VP, Business Development and Earned Revenue

Code for America

1d•$172,975 - $211,750•Remote

About The Position

Code for America is seeking a VP of Business Development and Earned Revenue to establish evidence-backed earned-revenue models that advance its mission and contribute to long-term financial sustainability. This executive will identify mission-aligned offerings, buyers, and business models; test them with paying customers; and guide decisions about where to invest and grow. The role is hands-on and is suited to a leader who has built a new line of business from an uncertain starting point. The VP will work with the CEO and teams across Product, Programs, Engineering, and Finance to develop commercial experiments, personally secure early paid engagements, and turn the strongest opportunities into repeatable offerings. Offerings may include products, standardized services, implementation support, or combinations of these. As a member of the executive leadership team, the VP owns the earned-revenue strategy, makes portfolio decisions within an agreed investment threshold, and brings larger investment decisions to the CEO and Board. The role leads in a matrixed environment and partners with Delivery and Enablement teams. The Strategic Partnerships team retains ownership of ongoing government partnership development under Code for America's existing strategy. The VP will collaborate with that team when testing paid government offerings. Before outreach begins, ownership of government buyer relationships, commercial testing, and customer commitments will be set out in a shared agreement with Strategic Partnerships leadership. Revenue and learning targets will be agreed with the CEO. First-year success includes a prioritized strategy grounded in customer discovery, mission value, and explicit business-case assumptions; a small number of paid tests that produce revenue and credible evidence about demand, pricing, procurement, and delivery economics; and recommendations with a practical growth and staffing plan for the strongest opportunities. The position reports to the CEO, is remote, and requires travel of no more than 25% of the time. Code for America is based in California and can employ people who reside full-time in the United States. The organization has an approximately $40 million annual budget, funded primarily through philanthropy. Code for America describes its environment as supportive, flexible, collaborative, cross-functional, hardworking, and joyful. Full-time employees work 40 hours per week, Monday through Friday, with internal meetings generally scheduled between 10 AM and 3 PM PT. The organization provides a laptop, remote-work setup support, and cell phone and/or internet reimbursement. Compensation targets for this role range from $172,975 to $211,750 annually, depending on market and geographic location. Benefits include employer 401(k) matching, health insurance, professional development funds, training and opportunities to build AI-related skills, open personal time off subject to manager approval, at least 14 paid holidays, an organization-wide winter closure, paid sick time, paid parental and family leave, and paid sabbatical after five years of service.

Requirements

At least 12 years of experience in business development, commercial strategy, new business creation, or related work, including executive-level responsibility.
Demonstrated record of building a new line of business from an early stage, including determining what to sell and to whom, securing early paying customers, and establishing a repeatable model.
Experience designing and running commercial experiments, evaluating evidence, and deciding whether to invest, change direction, or stop.
Strong financial and commercial judgment, including pricing and packaging, financial modeling, full delivery and support costs, margins, forecasts, and investment tradeoffs.
Experience working closely with product, technology, and program or delivery teams in a matrixed organization to shape feasible offerings and connect customer demand to organizational capabilities.
Hands-on customer development, sales, and contract negotiation skills, including building trust, navigating complex stakeholders and purchasing processes, and securing early agreements without an established sales team or proven offering.
Experience building and leading teams, coaching staff, and coordinating cross-functional work; ability to shape staffing around validated needs and lead through influence before a dedicated team is in place.
Executive-level communication skills to explain assumptions, results, risks, and recommendations clearly to leadership, the Board, colleagues, and prospective customers.
Ability to navigate complex stakeholders and purchasing processes and establish clear ownership and commitments across organizational boundaries.
Collaborative, curious leadership approach that welcomes feedback, adapts to new evidence, and values colleagues' expertise and the perspectives of people closest to the problem.
Deep commitment to Code for America's mission of making government services work well for the people who need them most.
Sound judgment about which commercial opportunities fit the mission and willingness to decline those that do not.
Curiosity about emerging AI tools and commitment to using them responsibly and effectively.
Ability to work effectively in a remote environment and willingness to travel up to 25% of the time.

