Senior Director, Development
About The Position
The Senior Director of Development is a senior fundraising and leadership role responsible for driving and growing two of the Rainforest Alliance's most strategic revenue lines—philanthropic foundation funding and corporate partnerships—across the climate, agriculture, sustainability, and systems change sectors. The Senior Director drives the integrated growth strategy, leads and develops the team, and personally cultivates the highest-value relationships that fund our mission. You will lead the Institutional Relations (Foundations) and Strategic Partnerships (Corporate) functions. Working with Revenue Operations, the Senior Director analyzes market intelligence, prioritizes potential foundation and corporate segments, and builds a diversified pipeline of strategic funding opportunities to meet financial targets. You will represent the Rainforest Alliance externally at the most senior levels and develop compelling value propositions that inspire transformational, multi-year investments. This is a global leadership role overseeing a portfolio of foundation and corporate accounts of all sizes, ensuring strategic alignment, value delivery, and long-term partnership growth across all engagements. The role reports to the Chief Growth and Impact Officer.
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree or equivalent in business administration, international development, sustainability, or a related field.
- 12+ years of progressively responsible experience in fundraising, business development, corporate partnerships, sales, consultancy, or sustainable development, including team leadership.
- Experience securing both foundation philanthropic funding and corporate unrestricted and restricted partnerships, including 7-figure and multi-year commitments.
- Demonstrated experience leading, and developing successful fundraising teams.
- Experience with sustainability, ESG, systems change, and global development market trends.
- Experience working within global organizations.
- Experience moving donors and partners through a cultivation pipeline and meeting our revenue targets.
- C-suite experience, with the ability to work diplomatically and cross-culturally with diverse, senior stakeholders.
- Ability to travel domestically and internationally on occasion.
Responsibilities
- Set and lead the integrated fundraising strategy across foundations and corporate partnerships, spanning unrestricted, restricted, and programmatic revenue.
- Exceed annual and multi-year revenue targets across both portfolios.
- Personally cultivate, solicit, and steward a portfolio of the highest-value foundation and corporate prospects, with a focus on 7-figure and transformational, multi-year commitments.
- Lead, mentor, and develop the development team, directly managing the Senior Manager, Foundations and the Senior Manager, Strategic Partnerships, fostering a successful, accountable, and collaborative culture.
- Build organizational fundraising capacity and ensure consistent processes, tools, and standards across the Foundations and Strategic Partnerships functions.
- Oversee the build-out and diversification of a revenue-generating portfolio across foundation and corporate accounts.
- Analyze market trends, segment potential opportunities, and create new leads for both restricted and unrestricted revenue.
- Lead the Institutional Relations and Strategic Partnerships pipeline, ensuring accurate prioritization and updates in Salesforce.
- Direct the design of compelling unrestricted and restricted cases for support, donor and partner collateral, and philanthropic offerings tailored to foundation and corporate audiences—including corporate foundations, CSR, and sustainability teams.
- Innovate and test new models of revenue generation, including challenge funds, corporate champions circles, corporate social impact investments, blended finance, and pooled funds.
- Partner with the Rainforest Alliance's global experts to design standardized pitches, philanthropic offerings, and mission-based materials, and create engagement opportunities such as donor roundtables, networking events, and panel representation.
- Oversee the proposal and deal development process for prioritized opportunities across unrestricted and programmatic funding.
- Collaborate with internal departments to identify co-funding opportunities and develop public–private–philanthropic partnerships.
- Represent the Rainforest Alliance at senior external meetings, events, and industry convenings.
Benefits
- Be a part of a global organization with an impactful mission and a collaborative, respectful, and accountable culture.
- Enjoy opportunities for professional growth and career development.
- Benefit from remote working flexibility and flexible hybrid working environment.
- A favourable time‑off policy.
- Prioritize your wellbeing. We have numerous ways to promote work-life balance.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
