Development Manager

Who We Are! 

🌍 Africa has the world’s youngest and fastest-growing population. By 2035, the continent is poised to contribute more young people to the global workforce each year than the rest of the world combined. 

At Educate! we're obsessed with impact. We leverage iterative learning to build highly scalable youth employment solutions aimed at unlocking the potential of the world’s youngest continent. 

Educate! prepares youth in Africa to learn, earn and thrive in today’s economy by: 

1. Introducing an employment-focused school subject into secondary and 
2. Delivering livelihood boot camps for out-of-school youth, with a focus on marginalized rural girls and young women.

To date, more than 500,000 youth have been meaningfully impacted across Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, and Tanzania, and along the way, Educate! has become the largest youth employment and skills provider in East Africa.

Educate! is a team of over 300 largely African staff and 300 volunteer youth mentors. We prioritize building an engaging, fulfilling and growth oriented work environment. 50% of our top 30 leaders have been with us for over 5 years, 10+ alumni have started their own organizations, and 6 current or former team members were Acumen Fund East Africa fellows. 

We have been backed by top foundations such as Imaginable Futures, Livelihood Impact Fund,  Jack Dorsey’s #startsmall, CIFF and Echidna Giving. Educate! won a 2018 Klaus J. Jacobs Prize and a 2015 WISE Award, and has been highlighted by the World Bank’s S4YE's Impact Portfolio, an Al Jazeera documentary, BBC, The Brookings Institution as one of 14 case studies on scaling education, and the Gates Foundation as a Goalkeepers Accelerator. In 2022, we received a catalytic investment from philanthropist Mackenzie Scott to scale our systems change work.

Educate!'s long-term vision is to design solutions that measurably impact millions of youth across Africa each year.

Good to note: To Our Awesome Applicants! 🚀💫

We know that incredible candidates sometimes hesitate to apply if they don’t meet every requirement. If this role excites you, we encourage you to apply! 

We’re looking for passionate individuals who believe in our mission and can bring unique perspectives to our team—not just those who check every box. We value diversity and strongly encourage women and individuals from all backgrounds to apply.

Position Overview 

Over the past four years, Educate! has grown 3x - and we're just getting started. With an ambitious goal of reaching $100M in revenue by 2035, we are building the team and infrastructure to match the scale of our vision. This is a rare opportunity to join a high-performing organization at a key inflection point.

The Senior Development Manager is a key role on Educate!'s revenue team, sitting at the intersection of strategy, execution, and relationship management. This person will play a critical role in driving our ambitious fundraising goals - leading external engagements with funders, developing compelling proposals, and ensuring seamless coordination across teams, while taking on increasing ownership of a growing portfolio of philanthropic funders.

This role demands both strategic thinking and hands-on execution. In the near term, the balance leans toward execution: building proposals, coordinating funder visits, and keeping complex workstreams moving. Over time, as you develop your portfolio and demonstrate ownership, the balance shifts toward strategy and leadership. We're looking for someone who is energized by both, and clear-eyed about what that journey looks like. This role sits one step below Head level on our development team, and we expect the right candidate to grow into that position as they build impact and demonstrate ownership.

What You’ll Do🌟 

 Relationship Management (30%)

• Serve as a primary relationship manager for a defined portfolio of philanthropic funders — building trusted, long-term partnerships.
• Progressively take on ownership of a broader funder portfolio, with increasing responsibility for revenue targets and strategic account management.
• Maintain a deep understanding of funder priorities and proactively identify opportunities to align Educate!'s work with their interests.
• Represent Educate! with professionalism, warmth, and credibility in external engagements.
• Identify and develop new funder relationships in line with Educate!'s funding strategy and growth ambitions.
• Contribute to team strategy discussions and help shape how Educate! approaches the market as it scales toward $100M.

Proposal Development & Strategic Writing (30%)

• Lead the development of high-quality funding proposals, concept notes, and grant applications — from strategy and structure through to submission.
• Edit and peer review external communications, ensuring consistent messaging and branding within the fundraising function.
• Synthesize complex programmatic information into compelling, funder-ready narratives.
• Collaborate with program and leadership teams to ensure proposals are accurate, ambitious, and aligned with organizational strategy.
• Manage proposal timelines and processes, ensuring on-time delivery and strong quality control

Donor Visits (20%)

• Plan and coordinate end-to-end funder visits, including logistics, briefing materials, agendas, and on-the-ground facilitation.
• Prepare internal teams for funder interactions, ensuring clear talking points, relevant data, and a cohesive experience.
• Lead post-visit follow-up, including thank-you communications, action items, and documentation of key takeaways.
• Travel to Educate!'s programs in East Africa to support in-country donor engagements and connect funders directly with program impact.
• Continuously improve the quality of the visit experience, developing reusable materials and processes that reflect Educate!'s professionalism and mission.

