Chief Development Officer

Big Sky Bravery (BSB) seeks an inaugural Chief Development Officer to help lead one of the country’s most distinctive and consequential efforts in support of active-duty Special Operations Forces and the families who serve alongside them. Founded in 2015, BSB exists for the men and women entrusted with some of the country’s most consequential national-security responsibilities: individuals who deploy repeatedly, spend years in combat, and endure physical and psychological tolls that much of the public will never see or fully understand. They serve without recognition, without fanfare, and often without pause. BSB believes their courage deserves more than a thank you. It deserves a return. That conviction has become a nationally recognized nonprofit with a single, urgent purpose: to give back to the active-duty Special Operations Forces community in a way few other organizations do. Through life-saving Task Force programs, spouse and family experiences, and a lifelong alumni community, BSB creates intentional spaces in Montana where active-duty SOF members and the people who love them can rest, reconnect, and rediscover what is worth living for. Its Task Forces are rooted in trust, privacy, and purpose. They are not retreats. They are turning points. BSB now stands at a defining point embarking on its second decade. Having earned the confidence of operators, families, donors, volunteers, and supporters across the country, it is building the Big Sky Bravery Ranch: a permanent, 85-acre home base in Big Sky, Montana, where active-duty Special Operations Forces personnel, spouses, families, and alumni can find enduring connection, renewal, and belonging. With approximately $29 million raised toward a $35 million capital campaign, and $6 million remaining to close, the Ranch is no longer a distant vision. It is an institution taking physical form—and a promise to the Special Operations community that this support will remain available across generations. To complete the Ranch campaign, broaden a national philanthropic community, and build an advancement enterprise equal to the organization’s ambition, BSB seeks a proven, enterprising, deeply relational Chief Development Officer. Reporting to Founder and Chief Executive Officer Josh McCain, the CDO will serve as a close strategic partner to the CEO, Board of Directors, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Programs Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and the entire BSB team. The successful candidate will take meaningful ownership of the relationships, strategy, systems, and team required to move the organization from a deeply founder-led fundraising model to a durable, institution-wide culture of philanthropy. This is a rare opportunity for an exceptional major- and principal-gifts leader to build something lasting. The inaugural CDO will help close the final $6 million of the Ranch campaign; create and execute a sophisticated national donor strategy; cultivate individuals, families, foundations, corporations, and other partners of exceptional capacity; strengthen the Board’s role in philanthropy; build a multi-year revenue model; and recruit, mentor, and propel a high-achieving development team. In so doing, this leader will help ensure that BSB’s extraordinary early success does not remain dependent on any one person, campaign, or cycle of events. The ideal candidate will bring a record of personally securing transformational gifts, a sophisticated understanding of high-capacity philanthropy, and the entrepreneurial appetite to build systems while advancing relationships at speed. They will be a discerning, discreet, and generous colleague—one who possesses the confidence to operate at eye level with a founder and the humility to honor a community whose stories, identities, and sacrifices must always be held with care. Prior military experience is not required. What is essential is an apolitical, genuine, and enduring respect for active-duty Special Operations Forces and their families; a belief in service beyond self; and the ability to translate BSB’s work into philanthropic partnerships that sustain it for decades to come. #J-18808-Ljbffr Big Sky Bravery