DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR SKILLS, EXPERIENCE, AND JOB REQUIREMENTS

Updated: Dec 2, 2024 - The Development Director has expert knowledge in software development, with a vast array of tools and processes, and a proven ability to deliver highly critical projects successfully. This role demands significant project and risk management expertise, evident in the management of large-scale internal projects, and the ability to navigate multiple projects. The director has strong leadership, exceptional change management skills, and the capability to adapt swiftly in dynamic environments, driving results with passion and influencing outcomes at all organizational levels.

Essential Hard and Soft Skills for a Standout Development Director Resume
  • Strategic Planning
  • Fundraising
  • Financial Management
  • Grant Writing
  • Project Management
  • Data Analysis
  • Marketing and Communications
  • Budgeting
  • CRM Software Proficiency
  • Donor Relationship Management
  • Leadership
  • Communication
  • Negotiation
  • Problem Solving
  • Team Collaboration
  • Adaptability
  • Time Management
  • Persuasion
  • Conflict Resolution
  • Emotional Intelligence

Summary of Development Director Knowledge and Qualifications on Resume

1. BA in Business Administration with 5 years of Experience

  • Understanding and enthusiasm for social innovation and impact investing space and increasing revenue to support social enterprises
  • Experience in cultivating deep relationships with major donors, investors, companies, foundations, or event donors
  • Understanding of project management systems and databases such as Salesforce, Basecamp, Give Lively, etc. and willingness to work with them hands-on to coordinate a large team and keep track of funders/prospects
  • Track record of success working in close partnership with a dynamic CEO or President and direct experience working with high-powered Board Members
  • Demonstrated success in increasing the number of donors and/or investors in a portfolio of prospects, as well as the scale of contributions
  • Creative and entrepreneurial approach, with an orientation toward results
  • Comfort establishing clear metrics and driving results according to plan while maintaining a high degree of flexibility and creativity within a constantly changing environment
  • Demonstrated ability to communicate clearly and persuasively, orally and in writing
  • Strong ability to identify and prioritize prospects
  • Ability to identify opportunities for process improvement and leverage Salesforce to optimize fundraising, donor stewardship and move management
  • Ability to work collaboratively with programs team to draft proposals, incorporate fundraising into ongoing organizational communications and events

2. BS in Marketing with 3 years of Experience

  • Exceptional networking and relationship management skills, with a demonstrated history of stewarding partnerships from transactional to transformational.
  • Strong project management skills and experience working across departments and teams to implement a successful partnership strategy.
  • Entrepreneurial, self-starter with a growth mindset, committed to building positive, solutions-oriented internal and external relationships. 
  • High level of self-awareness, humility, and emotional intelligence. 
  • Exceptional verbal and written communication skills
  • Ability to enhance efficiency and communication among development, programs and finance team
  • Possess financial understanding and acumen
  • Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications (especially Word, Excel, Outlook) and Internet research
  • Strong organizational, leadership and team-building skills with the ability to promote productivity and efficiency
  • Energetic, passionate and experienced development professional with a wide range of fundraising accomplishments under belt.
  • Strong at creating and determining development strategies and action plans and skilled at communicating them.

3. BA in Nonprofit Management with 4 years of Experience

  • Exceptional leadership, business and interpersonal skills.
  • Excellent persuasion skills, a good networker and a good negotiator.
  • Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
  • Demonstrable successful experience in business development.
  • A creative mind with an ability to drive improvements in quality.
  • Time management skills and the ability to prioritize.
  • An existing network of contacts within the sector.
  • Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills.
  • Demonstrated ability to read, write, and communicate effectively.
  • Expert-level proficiency in word processing, spreadsheet (Excel), and database management programs in order to complete, design, and develop required reports and documents.
  • Excellent interpersonal and relationship-management skills
  • Strong organizational, time-management, and project-management skills in order to effectively track, report, and manage multiple projects and priorities where meeting deadlines is critical.

