation strategies.
• Exceptional writing and editing skills, with experience producing sophisticated proposals, concept papers, reports, briefs, and executive-level funder materials.
• Experience supporting a CEO, Vice President, or other senior leaders in managing complex internal execution.
• Experience leading cross-functional development work across program, finance, research/evaluation, communications, and other teams.
• Experience using Salesforce or another CRM and project management systems.
• Experience in organizations focused on K–12 education, youth development, postsecondary-to-workforce pathways, economic mobility, civic engagement, or adjacent fields preferred.

Salary, Benefits and Location

• Salary: The salary range for this role is $145,000-$165,000.
• Location and Schedule: This is a remote position. America’s Promise Alliance primarily operates on Eastern Time.
• Travel: Approximately 5% travel is expected for meetings, Partner City visits, organizational convenings, staff gatherings, and other events.
• Work Authorization and Classification: Candidates must be authorized to work in the United States. This is a full-time, exempt position.

Reports To

Vice President of External Affairs