The Organization
Arabella Advisors provides guidance and support to changemakers pursuing significant social and environmental impact. An award-winning professional services firm and certified B Corporation, Arabella Advisors is dedicated to making philanthropic work more efficient, effective, and equitable. We work together across geographies on issues ranging from the social and economic advancement of women and girls, and conservation of our climate and planet, to reducing poverty and inequity in the United States and around the world. Our staff members are mission-driven and action-oriented, and have a unique combination of experience in philanthropy, business, nonprofits, government, finance, law, and other fields. We combine creative, strategic thinking with knowledge and networks developed through decades of hands-on experience.
Position Overview
Arabella Advisors is a business built on the conviction that we can help changemakers achieve transformative impact by equipping them with the right tools. As a certified B Corp, our goal is to help our clients identify the most promising pathways to change, build bold and impactful efforts, and partner wisely with organizations, communities, and leaders. Central to our mission’s success is the skillful management of relationships with the clients we serve in our Managed Organization’s initiatives. As Senior Director of Client Service in our fiscal sponsorship business, you will help quickly launch, scale, and manage operations for a variety of client philanthropic initiatives, including donor collaboratives, advocacy campaigns, and new nonprofit organizations. At the heart of your efforts will be ensuring that throughout the collaborative work and projects we embark on with our clients, that we build strong relationships with them that help unleash their full potential in the fulfillment of their mission.
You will also help our Managed Organizations team continue to enhance its practices, using your skills to build internal capacity, systems, and technologies that enable us to more powerfully serve the sector. We are looking for a leader with outstanding relational skills who can balance building strong external and internal collaborations with building out a highly strategic approach to the work we are doing with our clients. We want to find someone with an entrepreneurial spirit who cares deeply about helping clients accomplish greater good, and who values integrating diversity, equity, and inclusion into every aspect of their work.
Essential Responsibilities:
Client Service (~60%)
- Ensure the delivery of top-tier client service for donors and nonprofit projects while balancing compliance, operations, and staffing needs. Serve as a model of and lead on client service for senior client service staff. Refine our client service approach and ensure that it is communicated and applied across departments. Strengthen our collaboration with our business development team. Be prepared to embrace creative problem solving in balancing these priorities.
- Act as a senior team lead for the most complex, important projects and initiatives we manage for our clients, providing expert guidance in the areas of donor and grant/contract management, capacity building, and financial and legal compliance. Make key client service decisions around scope, pricing, compliance and more.
- Cultivate strong relationships with key clients, including the leadership of the nonprofits we manage.
- Develop with the executive team tools that analyze and effectively communicate our work’s impact.
Business Development (~10%)
- Partner with Managing Directors and other team leaders to inform and support business development for our new service. Actively participate in preparing for discussions with potential clients.
- Support the BD team in developing and managing relationships with key external partners, including channel partners and funders.
- Represent the firm at conferences and events.
Management (~15%)
- Supervise team members with a focus on developing, motivating, and mentoring direct reports.
- Identify rising stars on the team, and support strategies to retain them.
- Identify, recruit, coach, and support staff across the team.
Strategic Leadership and Organizational Growth (~15%)
- Serve on the Managed Organizations leadership team, helping craft team and organizational strategy and ensuring the achievement of team objectives.
- Lead efforts to continuously innovate our systems, operations, and processes, with an eye towards increased organizational impact.
- Contribute to developing and managing the team’s structure, annual objectives, and key business performance metrics.
To Be Successful in This Role You’ll Need:
- Graduate degree in relevant field (e.g., business administration, nonprofit management, or public administration) or equivalent experience.
- Deep knowledge of and experience in the social sector. The ideal candidate has philanthropic, nonprofit, or consulting experience, and has worked closely with donors in the past.
- Significant experience with business development and providing high-quality customer service in fast-paced, sophisticated environments.
- At least 15 years of work experience with steadily increasing job responsibility, including extensive people management experience.
- Excellent oral and written communication skills and demonstrated ability to synthesize large amounts of information into clear, comprehensible written documents.
