Senior Director, Government Development

The Senior Director, Government Development is a senior leader on JFF’s Development team, advancing mission-aligned public sector revenue in support of JFF’s North Star Goal: By 2033, 75 million Americans facing barriers to economic advancement will have quality jobs.

The role leads strategy, capture, proposal development, and team operations across federal, state, and local government grants and contracts, at the intersection of workforce development, education, and economic development.

The Senior Director will strengthen and grow JFF’s government funding portfolio by identifying high-potential opportunities where public investment can advance JFF’s mission; building relationships with public agency clients and external partners; leading competitive capture strategies; and ensuring proposal teams have the clarity, structure, and support to deliver strong submissions. The role also helps position JFF for successful project launches and transitions following new awards.

The Senior Director reports to the Vice President of Development and works closely with the Development Leadership Team, program leaders, Finance, Operations, and other colleagues across JFF. The role leads a Government Development team of two and manages cross-functional teams of staff and consultants assembled for specific opportunities.

JFF’s Government Development team focuses on federal, state, local, and other public sector funding opportunities. The team analyzes funding data; identifies and assesses opportunities; develops relationships with prospective government funders and partner organizations; facilitates go/no-go decisions; and manages proposal development from concept development through to submission. The team uses Salesforce for opportunity and relationship management, Asana for proposal and project management, and SharePoint for proposal content and boilerplate.

The ideal candidate should be located in Washington D.C. or in close proximity to the region.

Lead government revenue strategy and capture

• Develop and manage JFF’s strategy for outreach, engagement, and relationship development with current and prospective public agency clients.
• In partnership with the Vice President of Development and the Development Leadership Team, the Senior Director contributes to setting overall Development strategy, goals, and key performance indicators, ensuring that Government Development priorities, measures, and resource decisions advance the broader fundraising portfolio.
• Cultivate and steward external strategic partnerships and project-specific partnerships that strengthen JFF’s ability to pursue and deliver public sector work.
• Develop and execute a comprehensive government grants and contracts strategy aligned with JFF’s mission, North Star, enterprise priorities, and revenue goals, with an emphasis on federal and state funding.
• Lead market research and opportunity identification across federal, state, and local agencies, with particular attention to opportunities at the intersection of education, workforce, and economic development.
• Establish and manage disciplined opportunity assessment and go/no-go practices, including clear criteria, decision rights, timelines, risk analysis, and resource implications.
• Build and manage capture plans for high-priority contract and grant opportunities, including client strategy, competitor analysis, positioning, partner strategy, pricing considerations, and proposal planning.
• Maintain a government funding calendar and pipeline forecast that connect prospective opportunities, procurement timelines, and recompetes to JFF’s revenue goals and strategic priorities.
• Track federal, state, and local public sector funding trends, agency priorities, and procurement calendars to inform proactive pipeline development.
• Maintain a continuous improvement process that tracks outcomes, successful and unsuccessful, to inform and refine future proposal submissions.

Lead proposal development and project delivery

• Lead Development’s response to complex federal, state, and local government procurements including contracts, grants, cooperative agreements, and related public sector opportunities that align with JFF’s mission and areas of focus.
• Assemble and manage cross-functional proposal teams that may include program leaders, subject matter experts, Finance, Resource Management, Legal and Contracts, Communications, external partners, and consultants.
• Establish proposal workplans, roles, decision rights, timelines, review cycles, and escalation paths at the start of each pursuit.
• Coordinate with program leaders and subject matter experts to shape technical responses and service delivery models that are responsive to public needs and grounded in JFF’s expertise.
• Serve as a lead writer, editor, strategist, and quality assurance partner for high-priority proposals.
• Oversee the development of compliant, persuasive, audience-centered narratives, technical approaches, management plans, past performance materials, staffing plans, partner documentation, budgets, and cost proposals.
• Guide competitive pricing and level-of-effort strategies in partnership with Finance and program leadership.
• Guide partner exploration, negotiation, and documentation when JFF is a prime contractor, grant recipient, subcontractor, subrecipient, or other project partner.
• Pursue or update relevant Government Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) agreements.
• Ensure that submissions meet all requirements and are completed with sufficient time for meaningful review and approval.
• Advise program and business unit leaders on client management and launch readiness following new awards, including clear handoffs, staffing assumptions, partner commitments, budgets, and reporting expectations.
• Analyze proposal outcomes, capture lessons learned from the technical and business proposal development process, and use findings to improve future strategy, positioning, pricing, and execution.