4. BS in Public Relations with 2 years of Experience

  • Full life-cycle game dev experience
  • Solid understanding of modern project management practices, including Scrum and Kanban
  • Experience scheduling and scoping large and complex deliverables.
  • Experience managing cross-functional teams
  • Experience leading, growing, and mentoring producers
  • Experience at the game development director level is valued
  • Cross-discipline work experience valued
  • Passion for games, particularly multiplayer games
  • Experience designing strategy, creating stewardship plans, communicating well and motivating teams.
  • Comfortable training and mentoring other board members on donor relations, and communicating fundraising goals and progress throughout the entire organization.
  • Demonstrated successful working relationships with clients, suppliers, and other internal and external contacts

5. BA in Fundraising and Philanthropy with 6 years of Experience

  • Excellent knowledge of software development, tools, and processes.
  • Proven track record of successful delivery of highly critical projects.
  • Significant project and risk management experience.
  • Experience managing a large internal project (60+ team members) and/or multiple projects including project auditing and steering.
  • Excellent written and verbal communication and possesses strong emotional intelligence skills.
  • Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills - able to work on complex problems where analysis of situations requires an in-depth evaluation of various factors.
  • Proficient in Microsoft Office, and project management tools (e.g. Microsoft Project, Jira Hansoft).
  • Strong leadership skills, and ability to challenge and influence a variety of stakeholders.
  • Excellent change management skills, i.e., comfortable with ambiguity and constant change, yet able to set priorities and execute on commitments.
  • Ability to adapt quickly and be effective in new situations in a highly dynamic environment.
  • Possess passion, energy, enthusiasm to drive results
  • Effective communication skills, proven ability to influence outcomes across all levels of the organization.

6. BS in Communications with 5 years of Experience

  • Demonstrated track record in fundraising, sales and marketing.
  • Demonstrated ability to recruit, train and manage volunteers with success in delegating and accomplishing goals through empowering volunteers.
  • Effective oral and written communication skills.
  • Effective interpersonal skills with demonstrated ability to develop collaborative working relationships internally and externally.
  • Ability to organize and plan a complex campaign in a highly dynamic environment.
  • Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications.
  • Experience managing and cultivating high-level leaders at the C-Suite level.
  • Knowledge of corporate and community networks.
  • Knowledge of AHA’s mission and programs.
  • Tools skills/experience in Mainframe, Midrange, Cloud (Google, Azure), PCF, Java-based platforms and frameworks, APIs, Microservice architectures & cloud components.
  • Considerable experience transforming a delivery team to adopt Agile principles and operate in a DevOps environment enabling CI/CD (Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery).

7. BA in Organizational Leadership with 3 years of Experience

  • Experience managing operating budgets and project budgets
  • Strong project management skills, able to multi-task and manage concurrent projects
  • Experience with vendor product assessment & selection, vendor management & negotiating contractual terms
  • Proven ability to deliver platforms and capabilities and manage solutions through the lifecycle
  • Significant experience leading complex solution implementations and team sizes ranging from 50 to 100 resources
  • Experience with customer information technologies.
  • Deep understanding of heterogeneous infrastructure technologies, business drivers, emerging technology trends related to customer information systems – e.g. Mainframe, IBM MDM, Customer communication, Cloud, API integration, and leading transformational change incorporating modern technologies.
  • Subject area experience with Financial Industry products and services
  • Retail Banking/Lending, Commercial Banking/Lending, Credit Card Processing
  • Subject area experience with anti-money laundering & KYC, compliance and regulatory requirements (such as AML, CASL, OSFI)

8. BA in Organizational Leadership with 7 years of Experience

  • Successful experience in individual, major, and corporate fundraising (planned giving experience)
  • Ability to understand the needs and interests of leadership and major gift donors, corporate sponsors, and other funders to develop relationships between them and the agency.
  • Successful experience in making cold calls as well as developing cultivation and solicitation strategies.
  • Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to work cooperatively with a diverse staff and volunteers.
  • Able to prioritize goals, projects, and work activities, and manage tasks simultaneously
  • Have a demonstrated record of completing assignments, and be able to work independently with minimal supervision.
  • Exceptional oral and written communication skills.
  • Word-processing, Microsoft Excel, and CRM (customer relationship management) software/database experience.
  • Knowledge of health and social service needs of persons with HIV/AIDS.
  • Must have sensitivity to, interest in, and competence in cultural differences, HIV/AIDS, minority health, sexual practices, substance use disorders
  • A demonstrated competence in working with persons of color and members of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexua,l and Transgender community.
  • Proficiency in all Microsoft Office applications and other computer applications

