Senior Director, Government Development

About JFF

Jobs for the Future (JFF) drives transformation of the U.S. education and workforce systems to achieve economic advancement for all. Seeing that millions of people are unfairly shut out of quality jobs and the chance for a better life, our goal is to align education, workforce, and employment changemakers toward a shared North Star: By 2033, 75 million people facing systemic barriers to advancement will work in quality jobs.

To achieve that goal, we design solutions, scale best practices, influence policy and action, and invest in innovation. With a staff of more than 200 people across the country working remotely and in offices in Boston (headquarters), Washington, DC, and Oakland, California, we operate at the national, state, and local levels, forging deep partnerships with employers, investors, entrepreneurs, policymakers, and education and workforce development providers to break down barriers and reimagine what’s possible.

We’re on a path of ongoing growth and expanding impact. We have an operating budget of $105 million, and we’re funded by dozens of leading government agencies, foundations, and corporations. Learn more about JFF and join us as we build a future that works—for everyone.

Equal Employment Opportunity at JFF

Inclusion, belonging, and well-being are core to JFF’s North Star and mission, and we seek to invest in and learn from those who represent the communities we serve as it is important to the success of our work and the engagement of our staff members. We aim to cultivate a culture that centers the overall care, well-being, and success of the employee through flexible work hours, balanced workloads, professional development, and career advancement opportunities for all.

JFF is a fair chance employer and in alignment to our North Star , we hire based on qualifications, and experience, and we are committed to fair opportunity for all qualified candidates – including those without a 4-year degree or formally incarnated individuals.

About the Position

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.

What You’ll Do

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 stra