Build team capacity and operating discipline

• Build and lead the Government Development team within JFF’s Development Team, with two direct reports.
• Set clear expectations for team roles, ownership, decision-making, communication, quality, and follow-through so colleagues can do their best work.
• Coach and mentor staff, support career development, and create opportunities for increasing responsibility and expertise.
• Manage internal and external consultants supporting government capture, proposal development, pricing, research, and related work.
• Partner with the Vice President of Development, Development Leadership Team, Finance, and Operations to align staffing and capacity with the government pipeline and broader fundraising portfolio.
• Design and deliver training for program, business unit, and Development colleagues on government capture, proposal development, pricing, partnership strategy, and effective participation on proposal teams.
• Strengthen the systems and infrastructure that support government development, including Salesforce opportunity management, Asana workflows, SharePoint content, proposal templates, standard operating procedures, and reusable content.
• Promote consistent use of project management practices, shared documentation, review protocols, and post-submission learning across the team.

Model JFF’s values and ways of working

• Advance JFF’s mission and North Star through thoughtful, ethical, and strategic public sector fundraising.
• Build trusted relationships across lines of difference and collaborate effectively with colleagues who bring varied roles, experiences, perspectives, and expertise.
• Create a positive, inclusive, accountable, and learning-oriented team culture.
• Communicate clearly, surface risks early, make timely decisions, and help teams navigate trade-offs with transparency and good judgment.
• Apply curiosity, adaptability, and a growth mindset to changing public sector conditions and organizational priorities.

Who You Are

• You bring at least 15 years of progressively responsible experience in public sector business development, nonprofit leadership, capture, grants, contracts, fundraising, consulting, or a related field.
• You have a demonstrated record of leading successful federal and state grant and contract pursuits, including complex, cross-functional proposals in workforce development, education, economic development, or adjacent policy and systems-change contexts.
• You understand federal and state procurement and grant processes and can translate public sector requirements, solicitation terms, and eligibility criteria into compelling strategies, workplans, and submissions.
• You have proven experience building strong relationships in federal agencies and key stakeholders within the Washington, DC–Maryland–Virginia (DMV) region with a demonstrated track record of cultivating trusted networks that surface emerging opportunities and advance the organization’s government development goals.
• You are skilled at building relationships with government clients, partners, subcontractors, subrecipients, and other external stakeholders.
• You have experience developing or overseeing competitive pricing, budgets, cost proposals, and level-of-effort assumptions for government opportunities, including alignment with applicable government cost requirements as defined in the FAR.
• You can proactively identify, qualify, and prioritize opportunities based on mission alignment, competitiveness, revenue potential, organizational capacity, risk, and impact.
• You are an excellent writer and editor who can synthesize complex information and develop clear, persuasive, audience-centered content.
• You have experience managing and developing staff, including setting expectations, providing feedback, coaching performance, and supporting career growth, and you model inclusive leadership and help create a workplace where people can contribute, learn, grow, and do their best work.
• You are an effective project and people leader who brings structure to complex work, clarifies ownership, anticipates bottlenecks, and keeps teams moving toward shared deadlines.
• You are comfortable influencing without formal authority and collaborating with program leaders, subject matter experts, Finance, Legal and Contracts, Resource Management, and external partners.
• You bring a strong process and systems improvement orientation and experience using CRM, project management, and proposal management tools. Experience with Salesforce, Asana, or similar platforms is helpful.
• You implement processes and systems for gathering data and deploying information to inform and enhance the work of teams and functions and lead innovation and improvement initiatives to increase effectiveness, innovation, and quality.
• You exercise sound judgment and can balance strategic priorities, technical requirements, people, resources, risk, and impact.
• You bring high energy and genuine commitment to JFF’s mission and North Star goal.
• You are a curious and adaptive learner who welcomes new information, perspectives, and data.