Director of Development

Location: Remote, New York City, or Oakland, CA

Role Type: Full-time

Compensation: $170,000

Reports to: Chief Growth Officer

Visa sponsorship: Not available

Hires remotely in: United States

Experience: 8+ years

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About the Role

The Director of Development will lead Recidiviz’s fundraising team and ensure that the organization has sufficient philanthropic capital to achieve our ambitious goals. They’ll raise largely unrestricted capital, often in rounds, which allows for strategic injections of capital for major impact opportunities.

In the year ahead, this leader will secure $20M+ in philanthropic capital dedicated to supporting Recidiviz’s expansion to new states and deeper impact. They’ll balance steady-state and big bet fundraising, securing transformational gifts alongside cultivating a broad base of funders. They’ll lead the fundraising team by setting strategy and vision for the team, pacesetting towards ambitious goals, and coaching and developing the team. And they will own Principal Gifts and relationships with our highest diligence funders, translating rigorous, data-driven impact into a compelling case for continued and expanded support.

What Success Looks Like

• Raise $20M+ in new commitments in 2027 and is set up to raise $30M annually by 2030. Build a healthy philanthropic pipeline, steadily growing YoY revenue to match organizational growth. There’s a strategic balance of big bets and steady state fundraising. There’s a strategic mix of renewals and new funders. The Director of Development is building the pipeline for the future.
• The funder base is engaged, with at least 4 stewardship points per year, and sees Recidiviz’s success and their success.
• Funders feel deeply informed, engaged, and confident in the organization's trajectory and impact.
• Materials and pitches are grounded in rigorous data and a clear impact narrative, tailored to sophisticated funder audiences. The Director of Development owns relationships with our highest diligence funders.
• Meet the steady drumbeat of application and reporting deadlines, providing tailored, nuanced, high quality outputs without last minute scrambles.

Key Responsibilities

Funder Relationships, Big Bets

Serve as the primary relationship-holder for Recidiviz's high diligence funders.

• Build direct, trust-based relationships with Recidiviz's largest and most rigorous funders and supporters.
• Translate Recidiviz's technical, data-driven impact into a compelling, rigorous case for support — tailored to funders who expect real evidence, not just narrative. Partner with Impact Analytics to ensure the organization's strongest results reach funders in a form they can scrutinize and trust.
• Prepare for and lead funder meetings and major proposal/reporting cycles, ensuring materials meet a high bar of customization and detail.
• Steward relationships between formal asks — proactively sharing wins, answering funder questions, and maintaining trust over time.

Fundraising Strategy

Set and execute a fundraising strategy that supports the organization’s ambitious growth targets

• Set the fundraising strategy: revenue targets, fundraising rounds, renewal vs. new funders, big bets vs. steady state
• Support the team in executing on that strategy: support the work at all altitudes, from individual pitch strategy, to round shaping, to yearly targets.
• Own the fundraising plan and revenue targets, working with the Chief Growth Officer, Chief Administrative Officer, and Executive Director to set priorities and track progress.

Team Leadership

Lead the fundraising team, supporting the people and processes that ensure capital is brought in sustainably

• Manage and grow the team: set goals, coach, and build the systems — pipeline reviews, proposal calendars, reporting cadence — that let the team operate reliably.
• Build and maintain the systems and processes (data hygiene, reporting templates, stewardship touchpoints) that let the team operate efficiently and scale as Recidiviz grows. Lead with an entrepreneurial spirit, building systems as you go, identifying what needs a quick and scrappy fix and what needs a full rebuild.
• Represent the team’s work and priorities across the organization, ensuring fundraising needs are understood by Finance, Impact Analytics, and program teams.

Who You'll Work With

You’ll lead and manage Recidiviz’s fundraising team. That consists of a senior relationship manager, analyst, and writer. You’ll report to the Chief Growth Officer and work closely on fundraising with the Executive Director.

Outside of the fundraising team, your two greater collaborators will be Finance and Impact Analytics. You’ll have co-conspirators on both teams. With finance, you’ll work to understand and balance the financial needs of the organization. With Impact Analytics, you’ll ensure that our greatest wins reach our supporters and that all our tracking needs are met.

Importantly, in communicating the impact of Recidiviz with our supporters, you’ll interact with nearly every team at Recidiviz. You’ll frequently work with state, product, design, and GTM teams, understanding the ins and outs of Recidiviz’s impact in our state partners.

What We're Looking For

• Significant experience in nonprofit development / for-profit fundraising leadership role, with a track record of managing a team and meeting revenue goals.
• Excellent relationship-building skills with senior, sophisticated stakeholders, such as major donors, principals, and foundation staff.
• Comfort and credibility with high diligence, quantitative funders — able to translate complex, data-driven impact into a clear, rigorous case for support.
• Strong people-management skills: able to coach, set goals for, and grow the capacity of a small team.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to represent Recidiviz's mission and impact persuasively.

Nice to Have

• Experience in government, public-sector, or B2G contexts, or with mission-driven and nonprofit organizations.
• Existing relationships within the tech for good, economic development, justice, and adjacent fundraising ecosystems

This Role Might Not Be a Fit If…

• You’re strongest in grassroots or peer-to-peer fundraising — Recidiviz’s growth to $30M annually in philanthropy is dependent on large institutional, multilateral, and major-gift dollars, not high-volume small gifts.
• You’ve mostly managed a mature, steady-state portfolio — This roles will require optimizing on an existing portfolio while bringing in additional supporters via major gifts.
• You’d rather stay behind the scenes — Recidiviz needs a Director of Development genuinely energized by being a public face of the organization at global forums and in front of funders.

Originally posted on Himalayas