Director of Development Operations

Job Description

Job Description

About PAFA

Founded in 1805, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is America's first art museum and art school. With a world-class collection of American art and a vibrant community of working artists, PAFA occupies a unique place in the cultural landscape of Philadelphia and the nation. Docents help bring this legacy to life by connecting visitors to art, artists, and the creative process.

POSITION SUMMARY

The Director of Development Operations provides strategic leadership for the systems, data, processes, reporting, and infrastructure that support PAFA's fundraising program. The Director ensures that donor and gift information is accurate, secure, accessible, and consistently managed so Development leaders and frontline fundraisers can make informed decisions, steward donors effectively, and reliably report on fundraising performance.

The Director serves as the primary administrator for Raiser's Edge NXT; leads gift and pledge administration, reconciliation, reporting, data governance, and prospect-management operations; and establishes policies, standards, and training that promote data integrity and organizational accountability.

Reporting to the Chief Development Officer, the Director supervises the Development Operations Associate and works closely with Finance, IT, Membership, and Development colleagues. The Director partners with Membership and IT to govern shared data and ensure reliable information flow between systems.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategy, Governance & Operational Leadership

• Develop and execute an annual and multi-year Development Operations strategy aligned with PAFA's fundraising priorities, reporting requirements, and institutional needs.
• Establish and maintain clear ownership, decision rights, data standards, change controls, and operating procedures for fundraising data and Development systems.
• Assess operational risks, identify opportunities for improvement, and lead projects that strengthen efficiency, accuracy, continuity, and staff adoption.
• Serve as a strategic adviser to the Chief Development Officer and Development leadership on data, systems, reporting, workflow, and operational capacity.

Raiser's Edge NXT Administration & Data Integrity

• Serve as PAFA's primary administrator for Raiser's Edge NXT, in partnership with IT as technical and security owner.
• Maintain appropriate database architecture, including Campaigns, Funds, Appeals, constituent codes, attributes, relationships, actions, opportunities, fundraiser assignments, and other core structures.
• Manage user access recommendations, approved imports and exports, data-quality controls, duplicate prevention and resolution, routine maintenance, and testing of material changes.
• Develop and monitor data-quality standards and audits; prioritize and oversee corrective work while preserving historical integrity and documenting exceptions.
• Maintain current documentation of system configuration, recurring imports, integrations, business rules, and data definitions.

Gift, Pledge & Financial Administration

• Oversee accurate and timely processing of gifts, pledges, payments, adjustments, acknowledgments, pledge reminders, and related donor documentation.
• Establish and maintain procedures for cash, checks, online gifts, donor-advised funds, matching gifts, securities, planned gifts, anonymous gifts, restricted gifts, event revenue, and other complex transactions.
• Partner with Finance to maintain consistent gift and fund coding, complete monthly reconciliation, resolve discrepancies, monitor pledges and receivables, and support audit and compliance requirements.
• Ensure appropriate handling, documentation, privacy, security, and retention of confidential donor and financial information.

Reporting, Analytics & Decision Support

• Develop and maintain reliable recurring reports and dashboards that track revenue, pledges, fundraising performance, portfolio activity, donor trends, and progress against goals.
• Fulfill approved ad hoc queries, exports, mailing lists, and analyses accurately and within established service standards.
• Partner with Development leadership to define reporting requirements, interpret results, document known limitations, and strengthen the use of data in fundraising strategy and forecasting.
• Maintain a report inventory with clear definitions, sources, production schedules, owners, and instructions.

Prospect Management & Fundraising Support

• Establish and maintain consistent portfolio, moves-management, action, opportunity, and proposal tracking practices across the Development team.
• Support portfolio review, prospect assignment, pipeline analysis, research coordination, meeting preparation, and follow-up tracking.
• Partner with frontline fundraisers to improve data completeness, accountability, forecasting, and continuity of donor relationships.

Cross-System & Institutional Collaboration

• Partner with IT on access, security, technical configuration, integrations, troubleshooting, testing, vendor coordination, and system changes affecting Raiser's Edge NXT.
• Partner with Membership, as owner of ACME and membership business processes, to define shared-data standards, reconciliation, and donor/member conversion pathways.
• Collaborate with Finance, Membership, IT, Marketing, program areas, and external consultants to resolve cross-functional issues and improve the reliability of institutional information.
• Participate in or lead a data-governance process for material changes, imports, integrations, and unresolved cross-system decisions.

Team Leadership, Training & Continuity

• Supervise, coach, and develop the Development Operations Associate, establishing clear priorities, performance expectations, and opportunities for increasing responsibility.
• Provide role-appropriate Raiser's Edge NXT training, documentation, and user support for Development staff and other authorized users.
• Maintain current standard operating procedures and ensure essential processes are documented, accessible, and not dependent on a single individual.
• Manage relevant consultants and vendors and ensure that projects conclude with usable documentation and knowledge transfer.

Institutional Contribution

• Serve as a senior Development colleague and constructive thought partner, contributing sound judgment and solutions beyond a single functional area.
• Promote a culture of philanthropy, accountability, collaboration, service, and responsible data stewardship across PAFA.
• Represent PAFA with professionalism, discretion, responsiveness, and respect for donor intent and confidentiality.
• Perform other duties as assigned in support of Development and institutional priorities.

QUALIFICATIONS

Education & Experience

• Bachelor's degree required; relevant advanced degree or professional certification preferred.
• Minimum of 5–7 years of progressive experience in development operations, advancement services, nonprofit database administration, gift administration, or a closely related field.
• Demonstrated experience administering Raiser's Edge NXT or a comparable fundraising CRM, including database architecture, reporting, data quality, imports, and user support.
• Experience with gift processing, Finance reconciliation, prospect management, data governance, and cross-functional systems work.
• Prior supervisory, project-management, or consultant-management experience strongly preferred.
• Experience in a museum, arts, education, or other nonprofit environment preferred.

Knowledge, Skills & Competencies

• Strong strategic, analytical, and systems thinking, with the ability to translate complex operational problems into practical and sustainable solutions.
• Advanced reporting and data-management skills; strong proficiency with Microsoft Excel and working knowledge of Microsoft Office.
• Understanding of fundraising practices, gift and pledge administration, donor confidentiality, data privacy, internal controls, and generally accepted Development Operations standards.
• Excellent project management, documentation, organization, and follow-through; ability to manage competing priorities and dependencies.
• Ability to communicate technical and data issues clearly to nontechnical colleagues and to build productive working relationships across departments.
• High degree of accuracy, discretion, accountability, patience, adaptability, and service orientation.