Director of Development Strategy & Operations

About New Energy Nexus

New Energy Nexus (NEX) is an international nonprofit committed to advancing climate solutions and fostering a fairer clean energy economy. We focus on empowering clean energy entrepreneurs by providing funding, accelerators, and networks to help them succeed. Since our founding in California in 2004, we have expanded operations across China, India, Southeast Asia, East and West Africa, and Australia. To date, we have facilitated $5.4 billion in investments and supported over 11,000 entrepreneurs.

Role Overview

The Director of Development Strategy & Operations will spearhead the internal operations supporting NEX's global fundraising and business development initiatives. Reporting directly to the CEO, this position is central to the development team, tasked with synthesizing frontline intelligence from fundraisers and country teams into a unified, prioritized fundraising strategy, while ensuring efficient coordination and allocation of resources to the highest-value opportunities.

This role emphasizes strategy, operational leadership, and team management rather than direct donor relationship management. The successful candidate will translate signals from funders and proposal progress into strategic direction, optimizing team focus.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and continually refine a prioritized fundraising strategy informed by proposal results, funder feedback, and market conditions.
• Identify strategic priorities for programs and geographies based on funder interest, pipeline robustness, and organizational goals.
• Maintain oversight of the global funding pipeline by funder, program, chapter, and proposal stage, proactively flagging risks and balance issues.
• Provide clear guidance on opportunity prioritization, proposal repositioning, and resource allocation.
• Serve as a strategic advisor to the CEO and program leads, leveraging insights across markets.
• Lead the global platform-level development team: recruit, train, manage, and optimize the deployment of team members’ expertise consistent with priorities.
• Create and manage a rolling work plan aligned with strategy, ownership, and timelines.
• Foster collaboration across development staff, country leaders, and program teams to maximize collective impact.
• Coordinate multi-country/program proposals, integrating inputs into cohesive narratives and budgets aligned with NEX’s objectives.
• Develop and maintain a centralized repository of fundraising resources (decks, one-pagers, case studies, impact data) for efficient external engagements.
• Partner with Communications to ensure collateral remains up-to-date and aligned with branding and messaging.
• Equip fundraisers with tools, templates, and frameworks to improve effectiveness and reporting consistency.
• Implement robust feedback loops to incorporate funder and field insights back into strategy and operations.
• Oversee CRM and pipeline tracking systems, ensuring data quality, standard usage, and actionable reporting.
• Generate regular and ad hoc pipeline health and trend reports for leadership.
• Standardize global proposal, reporting, and stewardship processes.
• Monitor fundraising outcomes relative to strategy and continuously refine approaches.
• Ensure timely and high-quality internal and external fundraising reporting and compliance.

Success Milestones (First 6-12 Months)

• Achieve transparent and reliable visibility into the global fundraising pipeline and priorities to guide leadership decisions.
• Establish a strong operational cadence within the development team, maximizing skill deployment on priority opportunities.
• Enhance coordination to ensure timely, high-quality submission of key proposals across platforms, countries, and programs.
• Standardize CRM and pipeline management practices utilizing data for strategic decision-making.
• Create an accessible, well-structured fundraising collateral library supporting rapid and consistent outreach.
• Implement effective feedback mechanisms linking funder intelligence with strategic and operational adjustments.

Qualifications

• A minimum of 8 years’ experience in fundraising, development operations, or related operational/strategic roles, with at least 5 years' directly supporting nonprofit or philanthropic fundraising.
• Proven ability to translate operational insights from frontline inputs into strategic priorities.
• Experience managing or closely collaborating with distributed, cross-cultural teams.
• Expertise with CRM and pipeline systems, with a focus on informing decisions beyond simple reporting.
• Knowledge of or experience in clean energy, climate, or entrepreneurial ecosystems is highly desirable.

Personal Attributes

• Highly analytical and structured thinker capable of distilling complex, qualitative data into actionable strategies.
• Adaptable and comfortable working in evolving environments with ambiguity, demonstrating initiative and a growth mindset.
• Emotionally intelligent leader able to foster trust and navigate diverse cultural settings effectively.
• Outstanding written communication skills, able to synthesize diverse market intelligence into succinct proposals and strategies.
• Strong project management skills to coordinate concurrent proposals and stakeholder needs.
• Prefer to function as an internal strategic partner rather than the primary external fundraising representative.
• Capability to work across multiple time zones with occasional travel for key meetings and events.
• Proficient in CRM management, Google Workspace tools, and Slack communications platform.

Preferred Experience

• Foundational understanding of global clean energy and climate ecosystems with a commitment to ongoing learning.
• Experience establishing or scaling development operations functions from early-stage setups.
• Flexibility to attend meetings outside regular business hours due to global team coordination.

Benefits and Compensation

This role is full-time and remote. Compensation will be competitive relative to the candidate’s location. Standard benefits such as medical, dental, vision, paid leave, holidays, and insurance will be provided according to local regulations. Relocation assistance is not available.

Equal Opportunity Statement

New Energy Nexus is an equal opportunity employer committed to inclusive hiring practices. We do not discriminate in employment on any legally protected basis and encourage applications from diverse candidates.