Strategic Projects & Support (20%)

• Support the Director of Philanthropy and broader revenue team on high-priority strategic initiatives, including new market development and funder segmentation.
• Contribute to pipeline tracking, reporting, and revenue forecasting to keep the team organized and accountable.
• Help build and refine systems, templates, and processes that strengthen the team's overall effectiveness as Educate! scales.
• Conduct landscape research and analysis to inform fundraising strategy and identify emerging funding opportunities.
• Serve as a collaborative thought partner across the revenue team, stepping in to support where needed and contributing to a high-performing team culture.

Who You Are 🦸‍♀️🦸‍♂️

• This role is well-suited for a high-performing professional with 5–7 years of experience who is ready to step into a senior execution role and grow quickly into team leadership. The ideal candidate brings:

  • A proven track record of securing funding through compelling proposals and sustained funder relationships, with advanced writing, structuring, and editing skills and the ability to synthesize a high volume of information quickly and accurately.
  • Exceptional interpersonal and relationship management skills — you build trust across teams and with external stakeholders at all levels, and sustain it over time.
  • Strong organizational and execution skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities, work independently to deadlines, and thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.
  • A collaborative, flexible approach and a self-starter mindset — you take initiative, adapt readily, and bring good judgment and integrity to everything you do.
  • A deep commitment to Educate!'s mission and an understanding of the responsibility that comes with managing mission-critical workflows and high-value external relationships.
  • Experience living or working in East Africa is a strong plus.

• You resonate with our Five Cultural Tenets (see What is Educate! About? below) and learn more by looking at Educate!’s culture deck here

What We Offer 

• A vibrant, mission-driven environment with a supportive and fun team.
• Flexibility - Fully remote or hybrid work environment (location dependent)
• Competitive salary based on experience.
• Competitive benefits based on location
• Learning & growth opportunities
• This is a Fixed term contract with a possibility of extension based on performance

Application Process: Rolling basis, interviews happening soon!

Terms 

• Location is Nairobi, Kenya.

Our Culture & Tenets(Values) 🌱

We’re ambitious. Are you? Educate! is growing fast, so new opportunities are opening up and expanding all the time. We’re inspired by people with drive, and we love to help them reach their full potential. We expect everyone at Educate! to contribute above and beyond their job description, grow their skills, and advance their careers, and we are committed to supporting our staff members on that journey of their careers, and we are committed to supporting our staff members on that journey. 

1. We put Youth First, Impact-Obsessed - We are purpose-driven, focused on impact, and prioritize what truly matters. We listen to youth, design our efforts around their needs, and ensure every dollar creates transformative experiences they value.
2. We Exceed Expectations - We take pride in going above and beyond to achieve the best results—proactively identifying problems and seeking solutions without waiting or stopping at what's requested.
3. We Are Always Learning - We are committed to seeking and applying new knowledge and ideas. We stay open-minded and continuously try new things, experiment, grow, and improve. We invest in learning for ourselves and our teams.
4. We are One Team, Many Views - We value all individuals, believe diverse ideas and open dialogue drive excellence, foster a supportive and respectful environment where everyone can freely express themselves. We work as one team and prioritize the organization's mission over personal or team interests.
5. We have the Startup Mindset - We innovate relentlessly to grow our impact, we never think “we have arrived” or “we’re done.”We constantly challenge the status quo, embrace change, and move quickly toward our vision. Unafraid of failure, we question anything that hinders progress.

Every person at Educate! — from interns to the executive director — is evaluated by how they live up to these five cultural tenets. They are at the core of how we achieve our mission and why we work as well as we do.  Educate is committed to providing an inclusive and welcoming environment for all who interact in our community. In creating this environment, we encourage people from a variety of cultures, backgrounds and life experiences to join our diverse team. 

We’re committed to ensuring all candidates are screened for child and youth safety. As part of the process, candidates must successfully complete our standard background verification and safeguarding review in accordance with local legal standards. Educate! reserves the right to withdraw an offer of employment if any screening results indicate potential risks to youth.