Vice President, Direct Marketing

Job Title: Vice President, Direct Marketing 

Department: Development

Location: Hybrid within Washington D.C. Metro area

Reports to: Chief Revenue Officer

Direct Reports: Yes

Classification: Exempt

Position type: Full-Time Employee

Anticipated Pay Range at Commencement of Employment: $128,000 - $177,000 per year

Blue Star Families

Blue Star Families is the largest nonprofit dedicated to making military life better for families. Each year, we support over 1.5 million military- and veteran-connected family members through a national network of 450,000+ members and local chapters in communities across the country.

Our mission is simple and bold: We make military life awesome for families. 

We listen, share, partner, and act to deliver evidence-based, data-driven solutions that work for real people. We’re a lifestyle organization, a friend and neighbor, and a trusted partner. Our approach is collaborative, human-centered, and designed with the whole family in mind.

A Blue Star Family is one with an immediate family member — a spouse, parent, or child — actively serving in the U.S. Armed Forces, including the Guard and Reserves. These families face unique challenges: frequent relocations, deployments, career disruption, and isolation. We respond with research-informed programs that create connection, build resilience, and foster a true sense of belonging.

We serve with urgency but build trust over time — because change happens at the speed of trust. Whether we’re driving spouse employment, supporting caregivers, or helping communities welcome military families, we strive for upstream solutions.

Who We’re Looking For:

• Bold thinkers. Fast movers. Smart collaborators. People who want to build, lead, and drive measurable change — and who care deeply about making an impact that matters.

What You’ll Do Here:

• Solve complex challenges with data, heart, and humility
• Build cross-sector partnerships that get things done
• Help military families feel at home wherever they live

If you're ready to work in a high-performance, mission-driven environment — and to make life better for those who serve — Blue Star Families is where you belong.

General Description

The Vice President, Direct Marketing leads the strategy and performance of Blue Star Families' direct response fundraising programs. This role grows BSF's broad base of individual donors through multi-channel direct marketing. 

Blue Star Families already runs a multi-channel direct response program with its agency partner, MissionWired. This role exists to scale both into a multimillion-dollar revenue line, and to lead the multimillion-dollar agency investment that growth requires.

Reporting to the Chief Revenue Officer, this leader partners closely with Marketing, Development Operations, the Technology team and Chapters/Programs staff Development Operations and Chapters/Programs staff to integrate direct marketing fundraising into the organization's broader revenue strategy.

As a fully remote organization, we rely on regular in-person gatherings to fulfill core business functions, including strategic planning, cross-functional collaboration and culture-building. This role requires the ability to travel overnight several times per year to attend team offsites, leadership sessions, fundraising events and company-wide events. Attendance and participation in these gatherings is a non-negotiable component of the position.

Key Job Functions

Direct Marketing & Mass-Market Fundraising

• Oversee multi-channel direct response strategy, including donor acquisition, retention, reactivation, and upgrade pathways across direct mail, email, digital advertising, SMS (360SMS), and other mass-market channels.
• Set annual revenue goals, budgets and performance benchmarks for direct marketing programs.
• Ensure rigorous segmentation, A/B testing,Ensure rigorous segmentation, list strategy (including cooperative databases, rentals and exchanges), statistically valid A/B testing, and performance-based ROI analysis to inform channel investment, with a bias toward rapid experimentation and scaling winning plays.
• Own the governance of a multimillion-dollar agency contract: scope of work, fee structure, transparent production pass-throughs, performance guarantees, audit rights, service levels and BSF's full ownership of its donor file and data.
• Manage relationships with external direct marketing vendors and agencies (e.g., MissionWired), ensuring quality, timeliness, and cost-effectiveness; hold partners to the same high-performance standard as internal team members.
• Monitor campaign performance, donor acquisition costs, retention,lifetime value, payback period and break-even metrics, adjusting strategy as needed
• Translate program economics for the CEO, CFO and Board, including why acquisition is an investment, what the donor file is worth and when the program is projected to break even.
• Build a clear pathway that moves donors from first-time gifts to recurring, mid-level and major gift potential.
• Launch and grow a monthly sustainer program across mail, digital, SMS and telemarketing conversion, including payment updating and recapture of lapsed sustainers.

