Chief Development Officer

About Evidence Action

At Evidence Action, we deliver data-driven interventions that transform lives at an unprecedented scale. We identify neglected global health issues and deploy proven solutions, forging healthier futures for generations.

Our model operationalizes leading academic research (including from Nobel-winning economists). We measure progress and outcomes at every stage to ensure we’re making a real impact for people living in poverty and suffering from preventable or treatable health issues. Operating across 9 countries, our team of 800+ has reached over 500 million people, working closely with governments to scale these interventions.

• Our Deworm the World program has delivered over 2 billion treatments, significantly reducing worm prevalence and generating more than $23 billion in lifetime productivity gains. 
• Through Safe Water Now, we’ve saved the lives of over 15,000 children. 
• Our Accelerator explores untapped opportunities in global health, testing low-cost interventions with the greatest potential to save and improve lives. 

At Evidence Action, your colleagues are your greatest asset. You'll partner with high-caliber colleagues in an environment blending innovation, autonomy, and teamwork. Our team excels in disruptive thinking and believes in rolling up our sleeves to get things done. If you're looking to work flexibly and with purpose, join a team that delivers measurable change for millions.

The Role 

We are hiring an innovative Chief Development Officer to drive a step-change increase in Evidence Action’s impact - generating years of health for hundreds of millions of people globally. This full-time role reports directly to the CEO.  

In this capacity, you will oversee fundraising across retail and major individual donors, strategic foundations, and institutions, in close partnership with our programmatic and operations teams. Your team will build on our existing strong growth trajectory, while driving further transformative growth and impact. Since 2017 we’ve raised $230M+ from GiveWell alone, and in parallel have roughly doubled our other sources of funding. 

We are seeking candidates excited by blue sky thinking, with a strong track record in people management and development, and experienced at defining ambitious vision and translating into tactical execution. Your team will take our growth to the next level, leveraging untapped donor opportunities in new programmatic areas. The right candidate is excited by the opportunity to drive and build pipelines across multiple programmatic portfolios. You are analytical and a strong communicator, with the ability to translate complex research into clear, compelling narratives. 

This role will be crucial to developing new funding models for first-of-their-kind government assistance projects - ranging from delivering safe water at scale across India, to scaling life-saving maternal syphilis treatment across Africa- in turn, transforming outcomes for entire generations. In addition, they’ll lead how we define and tell the story of this work through major media placements, talks, and content - helping to further build a movement in evidence-based aid. 

Responsibilities

• Own  the roadmap, vision, and execution of scaling annual donations across: 
• Individuals fundraising: Lead the end-to-end funnel of individual donors (both retail and high net worth) - reaching new audiences with the story of Evidence Action’s impact, strengthening ties with our existing community of supporters, leveraging advocates, testing new forms of insight-based storytelling, personalizing updates, and more.
• Institutional fundraising: Partner with program teams on scaling our work across strategic foundations and major institutions, and advocate across the sector for evidence-based aid.
• Communications, press, & website: Own Evidence Action’s brand voice and narrative, finding the most interesting and differentiating operational content - from work with fluid dynamics engineers in India to partnering with Nobel Prize-winning Economists.
• Donor analytics: Oversee analytics infrastructure and reporting.
• Manage existing team of 7 employees, scaling to ~10.
• Serve on leadership team of ~ eight hundred person organization.
• Be a passionate advocate and spokesperson for Evidence Action's mission and approach, in meetings with donors and partners, press interviews, and conferences.
• Drive communications strategy, defining and owning the Evidence Action brand.
• Drive organization transformation, training team members on best practices in fundraising and relationship management.
• Establish systems to ensure meaningful scale, including analytics infrastructure, donor pipelines, Salesforce tooling, and more.

Requirements

• You have 10+ years of experience, with 5+ years in fundraising and/or resource mobilization

• You have experience growing pipelines of $30M+
• You are experienced in leading top performing teams (5+) and developing team members
• You are creative in execution - you see opportunities that others don’t, iterative approach to testing and validating tactics
• You are curious with a passion for “the close" (persistence in converting prospects into donors)
• You utilize a strong prioritization framework
• You provide timely and actionable feedback to others; proactively solicit feedback and iterate
• You are comfortable with data analysis and Excel (can perform complex functions)
• You are willing to travel 10-20% of the time

Position Location

This role can be hybrid or remote within the United States; our US office is in Washington DC. This role will require ~30% travel nationally and internationally as needed.

We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment visa at this time. Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States for roles based in United States.

Benefits

We consider multiple factors when determining the base salary for a role, including but not limited to: role scope, program budgets, internal equity, and a candidate’s qualifications and/or prior experience. Pay and benefits will be commensurate with the role specifications, local statutory requirements, and the cost of labor in the markets where we operate. 

For US based roles, Evidence Action provides comprehensive benefits including international health care, HSA/FSA options, life insurance, disability coverage, retirement plans with a matching component, generous and flexible leave options, as well as other employee perks on a reimbursement basis. For more information visit our  or ask our recruiting team!

The pay range for this role: $225,000 - $275,000

Evidence Action is an Equal Opportunity Employer with a commitment to diversity. All individuals, regardless of personal characteristics, are encouraged to apply.