Managing Director, Prospect Management & Research

Title: Managing Director, Prospect Management and Research

TEAM: Development

REPORTS TO: VP, Fundraising Operations

LOCATION: Flexible

PRIORITY APPLICATION DEADLINE: June 10, 2026 at 11:59PM ET

We are looking for a candidate who is excited to shape how prospect strategy, research, and portfolio management drive fundraising outcomes across a complex, national organization. This role sits at the center of fundraising effectiveness, helping teams focus on the right donors at the right time with clear, data-informed strategy.

The ideal candidate will be passionate about translating information into action and will bring strong judgment, curiosity, and a consultative approach to partnership with frontline fundraisers. You will work closely with fundraising leaders to turn data and research into clear recommendations - guiding prioritization, strengthening portfolio discipline, and elevating how insights inform decision-making across the organization.

The goal of this role is to ensure that research and prospect management consistently lead to focused portfolios, stronger pipelines, and more effective fundraising action.

Set the vision and lead the Prospect Management and Research functions (30%)

• Define and drive a clear vision for prospect strategy, research, and portfolio management that strengthens fundraising outcomes

• Manage and coach a team of three, building a culture of strategic thinking, proactive partnership, and continuous improvement

• Align team priorities, workflows, and service model to organizational fundraising goals

• Serve as a strategic thought partner, advocate, and champion for the Prospect Management and Research functions across FundOps and Development leadership

Lead and evolve prospect management practices (25%)

• Strengthen portfolio strategy across the organization, including portfolio sizing, prioritization, and clear distinctions between portfolio and pipeline

• Define and codify prospect management policies and frameworks (e.g., entry, sunsetting, disqualification, engagement expectations) that drive consistency and focus

• Establish a clear moves management approach grounded in data and current-state analysis, helping teams understand how and when prospects should progress or sunset

• Design and support portfolio reviews that focus on decision-making and prioritization, not just data cleanup

• Apply and reinforce prospect assignment and management policies with consistency

Drive prospect analysis and prioritization at scale (20%)

• Identify patterns across portfolios (e.g., capacity gaps, stalled prospects, upgrade opportunities) and translate these into strategic insights

• Guide the development of analysis and outputs that help fundraisers prioritize the highest-value opportunities across pipelines

• Ensure the team’s work connects individual research requests to broader portfolio and organizational strategy

Build and scale a consultative partnership model with frontline fundraising teams (15%)

• Coach and enable the team to serve as strategic thought partners to fundraisers, moving beyond transactional research support

• Establish norms and expectations for how the team engages with stakeholders, including asking strategic questions and tailoring insights to fundraising goals

• Ensure team outputs synthesize research into clear, decision-ready insights that help fundraisers interpret information and determine how to act

• Establish systems and norms that ensure prospect insights are consistently captured, connected, and reused, enabling cumulative learning and reducing duplication across teams

• Build strong, trusted relationships with fundraising leaders to reinforce the team’s role as a strategic partner and advisor

Leverage technology and AI to enhance insight and efficiency (10%)

• Identify and implement ways to use technology and AI to accelerate analysis and surface insights

• Help establish best practices for effective and responsible use of emerging tools

• Shift team focus from manual research toward higher-value synthesis and strategy

• Continuously assess current databases and new products in the prospect development space to maximize effectiveness and efficiencies

No two weeks look exactly the same in this role, but most will find you moving fluidly between strategy and execution, leadership and partnership. Early in the week, you might be reviewing portfolio analysis, spotting patterns in stalled prospects or capacity gaps. Midweek could bring a portfolio review session where you're pushing the conversation beyond data cleanup and toward real prioritization decisions, helping a frontline team get sharper on which donors to pursue now and which to sunset. You'll carve out time to coach a team member on how to frame a research deliverable so it lands as a clear recommendation rather than a data dump. Later in the week, you might be piloting a new AI-assisted workflow to surface major gift upgrade opportunities faster, while also drafting a prospect management policy that's been on the roadmap for months. Woven throughout are relationship touchpoints - a coffee with a VP of Field Fundraising, a Slack thread with a regional development staff member who has a time-sensitive prospect question -  that reinforce your team's reputation as trusted strategic partners, not just a research service. Across all of it, you're balancing coaching your team, strengthening partnership norms, and shaping the function's overall approach, ensuring prospect Management and research consistently drives focus, clarity, and better fundraising outcomes.

• 7+ years of related experience in prospect development, fundraising intelligence, prospect and donor research, prospect management, or a closely related field

• Demonstrated ability to translate data and research into clear strategy and recommendations

• Experience working in complex, matrixed, or geographically distributed organizations

• Strong strategic thinking and judgment, with the ability to prioritize and make decisions in ambiguous situations

• Experience influencing stakeholders and building strong, trust-based relationships

• Ability to manage multiple priorities and drive work forward without perfect information

• Strong written and verbal communication skills

• Commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and ability to incorporate multiple perspectives into decision-making

• Experience in higher education, healthcare philanthropy, or other large-scale fundraising environments

• Experience leading or significantly shaping prospect management or portfolio strategy practices

• Familiarity with CRM systems (e.g., Microsoft Dynamics) and prospect research tools

• Experience leveraging data or AI tools to enhance analysis and workflow efficiency

• Prior people management experience

You will sit on the Fundraising Operations team, which supports Teach For America’s enterprise-wide fundraising efforts through strong data, systems, and operations. This team includes Data Governance, Reporting & Technology, Gift Processing, and Prospect Management and Research. The Prospect Management and Research team plays a critical role in helping fundraisers prioritize and act on opportunities, and is evolving to deepen its impact through stronger strategy, analysis, and partnership with frontline teams.

The applicable salary range for each U.S.-based role is based on where the employee works and is aligned to one of 3 tiers according to a cost of labor index in that geographic area. Starting pay for the successful applicant will depend on a variety of job-related factors, which may include education, training, experience, location, business needs, or market demands. New hires are typically brought into the organization at a salary between the range minimum and the salary range midpoint depending on qualifications, internal equity, and the budgeted amount for the role. The expected salary ranges for this role are set forth below. These ranges may be modified in the future.

Tier A: $90,000 - $122,800

Tier B: $98,000 - $133,800

Tier C: $106,100 - $144,800

You can view which tier applies to where you plan to work here.