Senior Development Manager

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Who We Are! 🌍 Africa has the world's youngest and fastest-growing population. By 2035, the continent is poised to contribute more young people to the global workforce each year than the rest of the world combined. At Educate! we're obsessed with impact. We leverage iterative learning to build highly scalable youth employment solutions aimed at unlocking the potential of the world's youngest continent. Educate! prepares youth in Africa to learn, earn and thrive in today's economy by: Introducing an employment-focused school subject into secondary and Delivering livelihood boot camps for out-of-school youth, with a focus on marginalized rural girls and young women. To date, more than 500,000 youth have been meaningfully impacted across Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, and Tanzania, and along the way, Educate! has become the largest youth employment and skills provider in East Africa. Educate! is a team of over 300 largely African staff and 300 volunteer youth mentors. We prioritize building an engaging, fulfilling and growth oriented work environment. 50% of our top 30 leaders have been with us for over 5 years, 10+ alumni have started their own organizations, and 6 current or former team members were Acumen Fund East Africa fellows. We have been backed by top foundations such as Imaginable Futures , Livelihood Impact Fund , Jack Dorsey's #startsmall , CIFF and Echidna Giving . Educate! won a 2018 Klaus J. Jacobs Prize and a 2015 WISE Award , and has been highlighted by the World Bank's S4YE's Impact Portfolio , an Al Jazeera documentary , BBC , The Brookings Institution as one of 14 case studies on scaling education, and the Gates Foundation as a Goalkeepers Accelerator . In 2022, we received a catalytic investment from philanthropist Mackenzie Scott to scale our systems change work. Educate!'s long-term vision is to design solutions that measurably impact millions of youth across Africa each year. Good to note: To Our Awesome Applicants! 🚀💫 We know that incredible candidates sometimes hesitate to apply if they don't meet every requirement. If this role excites you, we encourage you to apply! We're looking for passionate individuals who believe in our mission and can bring unique perspectives to our team-not just those who check every box. We value diversity and strongly encourage women and individuals from all backgrounds to apply. Position Overview Over the past four years, Educate! has grown 3x - and we're just getting started. With an ambitious goal of reaching $100M in revenue by 2035, we are building the team and infrastructure to match the scale of our vision. This is a rare opportunity to join a high-performing organization at a key inflection point. The Senior Development Manager is a key role on Educate!'s revenue team, sitting at the intersection of strategy, execution, and relationship management. This person will play a critical role in driving our ambitious fundraising goals - leading external engagements with funders, developing compelling proposals, and ensuring seamless coordination across teams, while taking on increasing ownership of a growing portfolio of philanthropic funders. This role demands both strategic thinking and hands-on execution. In the near term, the balance leans toward execution: building proposals, coordinating funder visits, and keeping complex workstreams moving. Over time, as you develop your portfolio and demonstrate ownership, the balance shifts toward strategy and leadership. We're looking for someone who is energized by both, and clear-eyed about what that journey looks like. This role sits one step below Head level on our development team, and we expect the right candidate to grow into that position as they build impact and demonstrate ownership. What You'll Do🌟 Relationship Management (30%) Serve as a primary relationship manager for a defined portfolio of philanthropic funders - building trusted, long-term partnerships. Progressively take on ownership of a broader funder portfolio, with increasing responsibility for revenue targets and strategic account management. Maintain a deep understanding of funder priorities and proactively identify opportunities to align Educate!'s work with their interests. Represent Educate! with professionalism, warmth, and credibility in external engagements. Identify and develop new funder relationships in line with Educate!'s funding strategy and growth ambitions. Contribute to team strategy discussions and help shape how Educate! approaches the market as it scales toward $100M. Proposal Development & Strategic Writing (30%) Lead the development of high-quality funding proposals, concept notes, and grant applications - from strategy and structure through to submission. Edit and peer review external communications, ensuring consistent messaging and branding within the fundraising function. Synthesize complex programmatic information into compelling, funder-ready narratives. Collaborate with program and leaders

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