Development Lead - Prospect Research & New Business Development

Job description

**This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, which manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Development Lead – Prospect Research & New Business Development based in the United States.** As Development Lead, you will strengthen fundraising strategy by identifying, evaluating, and developing high-potential funding opportunities across individual, foundation, corporate, and public-sector channels. You will lead prospect research and pipeline development, helping teams focus their time and resources on the relationships most likely to generate meaningful financial support. Working closely with fundraising professionals, program teams, and senior leadership, you will transform complex prospect intelligence into actionable recommendations that advance organizational priorities. You will improve prospect management systems, data quality, reporting, and workflows to increase visibility into opportunities and strengthen fundraising performance. By leveraging research tools, automation, and AI responsibly, you will help modernize prospect development while maintaining high standards of ethics, privacy, and human judgment. This remote opportunity is ideal for an experienced prospect research professional who combines analytical expertise, fundraising knowledge, and cross-functional leadership. You will contribute to a mission-driven organization focused on accelerating the transition to a clean energy future through strategic partnerships and impactful funding. ### Accountabilities: - Lead and continuously improve prospect research and development activities across multiple fundraising channels, including individual donors, high-net-worth individuals, foundations, corporate philanthropy, corporate service partnerships, and public-sector funding. - Build and maintain centralized prospect lists and pipelines by integrating intelligence from business development initiatives, program teams, fundraising colleagues, events, executive engagements, and evolving funding opportunities. - Identify, assess, and recommend domestic and international funding prospects based on giving capacity, inclination, organizational affinity, relationship access, readiness, timing, and strategic alignment. - Prioritize opportunities that support unrestricted giving, flexible funding, general operating expenses, and high-priority programs, with particular emphasis on individual and major-donor prospects. - Apply recognized prospect development standards and ethical research practices to capacity analysis, relationship mapping, due diligence, reputational assessment, and privacy-conscious information management. - Lead cross-functional new business development initiatives by coordinating research delivery, facilitating meetings, maintaining accountability, tracking follow-up actions, and preparing concise prospect briefings with clear recommendations. - Manage prospect pipelines across individual programs and the broader organization, monitoring opportunity status, prospect movement, relationship ownership, next steps, and follow-up commitments. - Conduct pipeline analysis and financial reviews to identify funding gaps, high-potential prospects, outreach opportunities, and actions needed to advance fundraising objectives. - Partner with relationship managers and program colleagues to prioritize prospects, identify engagement gaps, improve follow-up, and escalate persistent barriers to fundraising leadership. - Translate prospect intelligence and pipeline data into actionable recommendations that guide relationship-building efforts and help senior leaders allocate their time and attention effectively. - Maintain accurate and reliable prospect information in Salesforce, including relationship records, ratings, attributes, opportunities, tasks, engagement activity, prospect status, and next steps. - Collaborate with Development Operations and data and technology teams to improve prospect data models, reporting environments, data standards, tagging, dashboards, and quality-control processes. - Develop standardized practices for assessing prospect capacity, inclination, affinity, and readiness, ensuring consistent qualification and prioritization across fundraising teams. - Evaluate research databases, prospect intelligence platforms, data enrichment services, AI-enabled tools, automation solutions, and external vendors to improve research effectiveness and operational efficiency. - Use AI and automation responsibly to streamline repetitive work, accelerate prospect discovery, improve reporting, and support prioritization while preserving human judgment, data privacy, documentation standards, and ethical oversight. - Identify and implement process improvements across research requests, prospect qualification, outreach handoffs, data management, reporting, and organizational knowledge-sharing. - Promote consistent adoption of prospect research standards by sharing knowledge, developing practical workflows, and training Development, Strategic Engagement, and Program colleagues. - Provide guidance to staff, contractors, interns, and external vendors involved in research, data management, and related operational activities as needed. ## Requirements: - Bachelor's degree or