Chief Development Officer

Musical America; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 225,000 - 250,000; Full time

Job summary

Seattle Symphony Orchestra & Benaroya Hall seeks a Chief Development Officer to lead contributed revenue, endowment and capital campaigns. This role builds donor pipelines, engages staff and boards, and expands support from individuals, corporations, foundations, and government entities.

The CDO will drive major gifts, endowment activity, and capital campaigns, while partnering with the CEO and Board to develop strategy, metrics, and donor recognition programs across a dynamic arts organization.

Qualifications

• Substantial fundraising experience with a sizable institution including capital, endowment, annual fund, event and membership.
• Experience raising principal or major gifts from individuals and institutional sources.
• Exceptional communicator with ability to engage donors and stakeholders.
• Experience recruiting and cultivating new board members.
• Ability to analyze data and manage fundraising systems.

Responsibilities

• Lead annual and multi-year campaigns and donor development initiatives.
• Drive donor solicitation and stewardship in collaboration with CEO, Board, and staff.
• Engage artists, educators, and Board members in outreach to potential donors.

Skills

Fundraising

Donor cultivation

Board relations

Strategic planning

Communication

Job description

The Seattle Symphony Orchestra & Benaroya Hall (SSO/BH) is seeking an innovative fundraising strategist, relationship builder, and experienced executive to implement a robust and sustainable contributed revenue and capitalization program for one of America's most prominent orchestras and admired musical venues, with deep community ties to one of America's most vibrant cities.

Salary Description: $225,000 to $250,000 annually, plus benefits

The Seattle Symphony (SSO) is recognized as "one of the most vital American orchestras" (NPR), and is internationally acclaimed for its inventive programming, community-minded initiatives, and superb recordings on the Seattle Symphony Media label. Led by the dynamic Music Director Xian Zhang, the SSO thrives at the intersection of music, innovation, and community relevance. The SSO has a strong legacy of championing new music and making over 150 recordings; the orchestra has won five Grammy Awards, 27 Grammy nominations, two Emmy Awards, and was named Gramophone's 2018 Orchestra of the Year. The Symphony performs in the acoustically superior Benaroya Hall in the heart of downtown Seattle from September through July, reaching over 500,000 people annually through live performances, educational programs, and radio broadcasts. Following a successful completion of a $20M capital campaign, Benaroya Hall has recently been renovated with new public spaces and patron and donor amenities and is a welcoming oasis for the entire city. With a new President & CEO, new branding, and a new website, Seattle Symphony is poised for artistic growth and philanthropic investment.

Seattle is an international destination for arts and industry and ranked fourth among the world's top cities in the 2026 Oxford Economic Global Cities Index. The report specifically cited the Seattle Symphony as an asset to the city's rich cultural scene.

Dynamic, innovative, Grammy and Emmy-winning conductor Xian Zhang began her tenure as the Seattle Symphony's Music Director in the 2025/2026 season, and her extraordinary talent and passion have been on full display on stage and off.

Jeremy Rothman, Seattle Symphony Orchestra & Benaroya Hall's new President and CEO, has a 25-year track record of leading bold artistic, educational and community programming that expands audiences and inspires increased philanthropy. His proven experience managing orchestras and venues is defined by a profound commitment to creative collaborations with genre-defying artists, new symphonic commissions, inventive popular programming, and partnerships with cultural and social service organizations in the community.

As creative partners, Music Director Zhang and President & CEO Rothman seek to enhance the visibility and reach of the orchestra and Benaroya Hall deep into its community as well as around the world.

The Seattle Symphony, along with the Seattle Symphony Foundation and Benaroya Hall, has a combined annual revenue of $44 million, a $40 million endowment, and approximately 200 employees. Total revenues comprise 50% contributed, 46% earned, and 4% annual endowment distribution. The SSO has recently completed a $20 million two-year capital campaign to renovate the Benaroya Hall lobby. The orchestra performs more than 200 concerts and live events each season at Benaroya Hall and throughout the Puget Sound region.

The Seattle Symphony Orchestra & Benaroya Hall is in search of an experienced, strategic, entrepreneurial, results-driven, and creative Chief Development Officer (CDO). The President & CEO and Board seek a proven relationship-builder and fundraising strategist to build annual and multi-year campaigns as well as personally drive donor solicitations and engage staff, artists, educators, and Board members in outreach to potential donors that includes individuals, corporations, foundations, and government entities. In addition, this leader will be charged with attracting new donors to the organization. The next CDO must understand how to expand the donor base beyond traditional symphonic supporters to include those interested in education, community impact, and all genres of music at Benaroya Hall. There is great potential for growth in untapped cultural and ethnic donor communities. In addition, the Chief Development Officer will assist the Chair of the Board's Nominations Committee in identifying and recruiting potential new board members and in developing recruiting strategy in consultation with the CEO and Board leadership.

This position is a key member of SSO/BH's senior leadership team and reports to the President & CEO. The senior leadership team includes Chief Marketing Officer, Chief Programming Officer, Chief Operating Officer, and Chief Financial Officer, as well as leaders in Education and Human Resources. As a member of the senior leadership team, the CDO will be a key voice in the organization's strategy, direction, and future vision.