Team Leadership & Performance Management

• Supervise staff and provide leadership and coaching to expand the chapter fundraising support function.
• Develop, coach, and appraise staff to ensure high performance and professional growth, providing regular, candid feedback and addressing performance gaps promptly.
• Build a high-talent-density team in which every member understands the strategy, owns their results, and makes decisions quickly.
• Foster a collaborative, solutions-oriented culture aligned with BSF values across the chapter network, grounded in freedom, responsibility, and accountability.

Program Integration & Cross-Functional Coordination

• Partner with Marketing & Communications on donor messaging, campaign creative, branding and channel strategy.
• Partner closely with the Technology team on Salesforce Marketing Cloud, 360SMS, Fundraise Up and the data integrations the direct marketing program depends on.
• Ensure alignment between direct marketing, peer-to-peer, major gifts, corporate and events strategies to build strong donor pipelines.

Systems, Data & Reporting

• Oversee accurate tracking of direct marketing fundraising activity within the CRM, ensuring data integrity and consistent reporting.
• Define and enforce attribution rules so direct marketing revenue, including gifts made through general online donation pages, is credited accurately in Salesforce.
• Establish performance dashboards and revenue pacing for direct marketing channels, using them as a real-time scoreboard for the team.
• Provide regular reporting to the Chief Revenue Officer, and to the Board as needed, on channel performance, donor retention and revenue forecasts.
• Ensure compliance with USPS nonprofit mailing rules, state charitable solicitation registration, commercial fundraiser requirements, PCI standards and donor privacy and opt-out practices.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Required Experience, Skills, Background

• 8+ years of progressive nonprofit development experience, including experience with chapter-based or affiliate  fundraising models.
• At least 5 years of that experience leading multi-channel direct response fundraising (mail, digital, SMS), with responsibility for donor acquisition and retention and results you can quantify.
• Experience managing a full-service direct response agency and a seven-figure budget, including contract negotiation and holding the agency accountable to performance terms.
• Fluency in direct response economics: donor lifetime value, payback, break-even analysis and cost to raise a dollar, and the ability to explain them to non-specialists
• 3+ years of experience managing staff or leading a team.
• A proven track record of meeting or exceeding ambitious revenue and participation goals, with specific, measurable wins you can speak to.
• An athlete's mindset: high energy, competitive drive, resilience after setbacks, and a hunger to keep improving.
• A coach's ability to motivate, hold accountable, and bring out the best in staff and volunteers alike.
• Comfort operating with a high degree of autonomy and accountability, and the ability to give and receive candid feedback.
• Experience developing training, toolkits, or resources to support a distributed or volunteer fundraising network.
• Strong relationship-building skills with the ability to motivate and support volunteer leaders across a geographically dispersed organization.
• Strong organizational, analytical, and communication skills.
• Ability to travel to chapters and organizational gatherings several times per year, including overnight travel.
• May be required to work nights, weekends, and holidays as necessary to carry out key job functions.

Desired Experience, Skills & Background

• Bachelor's degree in nonprofit management, business administration, or a related field.
• Experience with online  fundraising platforms (e.g., Fundraise Up).
• Working knowledge of Salesforce Marketing Cloud and SMS fundraising platforms, particularly 360SMS.
• Experience growing monthly sustainer programs and managing endurance-event or charity race programs.
• Experience in a high-growth, performance-driven culture (nonprofit or private sector).

More About Blue Star Families

Blue Star Families empowers military and Veteran families to thrive by connecting them with their civilian neighbors — both people and organizations — to create strong communities of mutual support. We believe we're all stronger when we take care of one another.

Our groundbreaking research is raising the nation's awareness of the unique challenges of military family life. With the help of neighbors across the country, Blue Star Families is overcoming the isolation and alienation of frequent moves, deployments, and reduced support from the government. Our innovative programs are solving specific challenges for military families, including fighting economic insecurity with resources that foster spouse career development, creating family strength with rich family programming, and providing critical peer support for caregivers, whose numbers are only increasing.

Blue Star Families is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. 

EEO Policy

Blue Star Families is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, age, national origin, disability status, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Why Blue Star Families?

• Mission-driven work supporting military service members and their families
• Flexible work options (remote, or hybrid depending on the role)
• Competitive salary
• Comprehensive benefits, including health, dental, and vision insurance
• 403(b) retirement plan with employer match
• Flexible Spending Accounts, life insurance, and disability insurance
• Communications allowance
• Professional development and career growth opportunities
• PCS leave for Active Duty military spouses