Market Lead

Market Lead

LiftFund is a national nonprofit Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) that expands access to capital for small businesses and strengthens local economies. LiftFund is recognized as a leading CDFI and a trusted partner to funders, public agencies, and community institutions advancing small business resilience and economic mobility.

Position purpose: The Market Lead is a high-output relationship builder and execution driver responsible for expanding LiftFund's local presence, strengthening partnership networks, and generating a consistent pipeline of fundable small business borrowers in an assigned region. This role reports to the Market President and operates as the day-to-day "doer" who ensures critical outreach, follow-up, and partner execution happens with speed, discipline, and measurable results. This role is ideal for a professional who can represent LiftFund credibly in the community, move opportunities forward without excessive supervision, and translate relationship-building into tangible outcomes: meetings secured, referrals generated, partners activated, and borrower pipelines advanced.

A top-performing Market Lead will deliver:

• A clearly mapped and consistently expanding partner ecosystem across funders, public-sector stakeholders, and referral channels.
• A steady flow of qualified borrower referrals from trusted sources (not just broad marketing volume).
• Reliable weekly progress movement across outreach, meetings, follow-ups, and partner deliverables.
• Strong internal coordination that improves borrower readiness, reduces friction, and increases conversions from intake to closing.
• Clean, accurate CRM data that enables forecasting, reporting, and leadership visibility.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Partner outreach and relationship development:

• Build and maintain a targeted partner portfolio including chambers, business associations, anchor institutions, technical assistance providers, workforce and entrepreneurship networks, local nonprofits, and trusted community intermediaries.
• Execute a weekly outreach plan that generates meetings, introductions, and actionable next steps aligned to LiftFund priorities.
• Represent LiftFund professionally in partner meetings, community convenings, workshops, and ecosystem gatherings.
• Identify "high-leverage connectors" who can drive both borrower referrals and reputational credibility.

Borrower pipeline and referral network growth:

• Generate qualified borrower pipeline through referral partners and targeted ecosystem outreach.
• Educate partners on LiftFund's products, fit criteria, documentation expectations, and "what happens next" borrower journey.
• Create repeatable referral pathways (not one-time referrals) by developing clear partner handoffs, readiness checklists, and recurring touchpoints.
• Track pipeline quality and readiness indicators; work with internal teams to reduce application friction and improve conversion.

Philanthropy and public-sector support:

• Support the Market President's philanthropic and public-sector strategy through prospect research, meeting preparation, follow-up execution, and partner coordination.
• Help develop high-quality partner materials such as one-pagers, meeting briefs, impact snapshots, and draft concept outlines.
• Coordinate scheduling and logistics for external meetings with funders, public officials, and coalition partners, ensuring excellent follow-through and documentation.

Market presence and community visibility:

• Support LiftFund's presence in the region by attending and contributing to ecosystem forums, small business events, and stakeholder gatherings.
• Capture market intelligence in real time (emerging needs, partner dynamics, competitor activity, and opportunity signals) and translate it into recommendations for the Market President.

Operating cadence, CRM rigor, and reporting:

• Maintain accurate, timely CRM and partner pipeline documentation, including meeting notes, next steps, referral activity, and key contacts.
• Provide weekly progress updates to the Market President across: outreach activity, meetings held, pipeline generated, partner movement, and issues requiring escalation.
• Maintain partner and borrower referral dashboards (or structured trackers) that make progress measurable and visible.

Cross-functional collaboration:

• Coordinate with lending, intake, underwriting support, programs, and communications to ensure partners and borrowers receive consistent information and a strong experience.
• Escalate bottlenecks quickly and propose practical solutions that improve speed, clarity, and outcomes.

AI-enabled execution and market intelligence:

• Use AI tools to accelerate outreach planning, meeting preparation, stakeholder mapping, and draft creation of partner-facing materials.
• Apply strong judgment, confidentiality, and accuracy in all AI-supported workflows.

Performance metrics (how this role is measured): This role is measured through outcomes, not activity alone. Metrics will be tailored by market, but typically include:

• Number of priority partner relationships activated and producing referrals
• Qualified borrower referrals generated and moving through the process
• Borrower readiness conversion improvements (from referral ? application ? underwriting-ready)
• Number of funder / civic meetings supported and advanced (with documented next steps)
• CRM quality and timeliness (accuracy of notes, contact mapping, pipeline status)
• Speed and reliability of follow-through (cycle time from meeting to next action)

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree preferred or equivalent professional experience.
• Five (5) years of experience in partnerships, community engagement, business development, economic development, nonprofit external relations, or related roles.
• Demonstrated ability to build relationships and generate measurable outcomes (referrals, pipeline, partnerships, program participation, or similar).
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with professional presence in external meetings.
• High organizational discipline, follow-through, and comfort managing multiple priorities.
• Experience using CRM tools and structured trackers to manage outreach and pipeline.
• Ability to operate independently while staying tightly aligned to leadership priorities.
• Experience working in or alongside small business ecosystems (lending, entrepreneurship support, TA networks, chambers, workforce, or similar).
• Familiarity with community development, CDFIs, CRA/community development banking, or mission-driven finance.
• Experience supporting proposals, sponsor deliverables, or partner reporting.
• Bilingual capability (market dependent).

Please note 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.

Travel: Routine travel within market area and infrequent overnight travel, potentially out-of-state to meet with donors, partners, and government officials.

Position Type, Days and Hours: This is a full-time, exempt position. The days and hours of work are generally Monday through Friday, 8:30 am to 5:30 pm, but the schedule may vary based on the needs of the position and the timing of key meetings and events.

Physical Demands: This position requires the ability to sit, stand, and walk for extended periods of time. The employee must be able to drive to and from client locations, which may involve prolonged periods of sitting and the ability to operate a motor vehicle safely. The role also requires attending in-person meetings at client places of business and in an office setting. Regular use of routine office equipment is required, including computers, phones, printers, and other standard office devices. The employee may occasionally be required to bend, reach, or carry light materials such as files or a laptop.

LiftFund Inc. is committed to providing equal employment opportunities for all our applicants and employees without regard to age, color, mental or physical disability, gender, gender identity, genetic information, marital status, military status, national origin, pregnancy, race, religion, sexual orientation, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic. Also, LiftFund provides reasonable accommodation, and it is committed to engaging in the interactive process.