Development Systems & Grants Director

Development Systems & Grants Director

• Reports to: Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO)
• Location: U.S. eligible, 100% work-remote
• Employment type: Full-time
• Start Date: Fall 2026
• Salary: $108,000 -$120,000 USD

What’s the job and who is Nuru?

Nuru is seeking a multidisciplinary professional with a demonstrated systems thinking, strategic writing, and project management background in international development and impact investing to serve as our Development Systems & Grants Director. This is an internal-facing project management role intentionally designed for a tech-driven operator who thrives on transforming data, donor intelligence, and programmatic knowledge into compelling narratives, strategic insights, and funding opportunities. This is not a lead generation or donor relationship cultivation role. Rather, the Director serves as the architect of Nuru's private and corporate internal fundraising systems, knowledge management processes, and proposal pipeline - we call this “running the internal fundraising machine”. Working closely with the Chief Sustainability Officer, Senior Leadership Team, and a part-time Salesforce Administrator, this role ensures that organizational knowledge is transformed into high-quality proposals, reports, donor profiles, and strategic decision-making tools. The ideal candidate combines deep sectoral expertise with exceptional writing and analytical abilities and possesses a demonstrated track record of designing, managing, and implementing programs that improve rural livelihoods and economic empowerment in geographies relevant to Nuru's mission and vision.

Nuru is a U.S. 501(c)(3) nonprofit with the ability to hire employees globally. Founded in 2008, Nuru is a global collective of locally-led NGO’s working to break cycles of unjust poverty in marginalized communities across the Nuru Collective. We achieve this by helping smallholder farmers transition from subsistence to professionalized farming. While Nuru staff work across separate and locally led organizations in different countries, we are united by a shared vision to expand meaningful choices for the communities we serve.

A pioneer in remote work, Nuru has been fully remote since 2008. Our team members work from the locations that suit them best, and we remain committed to this flexible, remote-first model. For this role, candidates must be able to maintain regular working overlap with the U.S. Eastern Time.

What you’ll be doing:

• Systems Architecture & Development Operations
  • Serve as the architect of Nuru's private and corporate fundraising systems, transforming donor intelligence and organizational knowledge into actionable insights for leadership.
  • Supervise and prioritize the work of the Salesforce Administrator to ensure Salesforce remains the organization's trusted source of truth.
  • Design and maintain proposal pipelines, donor profiles, strategic brief sheets, and knowledge management systems that support fundraising effectiveness.
  • Oversee data governance standards and oversee CRM processes, reporting structures, and operational workflows.
  • Collaborate closely with the Chief Implementation Officer and Business Development Director to ensure alignment across public and private fundraising efforts.
• Institutional Grants & Lifecycle Strategy
  • Lead the writing, editing, and collaborative execution of high-quality grant proposals, concept notes, and letters of intent for private and corporate donors.
  • Manage tracking systems for private and corporate philanthropy lifecycles, ensuring all compliance milestones, deadlines, and impact reporting deliverables are met with precision.
  • Convene cross-departmental teams to coordinate action in the development and execution of all private and corporate business development and fundraising.
  • Develop donor intelligence profiles and strategic positioning materials for priority funders.
  • Leverage generative AI and knowledge management systems to accelerate content creation, improve organizational efficiency and preserve institutional memory.

What You’ll Focus On (First 3-6 Months):

• Lead end-to-end proposal development and donor reporting processes for private and corporate opportunities.
• Establish an integrated project management and knowledge management system, including AI-enabled workflows, to improve organizational efficiency and institutional memory.
• Develop strategic donor profiles and briefing systems for priority funding prospects.
• Implement a regular cadence for pipeline reviews, reporting, and opportunity tracking.
• Partner with the Salesforce Administrator to review current CRM governance, audit data quality, and strengthen data entry standards.
• Improve cross-functional coordination between programs, MEL, finance, and communications.
• Integrate AI-enabled workflows into proposal development and strengthen institutional knowledge.

What you bring to the team:

• Required Experience
  • 7+ years of professional experience with a global NGO, social enterprise, or impact investing environment.
  • Solid technical understanding of global nonprofit development and rural livelihoods (e.g. expertise in sectors such as agriculture, food systems, climate resilience, regenerative agriculture, market systems development, agri-SME strengthening, nature-based solutions, and climate finance) with the ability to convert technical programmatic knowledge into compelling donor narratives, strategic positioning, and investment opportunities.
  • Proven experience leading grant proposal development, donor reporting, and cross-functional projects.
  • Demonstrated proficiency in utilizing AI productivity tools to optimize workflows, conduct research and draft donor deliverables.
• Bonus Skills (Please apply even if you don’t check every box!):
  • Salesforce Certified Administrator credential (backend management and configuration experience, not just end-user experience).
  • Experience creating and managing organizational knowledge management frameworks.
  • Working or intermediate proficiency in French.

Who you are:

• Systems Thinker - You understand how people, processes, and technology interact. You are capable of designing scalable workflows, improving data quality, and transforming information into actionable insights.
• Exceptional Writer and Synthesizer - You possess superior writing, editing, and storytelling abilities. You can distill complex technical and programmatic information into persuasive proposals, executive briefs, donor reports, and presentations tailored to diverse audiences
• Project Management - You manage multiple initiatives simultaneously, balancing priorities, deadlines, and stakeholder expectations. You bring structure and accountability while maintaining flexibility and a collaborative spirit.
• Analytical and Data-Literate - You are comfortable working with CRM systems, dashboards, and data architectures to organize information and identify trends.
• Cross-Functional Collaborator - You communicate with clarity and humility,excelling at bringing colleagues across impact activities, finance, MEL, communications, and leadership to advance shared goals.
• Cross-Cultural Aptitude - You highly respect and eagerly learn from other cultures and demonstrate empathy and effectiveness when working with globally distributed teams.
• Detail-Oriented - You establish priorities, communicate clearly, maintain rigorous quality standards, and ensure that proposals, reports, and systems are accurate, timely, and compliant.
• Team Player - You work with humility, humor, and professionalism. You appreciate that culture eats strategy for breakfast and contributes positively to colleagues, consultants, donors, and partners.

The tools you’ll work with:

• Google Suite
• Slack
• Salesforce
• AI-enabled productivity tools (Gemini, NotebookLM, etc)