Business Development Manager

Blue State; Oakland (CA); Hybrid; USD 75,000 - 80,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Unlimited time-off

Professional development funds ($1,250

Health, dental & vision insurance

Flexible health savings accounts

401K & employer match

Generous holiday schedule

Parental leave 12 weeks

Disability insurance (short & long)

Pre-tax commuter benefits

Remote work flexibility

Job summary

Blue State is hiring a Business Development Manager to join the Partnerships team. You will support our new business engine by tracking pipeline, coordinating proposals, and coordinating work across strategy, creative, and technology to deliver on tight deadlines.

You will help craft responses that align client goals with Blue State capabilities, drawing on nonprofit fundraising experience and strong stakeholder communication to move opportunities toward signed contracts.

Qualifications

• 3-5 years managing complex, deadline-driven projects with multiple contributors.
• Experience with nonprofit fundraising or donor programs is a plus.
• Strong written and verbal communication; ability to draft memos, proposals, and decks.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate RFP responses, proposals, pitches, and scopes of work from start to finish.
• Help turn client needs into a winning plan with cross-functional teams.
• Draft and edit memos, proposals, pitch decks, and collateral for executives.
• Manage logistics through the sales lifecycle from first contact to contract.
• Participate in kickoff calls and follow-ups with senior leaders.

Skills

Project management

Nonprofit fundraising exposure

Client-facing communication

Editing and memo drafting

Stakeholder management

Tools

Google Workspace

CRM tools

Job description

What to know

Help us land our dream clients - and yours. We're hiring a Business Development Manager to join our Partnerships team. You'll support our new business engine: helping track and maintain the pipeline, project-managing proposals and pitches from RFP to signed contract, and getting the best thinking out of our strategists, creatives, and technologists on tight deadlines. You'll play a key role in helping organizations choose Blue State as their agency partner. When nonprofits, causes, and brands go looking for support with fundraising, marketing, and communications, they often send out RFPs. You'll support our response: figuring out what they need, bringing the right people together, and making sure every proposal shows we understand their world. The work is consultative and collaborative. It's about listening closely, connecting a prospect's goals to the right solutions, and keeping a talented team moving toward a strong, on-time pitch.

The company

Blue State is a purpose-driven agency. We partner with leading causes, brands, and campaigns and create real change. From AARP and Doctors Without Borders to Amnesty International and Oxfam, we transform how brands and causes raise money, influence policy, build platforms, and grow communities of supporters. Led by the most creative and analytical minds from the political, nonprofit, and brand worlds, Blue State is an independent agency in the US and London.

A day in the life

Support the new business process

• Coordinate RFP responses, proposals, pitches, and scopes of work from start to finish: build timelines, track owners and deliverables, run kickoffs and check-ins, and keep contributors across strategy, creative, technology, and leadership on schedule
• Review RFPs and help turn them into a plan: what the client is asking for, who needs to be involved, and what a winning response looks like
• Help draft and edit memos, proposals, pitch decks, and collateral for executive directors, chief development officers, CMOs, and other C-suite leaders
• Manage logistics and process throughout the sales lifecycle, from first conversation through contracting
• Join qualifying calls alongside VPs and SVPs, asking smart questions to understand a prospect's goals, constraints, and definition of success

Help partners find the right solution

• Learn how Blue State's services in fundraising, advocacy, brand, and digital fit together, and contribute to consultative recommendations based on what a prospect actually needs
• Apply your familiarity with nonprofit fundraising (donor programs, membership, campaign moments, development team priorities) so we speak our clients' language
• Support agency thought leadership internally and externally

Grow our pipeline and our presence

• Work with senior Partnerships leaders to help identify potential partners and support research across target verticals, including monitoring RFP opportunities
• Research prospects and clients and share clear, useful findings with senior leadership
• Support agency marketing that brings in new business, including case studies, newsletters, website updates, and social content that show off our work and expertise
• Help coordinate logistics for Blue State's presence at industry conferences and events, and support industry awards submissions
• Help turn our team's expertise into thought leadership, such as articles, webinars, and points of view that start conversations with prospects

The team

The Partnerships team drives Blue State's growth and agency brand. We are the face of Blue State to prospective clients. We build new and deepen existing client relationships. We help prospects see opportunities more clearly, and we help Blue State understand the challenges our prospects face. We find solutions to complex business challenges. And we work with our colleagues to persuasively articulate creative, strategic, and technical solutions to executives and practitioners alike.

What we offer

• Unlimited time-off (inclusive of sick, personal, and vacation days)
• $1,250 annually in professional development funds
• Competitive health, dental, and vision insurance
• Flexible and health savings accounts
• 401K & employer match
• Generous paid holiday schedule
• 12-week fully-paid parental leave for all parents-to-be
• Short-term and long-term disability insurance
• Pre-tax commuter benefits
• Remote work flexibility

We approach in-office working with a hybrid model. On-site presence is welcome for US staff who are within commuting distance of the NY or DC office. Managers retain discretion to require in-person attendance for folks on their discipline or client teams as necessary, including for those whose roles require them to be in person.

The salary range for this position is $74,750 - $80,000; compensation will be commensurate with experience.

Some things we're looking for

• 3-5 years managing complex, deadline-driven projects with many contributors, for example as an agency account or project manager, a proposal or new business coordinator, or in operations at a nonprofit or consultancy
• Familiarity with nonprofit fundraising: you've worked on or alongside a development, digital fundraising, or membership team, or supported nonprofit clients at an agency or vendor
• A real interest in marketing, communications, and digital strategy, and in how they help organizations grow. Experience is a plus; curiosity is a must.
• A track record of getting great work out of busy people you don't manage: clear asks, firm but friendly follow-up, and calm under deadline pressure
• Clear, concise, persuasive business writing and strong editing instincts
• Comfort with a high volume of internal and client interaction, in person and over phone, email, and Zoom
• Experience with Google Workspace or CRMs is a plus
• Impeccable ethical standards and professionalism

You might be a great fit if you've been:

an account manager at a fundraising or digital agency, a proposal manager at a consulting or communications firm, or a development or digital fundraising operations person at a nonprofit who wants to move to the agency side.

At Blue State, diversity is a necessity, not a nice-to-have. We encourage those from underrepresented communities - women, people of color, LGBTQIA+, immigrants, those with disabilities and people at all the intersections in between - to apply. Even if you don't think your current skill set checks every box, but this role seems to align with your strengths, we want to hear from you.

Blue State is committed to creating an inclusive and accessible application and interview process. If you would like to request a reasonable accommodation for a disability, including the use of AI tools throughout the hiring process, please contact us at [e-mail] with the subject line: Accommodation Request to get started.

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