Vice President, Development

The Vice President, Development is a strategic, hands-on leader responsible for driving all aspects of fundraising and development operations. The role leads and executes the organization’s comprehensive fundraising strategy to sustain and grow its $10M+ annual budget and oversees a diverse portfolio of revenue streams — with a primary focus on foundation and corporate grants, alongside individual giving and government grants. In addition to leading fundraising strategy and donor cultivation, this position is accountable for the systems, processes, and analytics that power the organization’s fundraising success.

The VP ensures that the development function operates with excellence — maintaining clean data, reliable forecasting, and seamless coordination across the development, finance, and program teams. The ideal candidate is both a strategic fundraiser and a strong operational manager: someone who can build relationships with local and national funders, craft compelling grant proposals, and ensure the back-end infrastructure is efficient, data-driven, and aligned with the organization’s growth goals.

About SkillUp Coalition

Founded in July 2020, SkillUp Coalition is an innovative nonprofit connecting more than 4 million individuals skilled through alternative routes (STARs) with the right tools, resources and support to make confident career shifts, find quality living-wage jobs and achieve promising career growth without the need of a college degree. Through its cutting-edge technology platform and step-by-step career guidance options, SkillUp has connected STARs with career, training, and job support nationwide. The coalition brings together more than 150 leading organizations, including training and education providers, technology developers, policymakers, employers, and philanthropies. SkillUp is a remote-first organization rooted deeply in our values to Champion Worker-First, Empower Impact, Embrace Collaboration, Exemplify Curiosity and Embody Accountability. By 2030, we plan to serve 10 million users and help more than 1 million workers and learners attain quality employment.

Description

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership

• Develop and operationalize a multi-year fundraising strategy that advances organizational priorities and ensures the sustainability and growth of the organization’s $10M+ annual budget, with plans to grow to at least $12M by 2030.
• Lead a diversified revenue portfolio, with emphasis on foundation and corporate grants, complemented by individual giving and government grants.
• Collaborate with leadership to assess new funding opportunities and align them with programmatic and operational needs.
• Stay informed on workforce development trends and funding landscapes to identify innovative funding sources and partnerships.
• Act as a thought partner for the board and leadership team, providing insights and recommendations to strengthen SkillUp’s financial sustainability.

Grants Strategy & Management

• Lead grants strategy, ensuring strong alignment between funder priorities, organizational priorities, and programmatic outcomes.
• Manage the full grant cycle — from prospecting and proposal development to reporting and renewal.
• Lead the preparation and submission of grant proposals, ensuring alignment with funder priorities and organizational goals.
• Develop and maintain a pipeline of prospective funders, including foundations, corporations, and government agencies.
• Partner with program and communications teams to craft compelling narratives that demonstrate SkillUp’s impact.
• Oversee monitoring of compliance with grant requirements, deliverables, and timelines, working closely with internal teams to meet funder expectations.
• Ensure proper utilization of grant management tools to maintain accurate records, reporting deadlines, and financial tracking.
• Partner with the finance team to oversee grant budgets, ensuring appropriate allocation and expenditure of funds.

Development Operations & Infrastructure

• Oversee all development systems and operations, ensuring accuracy, efficiency, and data integrity.
• Manage the donor CRM, establishing best practices for data entry, segmentation, and pipeline tracking.
• Develop and monitor fundraising dashboards, KPIs, and forecasting tools.
• Collaborate with Finance on reconciliations, revenue tracking, and audit documentation.
• Implement continuous improvement practices to streamline workflows and strengthen cross-team coordination.
• Provide regular updates on revenue forecasts, budget variances, and grant performance to the leadership team and board.

Funder Stewardship & Relationship Management

• Cultivate relationships with funders to deepen engagement and secure multi-year commitments.
• Represent SkillUp in meetings, presentations, and events with funders, showcasing organizational achievements and impact.
• Collaborate with leadership to prepare individualized stewardship plans and ensure funders are consistently informed of grant outcomes.

Team Leadership & Culture

• Build and manage a high-performing team, fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation, and inclusivity.
• Mentor staff and provide professional development opportunities aligned with organizational goals.
• Champion SkillUp’s core values and ensure alignment across internal and external stakeholders. Core values include: Champion Worker-First, Empower Impact, Embrace Collaboration, Exemplify Curiosity and Embody Accountability

Qualifications

• 10–12+ years of experience in nonprofit development, partnerships, or social innovation fundraising.
• Experience in building and managing relationships with funders and stakeholders, with a demonstrated success securing six and seven-figure grants or corporate partnerships.
• Proven ability to align fundraising strategies with organizational impact metrics and goals, preferably in the education or workforce development sectors.
• Strong strategic thinking and communication skills — able to synthesize data, outcomes, and innovation into compelling narratives.
• Knowledge of grant compliance requirements, including private, corporate, and government funding.
• Proficiency with fundraising software (e.g., Copper, Instrumentl) and leveraging analytics to drive pipelines.
• Experience developing and managing high-performing teams and collaborating cross-functionally with program, communications, and finance leaders.
• Entrepreneurial mindset — comfortable navigating complexity and identifying new opportunities.

And while all of the above qualifications are important, there are three demonstrated capabilities most important for this job, and they are (blatantly borrowed from Jeff Weiner of LinkedIn):

• Dream Big
• Get Sh*t Done
• Know How to Have Fun

Our Commitment to Diversity

At SkillUp, our mission is to help workers get hired for in-demand jobs in high-growth industries. Success in this mission requires that we don’t just accept difference—but that we celebrate and embrace the diverse community and backgrounds individuals come from. We stay true to our mission by ensuring that our place can be anyone’s place, and embrace diversity and equal opportunity in a serious way. We are committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. The more inclusive we are, the better our work will be.

As a proud equal opportunity employer, SkillUp does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion or religious creed, mental or physical disability, medical condition, genetic information, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, military or veteran status, citizenship, or other characteristics protected by state or federal law or local ordinance.

Compensation & Benefits

Target salary for this position is $135,000 - $165,000, depending on experience, geography and internal equity.

SkillUp offers a generous compensation package which includes employer sponsored healthcare, vision and dental, 401K employer match, 25 days of office closure and PTO, education stipend and annual salary increases based on performance.