Nice To Haves

Experience with healthcare, managed care organizations, nonprofits, or other buyers relevant to Code for America's work.
Experience with government procurement or selling technology or services to government agencies.
Familiarity with SNAP, Medicaid, WIC, TANF, EITC, or other public benefits programs.
Experience developing earned-revenue models in a nonprofit or social-impact organization.
Experience commercializing technology or working with product teams through iterative development.

Responsibilities

Lead development of Code for America's earned-revenue strategy with executive leadership, identifying offerings, buyers, and business models likely to produce sustainable revenue and meaningful mission impact.
Conduct customer and market discovery into buyer needs, budgets, willingness to pay, alternatives, and purchasing processes.
Assess opportunities with Product, Programs, Engineering, and Finance, considering organizational capabilities, differentiation, delivery capacity, mission value, and financial potential.
Develop business cases with explicit assumptions about pricing, acquisition and delivery costs, ongoing support, potential demand, and the investment and time required to reach sustainability.
Prioritize hypotheses and decide in close partnership with the CEO which opportunities to test, defer, or decline.
Translate promising ideas into bounded commercial experiments with defined offerings, buyers, price hypotheses, resource commitments, timelines, and decision criteria.
Personally identify and cultivate early customers, shape paid pilots or initial engagements, and negotiate commercial terms with relevant contracting and compliance staff.
Develop and test pricing and payment models, and determine whether customers will pay enough to support a viable delivery model.
Partner with Product, Engineering, and Programs to define pilot scope and learning goals and confirm staffing, technical feasibility, and delivery commitments before signing agreements.
Evaluate customer value, willingness to pay, procurement feasibility, delivery and support costs, and potential for repeat purchases or renewals; identify what can be standardized and where customization is justified.
Turn test results into recommendations to expand, refine, or stop opportunities; adapt direction as evidence emerges and communicate changes and next steps.
Turn validated opportunities into repeatable offerings with defined buyer segments, value propositions, pricing, purchasing pathways, delivery models, and financial expectations.
Build a focused sales approach and pipeline; work with MarComms and Product Marketing on positioning and lead generation; and pursue distribution or implementation partners where useful.
Work with Strategic Partnerships on government buyers, aligning relationship ownership, commercial testing, and customer commitments.
Recommend staffing and investment for proven models and build, lead, and develop an earned-revenue team as approved.
Set revenue and learning goals with executive leadership and report progress, tracking measures such as paid conversion, revenue, delivery costs and margins, repeat demand, renewals, and customer concentration as appropriate.
Provide executive leadership and the Board with business cases, forecasts, risks, and investment recommendations, distinguishing promising experiments from models ready for larger commitments.
Partner with Finance, Product, Programs, Engineering, and contracting and compliance staff to establish invoicing, procurement, payment, security, support, and reporting arrangements for selected offerings.
Coordinate with Philanthropy to align earned revenue with the organization's overall funding approach, including investment to develop or validate offerings and ongoing philanthropic support needs.
Represent Code for America with prospective customers, partners, and funders on earned revenue, and help define how paid offerings are discussed with government partners.
Engage in ad hoc projects and initiatives as required by the organization's evolving needs.

Benefits

Employer matches 100% of the first 3% of employee contributions to the 401(k); employees with at least 3 years of service receive an additional 50% match on contributions between 3% and 5%, for a maximum employer contribution of 5%.
At least one no-cost health insurance option for full-time employees for employee-only coverage and a minimum 80% of the cost of dependent coverage.
$500 annual professional development stipend, prorated at hire; up to $500 may roll over each year to a maximum of $1,000.
Training and guidance for staff required to use AI in their roles, plus opportunities to gain AI-related skills.
Laptop provided.
One-time $700 remote environment setup support, comprising a $200 stipend and up to $500 reimbursement under the equipment policy.
Cell phone and/or internet reimbursement of $50 per month.
Open personal time off, subject to manager approval.
At least 14 paid holidays and an organization-wide closure from Christmas Day through New Year's Day.
Paid sick time of up to 96 hours annually.
17 weeks of paid parental and family leave.
Three weeks of paid sabbatical after five years of service.