Senior Director, Major Gifts

Smile Train•Los Angeles, CA

1d•$123,000 - $150,000•Hybrid

About The Position

As Smile Train’s Senior Director, Major Gifts, you will serve as a visionary fundraising leader who transforms lives by securing the resources needed to provide 100% free cleft surgery and comprehensive care to children worldwide. By connecting high-net-worth donors’ passions with our sustainable, local medical partner model, you will directly fuel life-changing medical interventions, giving children the power of a smile and a fresh start in life. The Senior Director is essential to safeguarding and growing critical revenue as we approach ambitious, 5-year revenue targets. By combining donor leadership, people management, and operational consistency, this role ensures that stewardship and Major Gift fundraising are not support functions but core drivers of long‑term financial sustainability and impact. The Senior Director, Major Gifts, is a premier, donor-facing leader within the US Development team. This role drives critical philanthropic revenue by combining high-level relationship management, strategic team leadership, and operational excellence. As a vital leader helping to anchor the department's ambitious, multi-year growth goals, you will hold direct accountability for accelerating individual giving, building a robust 6-to-7 figure pipeline, and scaling major gift revenue. Operating on a high-impact player-coach model, you will directly manage a personal portfolio of high-net-worth individuals while leading, coaching, and scaling a high-performing team of fundraising professionals. You will design and execute advanced moves management strategies, cross-functional marketing campaigns, and data-driven portfolio testing to optimize donor lifetime value. Additionally, you will serve as a primary strategic link between Major Gifts, Finance, Programs, and the Database team to ensure seamless operational alignment and precise impact reporting.

Requirements

Minimum of 6+ years of progressively responsible fundraising experience in Development, with a definitive focus on 25K+ major gifts.
Proven success in personally securing 6-to 7-figure donations and managing a multi-million-dollar regional or departmental revenue target.
At least 6-10 years of direct experience managing, coaching, and driving performance from a team of frontline fundraising professionals.
Revenue Accountability: $7M+ departmentally; $2M+ personal portfolio of 6-7 figure solicitations
High proficiency with Salesforce (or similar institutional CRM), wealth screening tools, and Microsoft Office.
Strong ability to translate complex data, donor analytics, and pipeline metrics into actionable strategic plans.
Superlative interpersonal, presentation, and strong donor-centric written communication skills, with the gravitas to navigate organizational change and represent the organization externally.
Bachelor’s degree required.

Nice To Haves

Deep knowledge of advanced moves management methodologies and donor cultivation best practices.

Responsibilities

Manage a high-value personal portfolio of major and principal donors, driving the full cultivation, stewardship, and solicitation lifecycle.
Secure major gifts at the $25K+ level and actively build a pipeline targeting transformative 6- and 7-figure donations.
Lead the major gifts annual budget preparation and team goal-setting processes to drive sustainable revenue growth from individuals.
Partner with mid-level and Planned Giving fundraising teams to seamlessly transition upgraded donors into the major gifts and Planned Giving pipelines.
Leverage the Vice President of Development, executive leadership, and regional program staff to creatively engage high-net-worth prospects.
Motivate, coach, and evaluate a team of 2 accountable gift officers, establishing rigorous performance objectives and clear professional growth paths.
Monitor major gifts team metrics, reporting regularly to executive leadership on revenue progress and portfolio health.
Foster a positive, collaborative, and performance-oriented growth mindset work environment grounded in accountability and continuous improvement.
Partner with the Stewardship Manager to build high-caliber, customized collateral that demonstrates the concrete impact of major gifts.
Work cross-functionally with Marketing and Communications to deliver tailored, sophisticated messaging for high-net-worth networks.
Coordinate with Finance, Programs, and Grants teams to guarantee exact fulfillment of restricted gift deliverables and program outcomes.
Engage donors to act as organizational ambassadors, leveraging their unique networks of influence to introduce new prospects.
Liaise directly with the Database team to ensure Salesforce is fully optimized for major gift account management and pipeline tracking.
Implement a strict, metrics-driven moves management framework across the entire team to capture all prospective donor touchpoints.
Translate data, prospect research, and analytics into actionable insights to continuously test and refine portfolio composition.
Establish, communicate, and maintain departmental policies and procedures related to major gift fundraising operations.