9. BA in Management Information Systems with 5 years of Experience

  • Extensive experience managing a team of developers
  • Extensive experience in managing remote teams (ideally teams of differing time zones, remote FTE as well as near-shore, offshore outsourced teams)
  • Experienced in managing software development projects
  • Excellent facilitation skills, including meeting content/agenda and proactive/creative management of issues
  • Excellent learning ability in a broad range of topics in the Information Technology field
  • Knowledge of network hardware, protocols, and standards
  • Knowledge of applicable data privacy practices and laws
  • Ability to manage multiple ongoing projects concurrently
  • Extensive experience in a variety of software development technologies (primarily . NET)
  • Extensive experience in RDBMS (SQL Server)
  • Extensive experience in desktop and web front-end development (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, AJAX, JQuery, JSON)

10. BA in Economics with 10 years of Experience

  • Experience in a leadership role with technical architecture, data, application development, or delivery focus
  • Experience managing operating budgets and project budgets
  • Strong project management skills, able to multi-task and manage concurrent projects
  • Experience with vendor product assessment and selection, vendor management, and negotiating contractual terms
  • Proven ability to deliver platforms and capabilities and manage solutions through the lifecycle
  • Significant experience leading complex solution implementations and team sizes ranging from 50 to 100 resources
  • Experience working with customer information technologies.
  • Deep understanding of heterogeneous infrastructure technologies, business drivers, and emerging technology trends related to customer information systems
  • Subject area experience with Financial Industry products and services such as Retail Banking/Lending, Commercial Banking/Lending, Credit Card Processing
  • Subject area experience with anti-money laundering and KYC, compliance, and regulatory requirements (such as AML, CASL, OSFI) is an asset
  • Tools skills/experience in Mainframe, Midrange, Cloud (Google, Azure), PCF, Java-based platforms and frameworks, APIs, Microservice architectures, and cloud components.
  • Considerable experience transforming a delivery team to adopt Agile principles and operate in a DevOps environment enabling CI/CD (Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery).

11. BA in Project Management with 6 years of Experience

  • Multiple titles launched as a part of a game development team or solid experience as a Project Manager
  • Demonstrate leadership and ability to motivate the team, keeping all members focused on the goals.
  • Organizational skills and ability to execute projects on time, and at the expected level of quality.
  • Show dependability and commitment to projects and tasks.
  • A good understanding of various disciplines that go into game development such as programming, art, design, and audio.
  • Ability to interpret design documents and project schedules to establish and communicate scope.
  • Ability to provide both focused and inspiring creative leadership.
  • Passion for playing and making games and an excellent understanding of what makes them fun
  • Software development experience or other related experience
  • Project management or team leadership experience.
  • Game industry experience in any discipline (programming, art, production, audio, etc.)

12. BA in Business Administration with 12 years of Experience

  • Experience in multifamily/industrial development and redevelopment with a successful track record of numerous completed projects from inception to stabilization.
  • Strong understanding of land use, entitlement, and development processes, including title, zoning, surveys, general plans, and environmental policies.
  • A strong understanding of the California entitlement and CEQA process.
  • Working knowledge of multifamily and industrial markets, as well as in-depth knowledge of specific neighborhoods.
  • Excellent working knowledge of real estate investment principles, and drivers of project financial performance.
  • Solid analytical skills and ability to multi-task in a constantly changing environment.
  • Strong verbal, written, and interpersonal communication skills.
  • Disciplined, organized, flexible, productive, work well independently and within a team.
  • Experience overseeing consultants and critiquing consultant work products.
  • Expertise in Excel financial modeling, Microsoft Project, Argus, and various other real estate research platforms.
  • Experience managing diverse teams across different time zones and locations
  • Outstanding time management and organizational skills
  • Excellent judgment, attention to detail, intuitive interpersonal skills, and problem-solving abilities
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