How to hire a development director

How to hire a development director, step by step

Here's a step-by-step development director hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a development director job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new development director
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a development director do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you post your development director job, you should take the time to determine what type of worker your business needs. While certain jobs definitely require a full-time employee, it's sometimes better to find a development director for hire on a part-time basis or as a contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   Hiring the perfect development director also involves considering the ideal background you'd like them to have. Depending on what industry or field they have experience in, they'll bring different skills to the job. It's also important to consider what levels of seniority and education the job requires and what kind of salary such a candidate would likely demand.

   Here's a comparison of development director salaries for various roles:

   Type of Development Director	Description	Hourly rate
   Development Director	Public relations managers plan and direct the creation of material that will maintain or enhance the public image of their employer or client. Fundraising managers coordinate campaigns that bring in donations for their organization.	$30-85
   Communications Officer	A communications officer is responsible for maintaining the brand image of an organization through monitoring marketing campaigns and public relations techniques. Communications officers handle press releases, social media management, media outreach, reviewing digital contents, and disseminating public communications within the company's premises and appropriate audience... Show more	$12-29
   Campaign Manager	Campaign managers are responsible for developing, executing, and managing marketing campaigns for events, products, and services targeting consumers or organizations. These professionals typically collaborate with external agencies in the preparation and execution of campaigns... Show more	$26-52

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Digital Marketing
   • Oversight
   • Patients
   • Lead Generation
   • ROI
   • Project Management
   • Excellent Interpersonal
   • Customer Service
   • Business Development
   • Professional Development
   • Financial Support
   • Fund Raising
   • Alumni Relations
   • Strategic Plan

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage CRM program for coordination and partnerships with marketing resources.
   • Manage website re-launch, create communications plan, co-le rebranding taskforce.
   • Manage clients and internal production team to meet budget and scope of contract eLearning solutions.
   • Help manage the CRM system with input and output for the resource development department and the entire organization.
   • Manage analytical method validation and method transfer to QC and CMOs for APIs, excipients, and finish products.
   • Hire, manage and train a team of six sourcing professionals as well as a team of 3 QA managers.

   More development director duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your development director job description is a great way to entice the best and brightest candidates. A development director salary can vary based on several factors:

   • Location. For example, development directors' average salary in hawaii is 46% less than in new jersey.
   • Seniority. Entry-level development directors earn 64% less than senior-level development directors.
   • Certifications. A development director with a few certifications under their belt will likely demand a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for a prestigious company or an exciting start-up can make a huge difference in a development director's salary.

   Average development director salary

   $107,044yearly

   $51.46 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level development director salary

   $64,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 20, 2025

   Average development director salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	New Jersey	$128,710	$62
   2	Massachusetts	$124,859	$60
   3	California	$123,512	$59
   4	New York	$118,803	$57
   5	Arizona	$114,620	$55
   6	District of Columbia	$112,422	$54
   7	Maryland	$112,086	$54
   8	Texas	$111,499	$54
   9	Virginia	$109,902	$53
   10	Ohio	$107,156	$52
   11	Kansas	$103,408	$50
   12	Illinois	$103,401	$50
   13	Pennsylvania	$103,368	$50
   14	North Carolina	$102,501	$49
   15	Wisconsin	$99,512	$48
   16	Georgia	$96,571	$46
   17	Washington	$94,349	$45
   18	Florida	$92,176	$44
   19	Maine	$91,728	$44
   20	Minnesota	$90,433	$43

   Average development director salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Cornerstone Research	$220,788	$106.15
   2	Brookfield Properties	$214,440	$103.10	1
   3	Yelp	$207,893	$99.95
   4	Google	$205,114	$98.61	21
   5	Kimco Realty	$205,038	$98.58	1
   6	Apple	$202,686	$97.45	4
   7	Didi Chuxing	$199,522	$95.92
   8	Boehringer Ingelheim	$193,926	$93.23	12
   9	Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation	$193,841	$93.19
   10	Santa Monica College	$192,641	$92.62
   11	Zoox	$188,835	$90.79
   12	AstraZeneca	$187,963	$90.37	10
   13	Reddit	$187,945	$90.36	1
   14	Mercy Corps	$187,794	$90.29
   15	Novartis	$186,303	$89.57	1
   16	CFA Institute	$186,127	$89.48
   17	Maine Health/maine Mental Health Partners	$185,340	$89.11	2
   18	Integral Ad Science	$185,191	$89.03	7
   19	Simon Property Group	$183,995	$88.46	14
   20	Adobe	$183,853	$88.39	5