- Ability to manage and lead complex projects, to oversee and delegate to others on the team, and to meet deadlines.
- Experience with or understanding of DAF rules and regulations; advocacy compliance and/or fiscal sponsorship a significant plus.
Our Core Competencies:
- Client-Centered Service: The ability to provide excellent service, including effectively guiding teams to achieve service standards and carry out strategy. Identifying service offering gaps and directing improvements.
- Project Management: The ability to manage resources across team to ensure projects and goals are achieved, approve work plan changes and final deliverables, and communicate projects’ progress with critical stakeholders.
- Relationship Building and Management: The ability to establish and manage effective relationships with diverse stakeholders across the firm, including executive-level colleagues, and to foster a culture of courteous professional interactions.
- Communication: The ability to effectively communicate critical firm-wide messages, as well as fostering team’s ability to manage crucial conversations and develop complex communication skills.
- Collaborative Culture: The ability to model and foster a team-wide culture of inclusion, collaboration, knowledge sharing, demonstrating appreciation for significant team contributions, and healthy mediation of interpersonal conflicts.
- Organizational Learning and Development: The ability to regularly engage in leadership development activities and lead firm-wide initiatives that improve learning and capacity.
- Team Problem Solving: The ability to foster a team culture that encourages creative problem solving, and to ensure teams have resources and training to overcome complex challenges.
TOTAL REWARDS (COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS)
This is a full-time position. We offer a competitive and holistic total rewards package that includes salary, bonus, and benefits. Our base salaries are based on a blend of similar sized organizations from different sectors, including nonprofits, foundations, and professional service firms. They are also based on local market rates and differentiated by geography.
All full-time staff are eligible for our generous benefits package on their first day of employment:
- Health insurance – On average Arabella pays 86% of the medical premium, 80% of the dental premium, and 100% of the vision premium.
- Paid time off – 18 days’ vacation, 10 personal days, 11 company holidays (7 federal and 4 more from a list of inclusive cultural and religious holidays and your birthday), 20 hours’ volunteer leave, and 8 weeks’ parental leave.
- 401(k) retirement plan – Arabella will match up to 4% of your contributions. There is no waiting or vesting period; all funds are yours to keep on day 1.
- Reimbursements for your personal cell phone plan and fitness.
- Pre-tax withholding for transportation and parking.
- Bonus incentive opportunities.
- Access to professional development opportunities.
Working with us
While this position must be based in Durham, NC; Chicago, IL; Washington, DC; New York, NY; or San Francisco, CA, please note that due to COVID-19, all Arabella Advisors’ offices are closed, and we continue to temporarily work in a remote environment.
When we reopen — currently anticipated in early 2022 — we will be returning to work with a hybrid workplace strategy to ensure continued flexibility for our staff, while deepening our strong culture rooted in collaboration and in-person interactions between colleagues. It is our expectation that once we reopen, Arabellans will generally work 2-4 days per week from the office and 2-4 days at home/remotely. We will make reasonable accommodations under the guidelines of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
We are committed to having a passion-driven, inclusive, transparent, collaborative, healthy, and fun culture. We invite you to visit our careers page to learn more.
TO APPLY
More information about Arabella Advisors may be found at: www.arabellaadvisors.com
We are partnering with Linh Nguyen and Rachel Burgoyne of the national talent and search firm NPAG. Due to the pace of this search, candidates are encouraged to apply as soon as possible. Candidates may submit their cover letter, outlining their interest and qualifications, along with their resume via NPAG’s website.
Arabella Advisors is an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to racial equity. If we can make the application process easier through accommodation in the recruitment process, please let us know.
We encourage you to read (or listen to) our DEI statement prior to applying. We make a particular effort to recruit people of color and members of marginalized groups to apply for open positions. Once you have applied, we welcome your feedback on how you have experienced our values around DEI in the recruitment process.
While Arabella is open to individuals from various locations applying to join our team, please note that we generally are unable to pay for relocation expenses, and all applicants must already be legally eligible to work in the United States at the time of application to be considered for this position.