Director of Special Projects

About Raising The Village

Raising The Village’s mission is to build and strengthen pathways out of ultra-poverty through an approach guided by data, designed with communities, and scaled by partnerships. We work with last-mile communities to implement solutions that raise incomes, sustain impact, and chart sustainable pathways to possibility within 24 months. To date, we have supported more than two million people in Uganda, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, with support from our partners and our team in North America. Find out more about our programs and impact at www.raisingthevillage.org.

Position overview

Raising The Village is creating a Special Projects team to drive catalytic growth opportunities that match our ambitions for scale. This team will be responsible for identifying large-scale funding opportunities and co-creating enterprise bets with funders in growth areas highly aligned to RTV’s expansion plans.

Ideal candidates will have excellent go-to-market instincts and track record, demonstrating sustained follow through and engagement with catalytic philanthropy. Directors have ideally managed multiple multi-million dollar opportunities and engaged regularly with donors with 8+ figure capacity. Senior Managers will have either directly led complex sales with 7+ figure donors OR played critical roles in supporting larger efforts, with guidance from more senior team members.

We are looking for 1-2 team members to seed this team. We are open to hiring at multiple levels, depending on candidate experience and track record.

Special projects candidates must:

• Have excellent data fluency and analytical skills, paired with clear and concise verbal and written communications
• Be experienced in leading highly cross-functional and complex projects with significant iteration (with donors and internal teams)
• Work with extremely high velocity while maintaining detail orientation and quality

Key responsibilities

Opportunity sourcing and strategic definition

• Proactively surface, evaluate, and shape a pipeline of high-upside “big bet” opportunities, informed by organizational priorities, leadership direction, and relevant external trends.
• Turn early, ambiguous ideas into actionable strategies—articulating a clear theory of change, measurable success metrics, required resources, and explicit stage gates for go/no-go decisions.
• Use pragmatic analysis (simple models, sizing exercises, decision frameworks) to support prioritization and clarify tradeoffs.

End-to-end leadership of big bets

• Serve as the single accountable owner for one priority opportunity at a time, moving it forward quickly over weeks to months and building a repeatable approach that improves the portfolio’s success rate over time.
• Orchestrate cross-functional work across Product, Programs, Research, Finance, and other teams to unlock step-change revenue and impact opportunities.
• Distill complex information into clear internal alignment and persuasive external messaging.

Partner and funder engagement

• Support – and when appropriate, lead – high-stakes engagement with major philanthropies, foundations, and strategic partners.
• Cultivate new relationships with prospective funders and key influencers, starting from initial outreach through to active partnership.
• Create tailored engagement strategies, pitch materials, and meeting plans designed for specific funders and partnership contexts.
• Partner closely with senior leadership to prepare for critical conversations, negotiations, and decision points.

Skills & qualifications

• 7+ years complex sales and/or fundraising roles.
• Track record of managing complex and cross-functional projects, end-to-end.
• Experience engaging directly with donors as relationship managers, project managers, or subject-matter experts.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with strong attention to detail.
• Commitment to excellence in execution and follow through.
• Highly organized, with the ability to manage multiple deadlines and relationships effectively.
• Collaborative, thoughtful, and aligned with RTV’s mission and values.
• Must be able to travel 3-4 times per year to one of our countries of operation for team retreats, donor field visits, or other events.

Total rewards

• Group RRSP matching program, up to 5%.
• Medical, dental, vision, and travel insurance.
• 4 weeks of vacation.