4. Writing a development director job description

   A good development director job description should include a few things:

   • Summary of the role
   • List of responsibilities
   • Required skills and experience

   Including a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager is also appreciated by candidates. Here's an example of a development director job description:

   Development director job description example

   Job Title
   Director of Content Development- Molecular & Cellular Biology
   Location(s)
   San Diego - BioLegend
   BioLegend develops world-class, cutting-edge antibodies and reagents for biomedical research, manufactured in our state-of-the-art facility in San Diego, CA. Our mission is to accelerate research and discovery by providing the highest quality products at an outstanding value, along with superior customer service and technical support. Our product expertise covers a diverse set of research areas including Immunology, Neuroscience, Cancer, Stem cells, and Cell Biology.
   Job SummaryAs the Director of Content Development in Molecular & Cellular Biology Department, you will be expected to effectively lead and manage the various R&D disciplines of Recombinant Protein and/or Antibody to successfully design, develop and manufacture innovative, high quality products and solutions for the Life Science Industry. You will be required to manage the administration responsibilities of budgeting, planning, resource management and vendor relations, ensuring projects stay within the budgeted expectations and delivery timescales. Provide leadership and oversight to the various projects across the R&D disciplines, ensuring proper resources are utilized and aligned for prioritized programs. You will work with Operations, Marketing, Sales and Financial teams on the product development from inception through manufacturing as product is released into the market place.
   Essential Functions
   
   Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
   
   Lead the development of recombinant protein, antibody and ancillary reagents for research.Improve testing methods and implement new technologies · Conduct and direct lab procedures in compliance with ISO 13485:2016 guidelines and existing SOPs.Ensure timely completion of batch records and other required documentation. Provide technical expertise, establish new SOPs, review test results, and report data.Build a strong team by recruiting additional talent, monitoring the performance of existing team members, motivating the team, and identifying the talent for potential career advancement.Proactively identify and address potential problems and support the tech service team with troubleshooting of antibody related products.Serve as the lead point of contact to communicate with other departments for the cell biology product line.Other duties as assigned.
   iACT Competencies
   innovate - Be better, keep improving, be more efficient, creative, and be in the forefront of development Aspire - Have desire, purpose, and ambition challenging ourselves to push the limits and reach new heights Collaborate - Foster teamwork, common goals, selflessness, communication and mutual support Transform - Adapt, learn, re-invent and change for future development and growth
   Minimum Qualifications - Education and Experience
   
   PhD in Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, Immunology or other relevant disciplines.10+ leadership experience with life science reagent, tool and service development and commercialization Preferred Qualifications - Education and Experience 5+ years working experience with business operation including strategic planning, relevant marketing and sales experience.Proven experience and track record in developing and managing project on schedules, within budgets, measuring, reporting and achieving assigning metrics and managing department and project expenses, resource allocation and administration.Experience outsourcing and managing product development to contractors and solution suppliers in the global market place.Experience in relation to dealing with certification requirements.
   Condition of Employment
   Concerns regarding COVID-19 continue as positive cases are experienced in the communities in which we operate. Please be aware that, as a condition of employment, BioLegend requires proof of COVID vaccination for all U.S.-based employees (subject to limited exceptions) beginning January 18, 2022.
   PerkinElmer is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability status, age, or veteran status or any other characteristics protected by applicable law. PerkinElmer is committed to a culturally diverse workforce.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are a few common ways to find development directors for your business:

   • Promoting internally or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to meet candidates with the right educational background.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to recruit passive job-seekers.

   To find development director candidates, you can consider the following options:

   • Post your job opening on Zippia or other job search websites.
   • Use niche websites that focus on engineering and technology jobs, such as pr news job board, pr council, prsa job center, hoojobs.
   • Post your job on free job posting websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting development directors requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.

   You should also ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match the ideal candidate profile you developed earlier. Candidates good enough for the next step can complete the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new development director

   Once you've decided on a perfect development director candidate, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, it should include benefits and perks available to the employee. Qualified candidates may be considered for other positions, so make sure your offer is competitive. Candidates may wish to negotiate. Once you've settled on the details, formalize your agreement with a contract.

   It's also important to follow up with applicants who do not get the job with an email letting them know that the position is filled.

   Once that's done, you can draft an onboarding schedule for the new development director. Human Resources should complete Employee Action Forms and ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc. They should also ensure that new employee files are created for internal recordkeeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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