Senior Associate, Development

Elevate; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 65,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

Elevate seeks a Senior Associate, Development to support the Director, Government Partnerships in identifying, tracking, pursuing, and managing federal, state, and local funding opportunities.

You will coordinate research, proposals, budgets, and compliance, while maintaining donor relationships and reporting to leadership. The role is based in Chicago with remote flexibility and some onsite travel may be required.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or graduate degree in public administration, public policy, business administration, or related field.
• Minimum 4 years of experience developing and writing competitive proposals and grant applications.
• Experience collaborating with or within public sector or government agencies.
• Knowledge of government grant and contract procurement processes and requirements.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including persuasive writing.

Responsibilities

• Provide proposal management by coordinating timelines, attachments, drafting narratives, budgeting, and compliance reviews.
• Coordinate cross-functional communication to support research, development, and submission of proposals and reports.
• Identify and qualify prospective federal, state, county, municipal, and utility funding opportunities.
• Support pre-award compliance activities and risk analyses to ensure eligibility and regulatory alignment.
• Maintain Salesforce, SharePoint, and project files with up-to-date funding data.
• Monitor KPIs and develop dashboards to inform leadership decisions.
• Assist in partnership development by tracking coalitions and coordinating outreach campaigns.
• Conduct funding landscape and competitive research to identify new opportunities.

Skills

Proposal writing

Grant management

Public sector experience

Budget management

Project management

Stakeholder communication

Research and analysis

Cross-functional collaboration

Compliance knowledge

Strategic planning

Education

Bachelor’s or graduate degree in Public Admin/Policy/Business

Tools

Salesforce

SharePoint

CRM systems

Job description

The Senior Associate, Development supports the Director, Government Partnerships in identifying, tracking, pursuing, and managing federal, state, and local funding opportunities. This position is responsible for research, proposal coordination, grants administration, CRM management, pre-award compliance support, and cross-functional communication to ensure timely and successful public-sector fundraising efforts. This role directly supports government revenue growth and organizational partnerships.

The Senior Associate, Development reports to the Director, Government Partnerships. This position is currently based in Chicago and is remote,but there may be instances in which onsite visits and travel are required.

Responsibilities

• Provide proposal management by coordinating proposal timelines, gathering required attachments and organizational documents, assisting with drafting proposal narratives, supporting budget preparation, and conducting compliance reviews prior to submission.
• Coordinate communication among Development, Finance, Programs, Strategy (National Strategic Engagement Team), Legal, Policy, Operations, and leadership teams to support the research, development, and submission of comprehensive and compelling proposals and reports.
• Support the development and maintenance of a diverse pipeline of funders by researching, identifying, and qualifying prospective federal, state, county, municipal, and utility funding opportunities.
• Support pre-award compliance activities by assisting with risk analyses and proposal readiness assessments, identifying compliance, financial, operational, and contractual risks, and coordinating with internal stakeholders to ensure funding applications meet eligibility, regulatory, and organizational requirements.
• Maintain Salesforce, SharePoint, project files, and prospecting platforms to ensure accurate and up-to-date funding opportunity and stakeholder information.
• Work with the development team to monitor and analyze key performance indicators, including pipeline growth, funding success rates, opportunity conversion rates, proposal win/loss trends, and agency-specific funding patterns, and develop reports, dashboards, and presentations to inform leadership and board-level decision-making.
• Assist in partnership development by tracking coalition memberships and industry associations, coordinating outreach campaigns, and supporting public-sector visibility efforts.
• Conduct funding landscape, policy, and competitive research to identify emerging public sector funding opportunities and support organizational fundraising strategies.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Qualifications and Skills

• Bachelor’s or graduate degree in public administration, public policy, business administration, non-profit management, finance, accounting, political science, communications, or relevant lived experience.
• At least four (4) years demonstrated experience developing and writing competitive proposals and grant applications.
• Experience collaborating with or working within public sector or government agencies.
• Knowledge of government grant and contract procurement processes and requirements.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including persuasive writing and proposal development.
• Experience preparing, analyzing, and managing project budgets.
• Strong project management skills, including managing multiple projects and maintaining a project pipeline.
• Knowledge of compliance requirements, evaluation and monitoring plans, and the application of relevant regulations and policies.
• Understanding of departmental initiatives and programs aligned with Elevate’s primary focus areas.
• Broad knowledge of energy efficiency, sustainability, and related public-sector programs.
• Strategic planning experience, with the ability to support organizational and programmatic goals.
• Strong research, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to work effectively under pressure and manage competing priorities while meeting tight deadlines.
• Experience working in municipal, county, state, or federal government environments.
• Experience managing, administering, or overseeing municipal, county, state, or federal grant programs.

Organization Description

We design and implement programs that reduce costs, protect people and the environment, and ensure the benefits of clean and efficient energy use reach those who need them most.

At Elevate, the greatest asset of our organization is the kind of people we attract. Elevate employees co-create our energetic and collaborative environment, where constant learning and service to others take priority. We empower individuals to challenge conventional thinking in pursuit of innovation and we seek dynamic, hardworking team members who are inspired to work with people of diverse backgrounds and perspectives. Every day we make a difference by placing our team, clients, and community partners first. From our mission to our focus on staff wellbeing and career development opportunities, there’s no better place to grow your career than Elevate.

Compensation

The total compensation for this position includes health and welfare benefits (medical, dental, vision, etc.), defined contribution benefit (401k with contribution), professional development, generous paid time off policies, and a flexible schedule. This is exempt individual contributor position with a salary range of $65,000 – $75,000, based on experience.

Anti-Discrimination Policy

Elevate is an equal opportunity employer that does not discriminate against any employee or job applicant based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability, veteran status, or marital status. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including, but not limited to, hiring, termination, promotion, transfer, layoff, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.

ADA Accommodation

Elevate will reasonably accommodate qualified individuals with a disability so that they can perform the essential functions of a job unless doing so causes a direct threat to these individuals or others in the workplace, and the threat cannot be eliminated by reasonable accommodation, or if the accommodation creates an undue hardship to Elevate. Contact the People Team with any questions or requests for accommodations.

Please note that Elevate will only contact candidates via an elevatenp.org email address. We will never ask a candidate for payment of any kind as part of the hiring or onboarding process or send payment to any candidate prior to completing the hiring and onboarding process.

No phone calls please.

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