Senior Director, Government Development

JFF•Washington, DC

7d•$160,000 - $185,000•Remote

About The Position

The Senior Director, Government Development is a senior leader on JFF’s Development team, responsible for advancing mission-aligned public sector revenue in support of JFF’s North Star goal. The role leads strategy, capture, proposal development, and team operations across federal, state, and local government grants and contracts at the intersection of workforce development, education, and economic development. The Senior Director identifies high-potential opportunities, builds relationships with public agency clients and external partners, leads competitive capture strategies, and ensures proposal teams have the structure and support to produce strong submissions. The role also helps prepare teams for project launches and transitions following new awards. Reporting to the Vice President of Development, the Senior Director works closely with the Development Leadership Team, program leaders, Finance, Operations, and other JFF colleagues. The role leads a Government Development team of two and manages cross-functional staff and consultants assembled for specific opportunities. The team analyzes funding data, assesses opportunities, develops funder and partner relationships, facilitates go/no-go decisions, and manages proposal development from concept through submission. Its systems include Salesforce, Asana, and SharePoint. The ideal candidate is located in Washington, D.C., or close to the region. JFF offers medical, dental, and vision insurance; retirement benefits through a 403(b) plan, including employer contributions for eligible employees; paid time off and paid leave; professional development opportunities; and an annual home office stipend for regular full-time and part-time employees. New employees receive office equipment as needed. The hiring range is $160,000–$185,000 annually.

Requirements

At least 15 years of progressively responsible experience in public-sector business development, nonprofit leadership, capture, grants, contracts, fundraising, consulting, or a related field.
Demonstrated record of leading successful federal and state grant and contract pursuits, including complex cross-functional proposals in workforce development, education, economic development, or adjacent policy and systems-change contexts.
Understanding of federal and state procurement and grant processes, including the ability to translate requirements, solicitation terms, and eligibility criteria into strategies, workplans, and submissions.
Experience building relationships in federal agencies and with key stakeholders in the Washington, D.C.–Maryland–Virginia region, with a record of cultivating networks that surface opportunities and advance government development goals.
Skill in building relationships with government clients, partners, subcontractors, subrecipients, and other external stakeholders.
Experience developing or overseeing competitive pricing, budgets, cost proposals, and level-of-effort assumptions for government opportunities, including alignment with applicable FAR cost requirements.
Ability to identify, qualify, and prioritize opportunities based on mission alignment, competitiveness, revenue potential, organizational capacity, risk, and impact.
Excellent writing and editing skills, including the ability to synthesize complex information into clear, persuasive, audience-centered content.
Experience managing and developing staff, setting expectations, providing feedback, coaching performance, and supporting career growth.
Inclusive leadership skills and ability to foster a workplace where people can contribute, learn, grow, and do their best work.
Effective project and people leadership, including bringing structure to complex work, clarifying ownership, anticipating bottlenecks, and keeping teams on schedule.
Ability to influence without formal authority and collaborate with program leaders, subject matter experts, Finance, Legal and Contracts, Resource Management, and external partners.
Strong process and systems improvement orientation and experience using CRM, project management, and proposal management tools.
Ability to implement processes and systems for gathering and deploying data to improve team and functional work, and to lead initiatives that increase effectiveness, innovation, and quality.
Sound judgment and ability to balance strategic priorities, technical requirements, people, resources, risk, and impact.
Commitment to JFF’s mission and North Star goal.
Curiosity and adaptability, with openness to new information, perspectives, and data.

Nice To Haves

Experience with Salesforce, Asana, or similar platforms.

Responsibilities

Develop and manage outreach, engagement, and relationship-development strategies for current and prospective public agency clients.
Contribute to Development strategy, goals, and key performance indicators, aligning Government Development priorities and resource decisions with the broader fundraising portfolio.
Cultivate and steward external strategic and project-specific partnerships.
Develop and execute a government grants and contracts strategy aligned with JFF’s mission, priorities, and revenue goals, emphasizing federal and state funding.
Lead market research and identify opportunities across federal, state, and local agencies.
Establish and manage opportunity assessment and go/no-go practices, including decision criteria, timelines, risk analysis, and resource implications.
Build and manage capture plans for priority contracts and grants, covering client strategy, competitors, positioning, partners, pricing, and proposal planning.
Maintain a government funding calendar and pipeline forecast connected to procurement timelines, recompetes, revenue goals, and strategic priorities.
Track public-sector funding trends, agency priorities, and procurement calendars; use findings to develop the pipeline proactively.
Track proposal outcomes and use lessons learned to improve future submissions.
Lead responses to complex federal, state, and local procurements, including contracts, grants, and cooperative agreements.
Assemble and manage cross-functional proposal teams, including staff, external partners, and consultants.
Establish proposal workplans, roles, decision rights, timelines, review cycles, and escalation paths.
Work with program leaders and subject matter experts to shape responsive technical proposals and service-delivery models.
Serve as lead writer, editor, strategist, and quality-assurance partner for high-priority proposals.
Oversee compliant, persuasive proposals, including technical approaches, management plans, past-performance materials, staffing plans, partner documentation, budgets, and cost proposals.
Guide competitive pricing and level-of-effort strategies with Finance and program leadership.
Guide partner exploration, negotiation, and documentation when JFF serves as a prime, grant recipient, subcontractor, subrecipient, or other project partner.
Pursue or update relevant Government Wide Acquisition Contract agreements.
Ensure submissions meet requirements and allow sufficient time for meaningful review and approval.
Advise program and business unit leaders on client management and launch readiness after awards, including handoffs, staffing assumptions, partner commitments, budgets, and reporting expectations.
Analyze proposal outcomes and capture lessons from technical and business proposal development to improve future strategy, positioning, pricing, and execution.
Build and lead the Government Development team, which has two direct reports.
Set expectations for team roles, ownership, decision-making, communication, quality, and follow-through.
Coach and mentor staff, support career development, and create opportunities for increasing responsibility and expertise.
Manage internal and external consultants supporting capture, proposals, pricing, research, and related work.
Coordinate staffing and capacity with the Vice President of Development, Development Leadership Team, Finance, and Operations.
Design and deliver training on government capture, proposal development, pricing, partnership strategy, and effective proposal-team participation.
Strengthen government development systems and infrastructure, including Salesforce, Asana, SharePoint, templates, standard operating procedures, and reusable content.
Promote project-management practices, shared documentation, review protocols, and post-submission learning.
Advance JFF’s mission and North Star through thoughtful, ethical, strategic public-sector fundraising.
Build trusted relationships across differences and collaborate with colleagues with varied roles, experiences, perspectives, and expertise.
Foster a positive, inclusive, accountable, and learning-oriented team culture.
Communicate clearly, surface risks early, make timely decisions, and help teams navigate trade-offs transparently.
Apply curiosity, adaptability, and a growth mindset to changing public-sector conditions and organizational priorities.