The Chief Development Officer must be a team builder who will inherit a Development staff comprised of sixteen members, which includes five direct reports: Senior Director of Individual Giving, Director of Institutional Giving and Government Relations, Director of Special Events, Director of Strategic Communication, and Director of Development Operations. The current team is talented and positive, and the new CDO would be joining a strong foundation with opportunities to leverage recent investments and leadership for future success. This exciting role offers a unique opportunity for growth and impact. It requires a distinctive blend of strategic and creative vision, leadership skills, revenue planning, and data analysis. The Chief Development Officer oversees a total annual contributed revenue goal of $19.1 million in FY27, which is a 10% increase over FY26.

Central to SSO/BH's goals for 2026-2029 is leveraging the Seattle Symphony Orchestra & Benaroya Hall's assets and diverse constituencies through a more aggressive and creative growth strategy. The Chief Development Officer will create programs and giving opportunities that deeply engage current and new audiences and significantly increase contributed revenue in support of a strategic plan approved by the Board of Directors.

PRIMARY FUNCTION

The Chief Development Officer (CDO) is a member of the Senior Leadership team and provides leadership, management, and coordination for the SSO/BH's individual and institutional fundraising efforts, capital and endowment campaigns, and planned giving fundraising. She or he will drive acquisition and retention for all contributed revenue through both innovative and traditional methods. The CDO reports to the President and CEO and works closely with all three boards of the institution: Seattle Symphony Orchestra, The Benaroya Hall Music Center, and the Seattle Symphony Foundation. In addition, the Chief Development Officer will assist the Chair of the Board's Nominations Committee in identifying and recruiting potential new board members and in developing recruiting strategy in consultation with the CEO and Board leadership.

The Chief Development Officer will be a hands-on and deeply involved fundraiser and relationship builder. This is a high-output environment that focuses on results achieved through creative thinking, targeted action, and open communication.

The CDO leader will review the current fundraising support infrastructure to ensure that the organization can respond quickly, effectively, creatively, and contextually to long-term financial requirements and short-term operating needs. She or he will oversee the delivery of a high-touch stewardship and donor recognition program and will interact regularly with major donors. The Chief Development Officer will represent the SSO/BH at many social functions and other non-SSO/BH activities in the community.

He or she will collaborate closely with the Chief Marketing Officer to grow patrons into donors and provide a seamless stewardship program to cultivate new and existing patrons and encourage them to engage more deeply with the SSO/BH family. In partnership with the Chair of the Development Committee, the CDO will evolve the fundraising capabilities of the Board of Directors of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra as well as the Benaroya Hall Music Center, and work closely with individual Board members to secure contributed revenue.

The Chief Development Officer will execute the following responsibilities on an ongoing basis:

• In collaboration with the President & CEO, develop a fundraising plan that includes donor segmentation; annual, endowment, capital, and planned-giving objectives; success metrics; identification of staff and board members who will be actively involved in fundraising; and defined roles, targets, and fundraising goals.
• Collaborate with the President & CEO and the CFO in the preparation of annual operating plans and budgets, incorporating fundraising projections into the budget of the organization.
• Manage and personally engage in solicitation and stewardship activities in collaboration with the President & CEO, Music Director, Board Chair, Development Committee Chair, other staff, and members of the Board.
• Retain, recruit, and inspire a team of development professionals with appropriate balance of skills and experiences; establish work plans, performance objectives and goals, and regularly review performance; provide professional development and training opportunities to cultivate staff skills and professionalism.
• Implement a more systematic approach to prospecting, donor cultivation and patron engagement.
• In addition, the Chief Development Officer will assist the Chair of the Board's Nominations Committee in identifying and recruiting potential new board members and in developing recruiting strategy in consultation with the CEO and Board leadership.

For the first six months, the Chief Development Officer has to:

• Thoroughly understand the Seattle Symphony Orchestra – its history, culture, traditions, programs, personalities, constituencies and governance structure; understand its base of financial support and the short and long-term funding requirements of all segments of the organization.
• Immediately assess the "state of play" of in-process fundraising efforts and support those efforts as needed; assume a hands‑on leadership role in identifying, cultivating, and soliciting major gifts.

IDEAL EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS

• Substantial fundraising experience with a sizable, high-performing institution that includes capital, endowment, annual fund, event and membership elements; successful experience raising principal or major gifts from individuals and institutional sources with an arts organization that has a reputation for strategic thinking, operational excellence, aggressive action and rapid growth.
• An exceptional communicator, both in writing and orally; an extrovert who gets energy from connecting with individuals, aligning the case for support and creating opportunities for engagement; one with social grace, honesty and integrity who can build enthusiasm for the SSO/BH.
• Experience in recruiting and cultivating new board members.
• Demonstrated skills in motivating, directing and managing staff and consultants, and in coordinating and supporting the fundraising activities of others; a good listener and strategist; comfortable receiving input from many sources, and able to analyze and formulate disparate information into a sound, well-organized plan.
• Broad-based knowledge of various development activities including web, social media, direct mail, membership, proposal and grant development, planned giving, capital campaigns, event planning and management, direct solicitations, leveraging fundraising databases and support systems for donor segmentation, research and volunteer management;
• Experience in structuring sponsorships; demonstrated success with establishing stewardship and donor recognition programs that sustain long-term relationships;
• An understanding of fundraising systems and how data can be used to manage the fundraising process, enhance donor cultivation and drive fundraising priorities;
• Emotionally mature with a very good sense of humor and the flexibility and sensitivity to work with diverse personalities and situations in a high-energy environment, including evenings, weekends, and on tour.

Salary Description: $225,000 to $250,000 annually, plus benefits