equivalent relevant professional experience. - At least 5 years of dedicated experience in prospect research, prospect development, fundraising operations, donor services, advancement services, or a related nonprofit fundraising function. - Familiarity with the Apra Body of Knowledge, recognized prospect development methodologies, and ethical research standards. Apra membership, relevant training, or equivalent professional development is preferred. - Demonstrated experience identifying and qualifying prospects across multiple fundraising channels, including high-net-worth individuals, family offices, family foundations, donor-advised fund holders, institutional foundations, corporate philanthropy partners, fee-for-service partners, and public-sector funders. - Experience with individual giving and major-donor research is particularly valuable. - Proficiency in prospect research tools and methodologies, including platforms such as DonorSearch, WealthX, Foundation Directory, Relationship Science, and Salesforce, as well as screening, relationship mapping, public records research, due diligence, and moves management. - Strong data analysis skills, including experience with Salesforce reports and dashboards, prospect segmentation, data mining, database overlays, data hygiene, pipeline reporting, and collaboration on CRM or data warehouse improvements. - Experience using or evaluating AI-powered research tools, workflow automation, data enrichment solutions, or vendor platforms to improve research efficiency, accuracy, and decision-making. - Excellent analytical and organizational skills, with the ability to interpret complex information, identify promising opportunities, and translate findings into clear, actionable fundraising recommendations. - Strong project management and stakeholder coordination capabilities, including the ability to manage competing priorities, facilitate meetings, track commitments, and maintain accountability across a matrixed organization. - Excellent written communication skills, particularly the ability to prepare concise prospect profiles, research briefings, analytical reports, and executive-ready recommendations. - Strong interpersonal and collaboration skills, with the ability to build productive relationships with fundraising professionals, program teams, senior leaders, and external partners. - Sound professional judgment, discretion, and a demonstrated commitment to ethical research, confidentiality, privacy, and responsible handling of sensitive information. - Ability to distinguish general prospect intelligence from actionable funding opportunities and to prioritize work based on strategic relevance, readiness, and potential impact. - Experience in environmental sustainability, climate, clean energy, or another mission-driven sector is an advantage but not required. - Current, independent authorization to work in the United States is required. Employment visa sponsorship is not available for this position. - Willingness to participate in occasional in-person meetings, team retreats, and geographic gatherings, with business travel expenses covered by the employer. ## Benefits: - **Competitive annual salary:** Salary range of **$76,030–$93,707**, with compensation determined by experience, market benchmarks, and internal equity. New hires typically start toward the lower end of the range. - **Annual bonus opportunity:** Target annual bonus of 5%, with eligibility for additional merit-based increases tied to individual and organizational performance. - **Comprehensive healthcare:** Medical, dental, and vision insurance. - **Retirement savings:** Access to a 403(b) retirement plan with employer matching and immediate vesting. - **Insurance protection:** Group life insurance, accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D), and short- and long-term disability coverage, with additional voluntary insurance options available. - **Health and wellness support:** Health savings and flexible spending accounts, fertility and hormonal health support, and mental health and wellness programs. - **Generous paid leave:** Paid time off, sick leave, comprehensive leave programs, generous parental leave, and paid sabbatical opportunities. - **Regional holidays and extended breaks:** Paid regional holidays and at least one extended break in each geographic region. - **Remote work flexibility:** A remote-ready work environment with the ability to work from anywhere in the continental United States. - **Home office support:** Essential IT equipment, a one-time home technology payment, and a monthly work-from-home or commuter allowance. - **Professional development:** Access to LinkedIn Learning and an annual individual professional development budget to support continuous learning and career growth. - **Team connection and collaboration:** Company-sponsored retreats, geographic meetups, and opportunities for in-person learning and collaboration, with travel expenses covered. - **Employee recognition and additional perks:** Rewards and recognition programs, plus access to discount offerings such as gym memberships and pet insurance. - **Meaningful mission:** The opportunity to support fundraising initiatives that help accelerate clean energy adoption, reduce climate pollution, and advance a sustainable, zero-carbon future.