Senior Director, Strategic Philanthropy & Platforms

Pivotal • Washington, DC

5h • Hybrid

About The Position

Reporting to the Vice President of Program Strategy, the Senior Director, Strategic Philanthropy & Platforms (SPP) is responsible for developing and leading the Strategic Philanthropy & Platforms function, a center of excellence and hub for innovative philanthropy and impact. This leader will guide Pivotal’s innovation and best practices in philanthropy. They will catalyze new norms and models in philanthropy and be a driving force in a growing, dynamic impact ecosystem.
A key part of this role is strengthening the field and shaping the future of women’s power and health by developing shared frameworks, mobilizing diverse actors, and creating space for collaboration and learning. This leader will build a broad tent of diverse and sustainable organizations and leaders, supporting a robust ecosystem that drives progress on Pivotal’s mission. They will also activate strategic platforms with funders and institutions to grow resourcing and support for Pivotal’s strategic areas and the field.
The Senior Director, SPP is a visionary leader and future-focused problem solver who is responsible for shaping and overseeing the all-up vision and strategy for this work. They will design and implement next-generation philanthropic strategies, anticipate future trends in social impact (both domestically and globally) and champion agile, experimental approaches to problem solving to inform strategy and investment decisions. In developing strategy for the SPP function, the Senior Director should approach the work with curiosity, foster a culture of learning and adaptability, and balance multiple ideological/political perspectives and approaches to design robust and sustainable solutions.
The Senior Director, SPP is also responsible for leading a team of strategists on the Program Team, who are focused on developing, implementing, analyzing and managing strategies, relationships, and grants aligned with Pivotal and SPP’s impact goals. The Senior Director is accountable for the performance of the work their team oversees, and will serve as a people manager, coach, strategic advisor, and thought partner. The Senior Director’s direct reports will look to the Senior Director for problem solving, knowledge sharing, brush clearing, and connecting the dots across the portfolios, as well as providing guardrails and resources for the team. A key aspect of this role is looking across the portfolio to find opportunities for synergies, learning, and collaboration, as well as suitable cross-team integration so that the impact is more than the sum of its parts.

Requirements

• Minimum 15 years of experience as a leader in domestic and global philanthropy and/or social impact fields, or an equivalent combination of advanced training and experience.
• Minimum 8 years leading and managing others, with demonstrated commitment to staff development and experience fostering equity and belonging within a team.
• Consistent track record of innovation in philanthropy and demonstrated ability to design and scale new models.
• Expertise in end-to-end programmatic and philanthropic strategy development with a focus on long-term planning and implementation against identified goals and strategies that deploy capital at scale and use innovative approaches.
• Experience in resource mobilization and ecosystem building, including crowding in financial resources.
• Strong partnership development skills, with success in engaging non-traditional actors towards a shared vision.
• Experience conceiving, developing and delivering various projects from inception to completion, particularly pertaining to investments, campaigns and/or programs.
• Ability to synthesize complex information and lead a project from conception to completion, engaging relevant partners throughout.
• Ability to remain objective and serve as an honest broker when synthesizing and presenting information, avoiding bias or overinterpretation.
• Ability to build and manage complex stakeholder relationships, including with other funders and philanthropists, at both the staff and leadership levels.
• Familiarity with the gender equity field or the ability to apply philanthropic and strategic experience to this field.
• Proficiency using Microsoft 365 (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and SharePoint).
• Fluency in use of systems necessary to role (e.g., Salesforce, Workday).
• Strong writing ability with experience writing for multiple audiences; clear and coherent writing style.
• Ability to work informally as well as formally to collaborate with others to achieve results; present information coherently; ability to remain credible and objective while maintaining a personable and favorable disposition.
• An ability to conduct work with discretion and confidentiality.
• An ease with ambiguity, white space and grace under pressure.
• Learning posture and humble disposition with an ability to acknowledge own limitations and expertise with resolve.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement future-oriented philanthropic strategies and approaches to advance Pivotal’s mission, using best-in-class philanthropic practices and multiple perspectives.
• Engage across the philanthropic ecosystem in the areas that Pivotal works in, including emerging trends and insights, funder priorities, opportunities for impact, and infrastructure gaps, while exploring how pluralism can strengthen the field.
• Foster and sustain a deep set of relationships and strategic alliances across a broad tent of actors and non-traditional partners to accelerate systemic change and shape how this function can best contribute to the infrastructure for the field.
• Oversight for developing and scaling platform-based approaches and innovative funding vehicles that enable partnerships, co-investment and collective action to strengthen Pivotal’s goals.
• Crowd in additional resources for Pivotal’s strategies and goals by building networks and ecosystems that amplify impact.
• Oversee existing and future SPP strategies and initiatives, including implementing strategies, advising on grantmaking, providing oversight on funding decisions, and measuring progress against strategy goals to drive towards intended impact.
• Continuously monitor and interpret the changing external landscape to inform strategy and anticipate risks and opportunities.
• Support cross-team collaboration, champion experimentation, agile methodologies and problem solving to foster a culture of adaptability, including opportunities for shared learning.
• Adapt leadership, operating model, and approaches to internal ways of working based on organizational needs and guidance.
• Drive thought leadership by articulating bold visions for the future of philanthropy and influencing the broader ecosystem.
• Track progress across the portfolio to evaluate impact and course correct where needed.
• Adapt to different ways of grantmaking and leverage grantmaking standards.
• Coordinate cross-functionally to set and maintain clear operating models across teams, run point and interface to advance cross-cutting work, and ensure work is legally compliant.
• Model and promote the strategic use of organizational data systems (e.g., Salesforce) to ensure accurate, timely, and actionable grantmaking data while fostering a culture of data-informed decision-making, continuous improvement, and cross-team learning.
• Advise and collaborate with Communications colleagues to set and drive strategies for program strategy communications objectives.
• Align with Legal to ensure tax compliance, process adherence, and risk mitigation.
• Support teamwide internal coordination, including cross-org collaboration and Principal and executive leadership engagement (e.g., giving input on and editing briefs, developing materials, and running briefing sessions).
• Support the Pivotal Philanthropies annual budget planning, including forecasting and alignment to impact goals.
• Oversee grant execution aligned with annual payout schedules, ensuring strategic and financial rigor.
• Lead, train, and mentor direct report(s), providing direction through clear expectations and regularly conducting check-ins and providing performance feedback while supporting individual development.
• Foster a positive and high-performing team culture that emphasizes equity, belonging, collaboration, and continuous learning, consistent with organizational values and legal requirements.
• Model agility, adaptability, and care for team members.
• Bring curiosity and equity lens to strategy, grantmaking and relationships.
• Share information across teams, provide strategic counsel on cross-collaboration, modeling accountability to Program Strategy team goals.
• Set and advance the strategic direction and goals of the team, determining high-priority team projects, and representing the Program Strategy team across the organization.
• Adapt leadership and team structures to evolving organizational needs and priorities.
• Provide flex capacity, juggling multiple priorities as programmatic needs evolve over time.
• Support implementation of best practices, working with Program Strategy Directors and cross-functional teams to continuously improve systems and processes.
• Apply and model equitable and fair practices across all workstreams, supporting others in integrating these principles into strategies and team processes, consistent with organizational values and legal requirements.

Benefits

• Benefits for full-time employees currently include medical, dental, vision, life, disability, and long-term care insurance, fertility benefit, caregiving support, 144 hours of vacation, 96 hours of sick leave, 401k, HSA, FSA, an opportunity to earn a discretionary annual target performance bonus and more.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Education Level: No Education Listed