Associate Director, Development - Development, Regional Portfolio

Associate Director, Development (Regional Portfolio)

Braven · Chicago, United States (Hybrid) · Full-time · Posted 2026-08-25

Workplace: hybrid

Description

Job Title: Associate Director, Development 

Team: External Affairs

Location: Hybrid in Chicago (IL) 

Employment Type: Full-time

FLSA Classification: Exempt 

Start Date: ASAP

About Braven

Braven is a national nonprofit that prepares promising college students to secure a strong first opportunity after college graduation through a career-accelerating program.

We work with higher education and employer partners to offer a life-changing experience that begins with a semester-long course for college students, followed by support that lasts through graduation.  

Together, our ambition is to help rebuild the middle class and revitalize the American Dream.

To learn more, take a look at Braven’s Jobs.

About the Role

In order to achieve its ambition of serving 80,000-100,000 Fellows over the next decade, Braven is hiring an Associate Director, Development (Regional Portfolio) who will drive the strategy for how the national team supports regions in their development goals, and be a key strategic partner and project manager to Braven’s regional teams. As a member of the External Affairs Development Team, you will be a key leader in helping the organization meet our org-wide target of raising approximately $200 million over the next three years. In this role, you will co-lead our regional development strategy by taking ownership of a dedicated portfolio of Braven’s regions, working in close partnership with an additional Associate Director of Regional Development who manages the parallel regional portfolio. Together, you will own the creation and standardization of systems and processes that enable the development team to manage the full donor pipeline with clarity, including driving the project management of our grant writing process to ensure it is streamlined, repeatable, and efficient while setting the strategy and creating the collateral necessary to achieve fundraising goals across both portfolios

This role is on the External Affairs team and reports directly to the Senior Director, Development.

This role includes the following responsibilities:

Regional Fundraising Strategy & Execution (65%)

• Drive and own the strategy for your assigned regional portfolio over the next three years to raise ~$23M in philanthropic gifts annually. This includes creating cross-cutting strategies, defining required best practices, and leading annual planning processes. You'll partner with regional teams to develop and activate their annual revenue strategy.
• Deeply understand the regional donor ecosystem, the funding landscape, and serve as a strategic thought partner to the regional Executive Directors and External Affairs Directors.
• Strategize with regional teams on how to engage donors through the Moves Management stages and project-manage the execution of next steps.
• Partner with the Executive Director and External Affairs Directors to identify, vet, and cultivate new prospects in the region.
• Track regional revenue progress to goal and the overall weighted pipeline. 
• In collaboration with the External Affairs Directors, you will project manage the implementation of quarterly action plans, adjusting as needed to ensure we are on track to achieve fundraising goals.
• Review grant applications and report drafts, providing critical feedback to regional teams and the grant writing team to ensure the timely submission of high-quality narratives and data.
• Attend weekly regional meetings to provide strategic guidance and ensure regions have the support they need to align with national fundraising goals.

Regional Development Operations & Donor Stewardship (30%)

• Partner with the counterpart Associate Director of Development to lead the creation of strong, standardized systems for donor stewardship to ensure regional teams are sharing the most compelling and up-to-date story with regional funders.
• Collaborate with Senior Director of Development and central teams (Data, Finance, Product, Systems) to ensure regional External Affairs Directors have timely and relevant inputs for grants and other donor communications. 
• Craft and standardize annual regional donor narratives, aligned to Braven’s strategic direction and the strategic direction of each region.
• In collaboration with the Communications and Marketing Team, develop high-quality, standardized collateral, including funder decks, regional grants, and reports, for regional teams.
• Maintain efficient, effective systems by keeping activities, campaigns, opportunities, and account information up to date in Salesforce and other platforms, ensuring your portfolio of regional teams stays on track to achieve their fundraising goals.
• Implement stewardship strategies and processes to acknowledge donations in a timely and thoughtful manner. 

