Chief Development Officer

Brief Description

LaunchCode is looking for a Chief Development Officer to lead fundraising for Hire Human, our new national AI upskilling and job placement initiative. You will own fundraising strategy, major giving, and grant relationships end to end — helping us scale from serving thousands each year to tens of thousands. Strategic fundraising and earned revenue make our free, open-to-all programs possible.

The momentum is already building. This year, we launched three in-house AI courses designed around employer demand. Nearly 5,000 people have engaged with our curriculum, and employers in our hiring network have already committed to hiring graduates.

Now it’s time to scale.

You will lead a small team and have significant ownership over the future of development at LaunchCode. We’re a lean, remote nonprofit where everyone — including senior leaders — stays close to the work. We’re looking for a hands-on fundraiser who moves fast, builds relationships proactively, and thrives in the early stages of building something ambitious.

Ideally, you’ll bring an established network of donors, foundations, and funders you can activate from day one. If you’re a builder who wants to create a national fundraising function — not inherit one — we want to hear from you.

Essential Duties/Responsibilities

• Design and execute a multi-year national fundraising strategy for the Hire Human initiative, aligned to LaunchCode's national growth goals.
• Lead major giving — build, manage, and close a personal portfolio of major donor and institutional relationships.
• Own grant strategy and execution end to end: prospecting, proposal development, submission, award management, and reporting.
• Manage and develop a small team for donor relations and grant support.
• Build the relationships and pipeline needed to scale Hire Human from a regional to a national program.
• Serve as the primary external face of LaunchCode for institutional funders and strategic partners, including travel as needed.
• Collaborate with the executive and finance teams to integrate fundraising into overall organizational growth, revenue goals, and forecasting.

Required Skills/Abilities

• Demonstrated track record of personally closing six- and seven-figure gifts or grants
• Experience building or scaling a development function, ideally in a lean or startup-like environment
• Deep network of existing funder, foundation, and major donor relationships
• Comfort operating with significant autonomy and limited layers of support
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including grant writing and donor-facing presentation
• Passion for AI, continued learning and workforce development

Required Experience

• 9+ years of nonprofit development experience in progressively responsible leadership positions with at least 5 years in a senior leadership role, including direct responsibility for major gifts and grants

Preferred Experience

• Experience fundraising for workforce development, education, or tech-sector nonprofits
• Familiarity with national foundation and federal/state workforce funding landscapes (e.g., DOL/ETA)
• Experience managing a small team through a period of rapid growth
• Experience with Asana, AI tooling and HubSpot or similar CRM/fundraising tools
• Maintain an active CFRE certification

Physical Requirements/Travel Requirements

• Occasional travel (5 -10%) to various LaunchCode events as needed.
• Prolonged periods of sedentary work in an office environment, necessitating extended periods of sitting at a desk and working on a computer.
• Candidates should possess visual acuity for focusing on computer screens and documents, as well as manual dexterity for operating standard office equipment.
• Occasional lifting of light to moderate objects up to 15 pounds.

About LaunchCode LaunchCode is a nonprofit cultivating and adding new talent to technology ecosystems across the nation through free, accessible technical education, job readiness training, and innovative talent solutions for companies of all sizes. At LaunchCode, we know that while talent is evenly distributed, opportunity is not. Our innovative model removes barriers and opens doors to aspiring technologists from all walks of life.

We value passion, drive, and aptitude over credentials and believe it is imperative that companies should, too. Want to learn more? Visit our careers page to learn more about how you can help shape our vision!

Benefits at LaunchCode

• 12 paid holidays and accrue 25 days of Paid Time Off per year
• 100% employer-funded medical, dental, and vision insurance premiums for employees and 75% employer-funded premiums for dependents
• 401k contribution match up to 6% after 6 months, immediate vesting
• 12 weeks of fully paid parental leave after 1 year

A note to potential candidates: Multiple studies have shown that women, trans, non-binary, BIPOC, individuals with disabilities, and other candidates from marginalized populations are less likely to apply for jobs unless they believe they meet every single one of the qualifications in a job description. At LaunchCode, we believe in potential, not credentials, and are committed to building a diverse, equitable, and inclusive organization. We care most about finding candidates who have proven they have the aptitude and drive to learn and grow on the job. We strongly encourage interested folks to apply, even if they don’t believe they meet every qualification described. This job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.