Director, Business Development

AARP; Washington (District of Columbia); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k)

Pension plan

Health, dental, and vision plans

Life insurance

Paid time off (holidays, vacation, etc

Job summary

AARP is seeking a Director of Business Development to translate growth priorities into a cohesive portfolio and drive revenue growth across markets. You will lead strategy execution, pipeline governance, and cross-functional alignment with senior leadership.

The role requires strong leadership, negotiation skills, and experience in building partnerships, with significant travel and a hybrid work arrangement within the United States.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree as stated in the qualifications.
• 8+ years of progressive leadership experience in business development, partnerships, or related field.
• Ability to coach, develop talent, drive accountability, and achieve objectives.
• Experience translating enterprise strategies into actionable priorities and forecasts.
• Proven leadership in building high-performing teams and managing complex deals.

Responsibilities

• Translates growth objectives into business development priorities and plans.
• Manages the business development pipeline with focus on near-term revenue and long-term growth.
• Partners with senior leadership to refine growth hypotheses and strategies.
• Oversees end-to-end pipeline, ensuring accuracy and transparency.
• Reviews major deals, partnerships, and contracts; negotiates complex agreements.
• Enforces standardized business development processes and CRM usage.
• Leads negotiations and contract execution while managing risks.

Skills

Leadership

Strategic thinking

Negotiation

Cross-functional collaboration

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Marketing, Management, Finance, Economics, or a related field

Tools

CRM platforms

Ai-enabled tools

Job description

Overview

AARP is the nation's largest nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to empowering people 50 and older to choose how they live as they age. With a nationwide presence, AARP strengthens communities and advocates for what matters most to the more than 100 million Americans 50-plus and their families: health and financial security, and personal fulfillment. AARP also works for individuals in the marketplace by sparking new solutions and allowing carefully chosen, high‑quality products and services to carry the AARP name. As a trusted source for news and information, AARP produces the nation's largest‑circulation publications,

Overview

AARP is the nation's largest nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to empowering people 50 and older to choose how they live as they age. With a nationwide presence, AARP strengthens communities and advocates for what matters most to the more than 100 million Americans 50-plus and their families: health and financial security, and personal fulfillment. AARP also works for individuals in the marketplace by sparking new solutions and allowing carefully chosen, high‑quality products and services to carry the AARP name. As a trusted source for news and information, AARP produces the nation's largest‑circulation publications, AARP The Magazine and the AARP Bulletin.

The Director, Business Development, is accountable for translating growth priorities into a cohesive, executable portfolio of opportunities. This role oversees business development strategy execution, pipeline health, deal governance, and performance management across assigned markets and offerings. The role serves as the primary connective layer between senior leadership and frontline business development teams, ensuring disciplined execution, strong cross‑functional alignment, and sustained revenue growth.

Responsibilities

• Translates enterprise growth objectives into clear business development priorities, targets, and annual operating plans.
• Owns and manages the overall business development pipeline, ensuring the right balance of near‑term revenue and longer‑term strategic opportunities.
• Partners with senior and executive leadership to refine growth hypotheses, market focus areas, and partnership strategies.
• Provides oversight of the end‑to‑end business development pipeline, ensuring accuracy, discipline, and transparency.
• Reviews and guides major deals, partnerships, and contracts, serving as an escalation point for complex negotiations or risks.
• Enforces and standardizes business development processes, tools, and reporting, including accurate, timely use of CRM systems and business development reporting tools to maintain pipeline visibility, activity tracking, and performance insights.
• Leads the negotiation of complex relationship agreements. Effectively negotiates the best possible agreements that maximize the enterprise assets and drives revenue, membership, and engagement goals.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Marketing, Management, Finance, Economics, or a related field required.
• 8+ years of progressive leadership experience in business development, strategic partnerships, sales leadership, revenue growth, or a related field.
• Proven leadership experience building and leading high‑performing teams, including direct reports, with the ability to coach, develop talent, drive accountability, and achieve organizational objectives.
• Demonstrated experience translating enterprise partnership and growth strategies into actionable business development priorities, pipeline, targets, and operating plans that drive organizational impact and growth.
• Lead and optimize business development pipeline performance by evaluating market opportunities, sizing partnership potential, establishing priorities, balancing short‑term opportunities with long‑term strategic growth initiatives, and ensuring forecast accuracy.
• Strong expertise in developing partnership strategies and navigating complex cross functional organizations to build alignment, influence stakeholders, secure executive sponsorship, and advance strategic partnerships.
• Lead complex partnership negotiations and contract execution while managing risks, resolving escalations, and securing favorable business outcomes.
• Drive operational excellence through managing business development processes, CRM platforms, Ai-enabled tools, and performance metrics to ensure pipeline visibility, operational discipline, and data‑driven decision‑making across the business development team.
• This position requires approximately 25–30% domestic travel, including occasional overnight stays, to support meetings, events, and business needs

AARP will not sponsor an employment visa for this position at this time.

Additional Requirements

• Regular and reliable job attendance
• Effective verbal and written communication skills
• Exhibit respect and understanding of others to maintain professional relationships
• Independent judgement in evaluation options to make sound decisions
• In office/open office environment with the ability to work effectively surrounded by moderate noise

Hybrid Work Environment

AARP observes Mondays and Fridays as remote workdays, except for essential functions. Remote work can only be done within the United States and its territories.

Compensation And Benefits

• 401(k)
• 100% company-funded pension plan
• health, dental, and vision plans
• life insurance
• paid time off to include company and individual holidays, vacation, sick, caregiving, and parental leave
• performance-based and peer-based recognition and tuition reimbursement

Equal Employment Opportunity

AARP is an equal opportunity employer committed to hiring a diverse workforce and sustaining an inclusive culture. AARP does not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, sex, color, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, mental or physical disability, genetic information, veteran status, or on any other basis prohibited by applicable law.