Strategic External Stakeholder Management (5%)

• Serve as a leader in external relationships, engaging directly with funders and donors to build and sustain key partnerships in a role that is otherwise primarily internal-facingServe as a leader in external relationships, engaging directly with funders and donors to build and sustain key partnerships in a role that is otherwise primarily internal-facing. 

Other duties as assigned

Requirements

Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor’s or equivalent degree
• 5-7 years of work experience

Preferred Qualifications

• Thrives in ambiguity and finds joy in collaborating deeply with diverse teams in a rapidly growing organization.
• Demonstrated experience in leading complex projects with stakeholders from various teams (e.g., program, finance, data) that resulted in significant outcomes.
• Strong analytical skills; ability to research and synthesize complex data (outcomes, donor data) into a compelling story.
• Expertise in Salesforce or other CRM platforms like iWave, including a track record of building and managing effective systems.
• Highly motivated, self-directed, results-oriented, data-driven, and curious.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with a proven ability to craft compelling narratives and strategic documents.
• Highly-developed attention to detail and a strong customer-service orientation.
• Learns quickly and manages large volumes of feedback regularly.
• Exemplification of Braven’s core values.
• Experience that has informed your belief in Braven’s mission and has prepared you to work with, or for, Braven’s student Fellow population.

Please know that no one ever meets 100% of the preferred qualifications. If much of this describes you, we encourage you to apply.

Work Demands

• Ability to work in-person in Chicago (IL) at least 3 days per week
• Ability to travel 4-8 times annually out of state for regional team events
• Non-traditional hours (e.g. evenings or weekends) occasionally to meet grant/fundraising deadlines

Additional Requirements

• Authorized to work in the U.S.
• Braven doesn’t offer employment visa sponsorship

Application & Interview Process

While the interview process may vary slightly, the general process will be:

• Phone screen with Talent Team member
• Performance Task
• Interview with Hiring Manager
• Panel Interview with Key Partners
• Reference Checks

Benefits

Total Rewards

Braven provides competitive, comprehensive benefits, recognition, and career development. While Braven reserves the right to change benefits at any time, current benefits include: 

• Discretionary time off in addition to org-wide holidays and 2 week-long shutdowns in July and December  (this is a minimum of 19 days per year)
• Braven supports your path to parenthood and beyond with $25,000 in lifetime Carrot benefits for fertility, family-building, and hormonal health
• Match of your 401K contribution up to 5% of your base annual salary, starting your first full month
• Coverage of 85% of health insurance premium for employee and dependents
• 12 weeks of paid parental leave
• A one-month paid sabbatical after 4 years on staff
• Monthly $75 reimbursement for cell phone or internet
• Access to funding for continued career development 

Compensation

Braven offers opportunities for salary growth over time. We believe in compensating staff members fairly relative to one another, their qualifications, and their impact on the organization, and we take internal and external equity seriously. Given our commitment to equity, Braven does not negotiate salary offers; instead, each offer is carefully determined using external and internal benchmarks.

The hiring range is determined by role scope, qualifications, and internal equity, with annual growth based on performance. Braven does not base compensation on individual candidate salary expectations and is committed to maintaining internal equity. The hiring ranges for this role by geographic market are set forth in $76,000-$94,900. This is based on a 50-hour work week. This is a full-time, regular, exempt, and benefits-eligible position where you will be working at 100% capacity.  

Please note that Braven is firm in its compensation philosophy; therefore, only candidates who believe our total rewards package aligns with what they are looking for in their next opportunity are encouraged to apply.

Location

We gather in the office 3 days a week (Tuesday through Thursday) and work remotely 2 days a week (Monday and Friday). Therefore, this role requires teammates to live within commuting distance of Chicago, IL. We believe in the magic, connection, and collaboration that happens when people work together face-to-face, and we believe in giving people flexibility to focus, balance personal priorities, and save themselves two commutes per week.

Braven is an equal opportunity employer and considers qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected factor.  We encourage talented individuals of all backgrounds to apply.

Apply

Apply at Braven

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