What does a development director do?
A development director is an individual who is responsible for securing funds and sponsors for non-profit organizations. Development directors must actively seek new business partners and develop relationships with volunteers and donors. They meet with members of the development team to help advertise and promote brand awareness and funding. Development directors must possess skills and experience in managing human resources, marketing, and budgeting functions. They must also obtain a bachelor's degree in business management, public relations, or related field.
Development director responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real development director resumes:
- 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.
- Provide comprehensive project management and budgetary oversight for this establish real estate development company specializing in complex hotel builds.
- Propose and secure numerous endowments and charitable gift annuities.
- Supply CMC sections to RA for regulatory filings.
- Design, write and publish alumni magazine and annual report.
- Create and develop a GIS database as part of the project.
- Measure and track goal success using the development system of record, SalesForce.
- Involve in short and long term project impacting site productivity and GMP compliance.
- Authore and review protocols, reports, CMC updates, and technical laboratory investigations.
- Provide detailed written assay protocols for analytical method transfer to QC and various CRO's/CMO's.
Development director skills and personality traits
We calculated that 8% of Development Directors are proficient in Digital Marketing, Oversight, and Patients. They’re also known for soft skills such as Problem-solving skills, Speaking skills, and Writing skills.
We break down the percentage of Development Directors that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Digital Marketing, 8%
Executed thought leadership and digital marketing plan to accelerate sales pipeline.
- Oversight, 6%
Exercised project oversight of ELCA activities, reviewing and participating in the analyses of country-specific assessments of vulnerability.
- Patients, 6%
Planned a successful community relations event for a cardiovascular surgeon who encouraged patients to undergo major lifestyle changes.
- Lead Generation, 5%
Created and updated all sales materials for reputation enhancement and lead generation.
- ROI, 4%
Ensured target ROI with feasibility studies on potential acquisitions, identifying optimum projects requiring rezoning and entitlement approvals for development.
- Project Management, 4%
Introduced Agile project management best practices to increase overall development productivity and fidelity of planning and reporting.
"digital marketing," "oversight," and "patients" are among the most common skills that development directors use at work. You can find even more development director responsibilities below, including:
Problem-solving skills. The most essential soft skill for a development director to carry out their responsibilities is problem-solving skills. This skill is important for the role because "managers sometimes must explain how the company or client is handling sensitive issues." Additionally, a development director resume shows how their duties depend on problem-solving skills: "worked in tight partnership with all human resource directors to provide creative and customized hr and recruitment solutions. "
Speaking skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling development director duties is speaking skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "public relations and fundraising managers regularly speak on behalf of their organization." According to a development director resume, here's how development directors can utilize speaking skills in their job responsibilities: "presented status reports to advisory boards, development council, students and faculty. "
Writing skills. This is an important skill for development directors to perform their duties. For an example of how development director responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "managers must be able to write well-organized and clear press releases and speeches." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a development director: "contract writing (aia) documents (a101) with due diligence and negotiations".
Leadership skills. development director responsibilities often require "leadership skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "public relations and fundraising managers often lead large teams of specialists or fundraisers and must be able to guide their activities." This resume example shows what development directors do with leadership skills on a typical day: "managed hr functions and development activities for engineering leadership positions. "
Organizational skills. Another common skill required for development director responsibilities is "organizational skills." This skill comes up in the duties of development directors all the time, as "public relations and fundraising managers are often in charge of running several events at the same time, requiring superior organizational skills." An excerpt from a real development director resume shows how this skill is central to what a development director does: "partner with practice management to advise on team member issues, performance improvement plans, hr related issues and organizational matters. "
Communication skills. While "communication skills" is last on this skills list, don't underestimate its importance to development director responsibilities. Much of what a development director does relies on this skill, seeing as "managers deal with the public regularly; therefore, they must be friendly enough to build a rapport with, and receive cooperation from, their media contacts and donors." Here is a resume example of how this skill is used in the everyday duties of development directors: "ensured effective and current communication of hr initiatives via employee intranet hr portal. "
The three companies that hire the most development directors are:
- American Heart Association112 development directors jobs
- American Express68 development directors jobs
- Meta57 development directors jobs
Choose from 10+ customizable development director resume templates
Build a professional development director resume in minutes. Our AI resume writing assistant will guide you through every step of the process, and you can choose from 10+ resume templates to create your development director resume.
Compare different development directors
Development director vs. 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. They often coordinate with the senior management to develop strategic procedures to improve brand awareness, attracting potential partnerships that would generate more revenues and increase the company's profitability. A communications officer must have excellent leadership skills to monitor the performance of the communications staff and ensure maximum productivity.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, development director responsibilities require skills like "digital marketing," "oversight," "patients," and "lead generation." Meanwhile a typical communications officer has skills in areas such as "affordable housing," "non-emergency telephone calls," "computer aided dispatch," and "public safety agencies." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
The education levels that communications officers earn slightly differ from development directors. In particular, communications officers are 7.2% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a development director. Additionally, they're 1.9% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Development director vs. 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. They perform other duties that may include managing the measurement and tracking of marketing campaigns, writing, proofreading, and editing copy for promotional materials, and maintaining regular measurement of the campaigns' ROI. Campaign managers are also expected to evaluate existing marketing campaigns and be up-to-date on the latest marketing trends.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, development director responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "oversight," "patients," "lead generation," and "excellent interpersonal." Meanwhile, a campaign manager has duties that require skills in areas such as "email marketing," "email campaigns," "integrated marketing," and "marketing campaigns." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Campaign managers earn lower levels of education than development directors in general. They're 8.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 1.9% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Development director vs. Manager of special events
A manager of special events is responsible for organizing events and programs for a company and various organizations. Managers of special events monitor the event procedures from conceptualization to the actual execution. They analyze the event purpose, manage participants' list, coordinate with suppliers for resources, allocate budget accurately, and ensure that the program outlines and agendas are polished on time. A manager of special events must have excellent communication and organizational skills to deliver a successful event and resolve complications as they arise.
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from development director resumes include skills like "digital marketing," "oversight," "patients," and "lead generation," whereas a manager of special events is more likely to list skills in "event management," "event logistics," "powerpoint," and "inventory control. "
Most managers of special events achieve a lower degree level compared to development directors. For example, they're 10.3% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 2.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Development director vs. Public relations manager
A public relations manager is responsible for monitoring the public relations department to boost its brand image and attract potential clients through press releases and media coverage. They work closely with the marketing team, developing marketing campaigns and promotional strategies for creating brand awareness. Public relations managers maintain the company's presence on various social media platforms, responding to the customers' inquiries and concerns regarding the company's goods and services. A public relations manager must have excellent communication and leadership skills, especially in identifying business opportunities to increase revenues and profitability.
Even though a few skill sets overlap between development directors and public relations managers, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a development director might have more use for skills like "oversight," "patients," "lead generation," and "project management." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of public relations managers require skills like "web content," "pr campaigns," "marketing campaigns," and "fact sheets. "
The average resume of public relations managers showed that they earn lower levels of education compared to development directors. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 7.2% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 2.0%.Types of development director
Updated January 8, 2025
