Senior Vice President of Strategic Growth

About the Role

The Senior Vice President for Strategic Growth is responsible for developing and executing Space Foundation's enterprise growth strategy and leading all revenue-generating activities across the organization. Reporting directly to the CEO, this executive will oversee membership, corporate sponsorship, philanthropy, major gifts, capital campaign activities, grants, and strategic growth initiatives.

We are looking for a strong leader that will bring a holistic approach to revenue generation, combining strategic vision with operational excellence to create a disciplined, data-driven, and repeatable growth model. The SVP for Strategic Growth will lead a talented team, strengthen organizational capabilities, build new partnerships, and ensure that growth is institutionalized through strong systems, processes, and performance management. The ideal candidate will be comfortable cultivating major donors, engaging executive stakeholders, developing growth strategies, building high-performing teams, and establishing the infrastructure required to scale organizational impact.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute a comprehensive growth strategy aligned with Space Foundation's mission and long-term objectives.
• Identify new revenue opportunities, strategic partnerships, and growth initiatives that expand organizational impact and financial sustainability.
• Own and drive performance across all revenue-generating functions, including membership, corporate sponsorships, philanthropy and major gifts, capital campaign activities, grants and institutional funding, and strategic partnerships.
• Lead the organization's membership strategy, including acquisition, retention, engagement, and value creation.
• Build and manage scalable revenue processes, forecasting systems, performance metrics, and reporting frameworks.
• Establish clear KPIs and accountability structures while driving decision-making through data and insights.
• Strengthen CRM utilization, pipeline visibility, reporting capabilities, and organizational knowledge management.
• Create documented playbooks and processes that reduce dependency on individual relationships and support long-term scalability.
• Lead strategy and execution for the Foundation's capital campaign and major gift initiatives.
• Partner with donors, volunteers, and leadership stakeholders to advance campaign goals and strengthen long-term philanthropic engagement.
• Lead, develop, and inspire a high-performing growth team, establishing clear goals, accountability, and professional development.
• Serve as the CEO's principal advisor on growth and revenue strategy.
• Partner closely with Finance on forecasting, budgeting, and investment decisions.
• Collaborate across the organization to align growth initiatives with enterprise priorities.
• Represent Space Foundation with donors, sponsors, members, board members, industry leaders, government stakeholders, foundations, and strategic partners.
• Oversee the work of assigned personnel by setting priorities, coaching for development, and managing performance to achieve individual and team success.
• Develop and manage the program or department budget, ensuring adherence to budgetary standards and proactively tracking expenditures.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in business, nonprofit management, public administration, or related field (advanced degree preferred).
• 15+ years of progressive leadership experience in revenue generation, business development, membership growth, philanthropy, fundraising, strategic partnerships, or related growth functions.
• 5+ years of executive leadership experience leading teams and driving organizational performance.
• Demonstrated success developing and executing growth strategies that drive measurable results across multiple revenue streams (e.g., membership, sponsorship, philanthropy, grants, partnerships, or other revenue-generating activities).
• Strong understanding of CRM platforms (e.g., Salesforce or comparable platform), revenue operations, pipeline management, forecasting, analytics, and performance measurement.
• Experience building scalable systems, processes, and reporting frameworks that support sustainable organizational growth.
• Experience partnering with executive leadership teams and Boards of Directors on strategy, fundraising, revenue planning, and organizational priorities.
• Proven ability to lead, coach, and develop high-performing teams.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience overseeing diverse, multi-million-dollar revenue portfolios.
• Capital campaign and major donor fundraising experience.
• Experience within a membership-based nonprofit, association, foundation, or mission-driven organization.
• Experience engaging complex stakeholder groups, including donors, sponsors, foundations, corporate partners, and executive leaders.
• Familiarity with space, aerospace, defense, technology, or national security sectors.

Work Environment

This role is primarily based in an office environment, with access to standard equipment and furnishings. The employee may occasionally be required to participate in offsite meetings or events, including potential travel as needed. The work environment is quiet to moderate in noise level.

Space Foundation maintains a hybrid work policy that allows for up to two days of remote work per week, subject to business needs. Reasonable accommodation will be made for individuals with disabilities.

Schedule

This is a full-time position requiring a schedule of 40 hours per week. Usual business days are Monday through Friday, holidays excepted, with business hours from 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. in the Mountain Time Zone.

The primary work site is at Space Foundation headquarters in Colorado Springs, CO. Relocation support is available.