Job Description

Save the Children

For over 100 years, Save the Children has been fighting for the rights of children. The right to a healthy start in life. To have access to education. To be in a safe environment, protected from harm. We work in some of the world’s hardest-to-reach places – over 100 countries, including the U.S. No matter what your role is, when you join Save the Children, you’re creating positive, irreversible change for children, and the future we all share.

The Role

The Senior Advisor, Portfolio Strategy & Operations plays a strategic coordination and project-management role across Save the Children’s Impact & Evidence (I&E) division to strengthen private fundraising effectiveness. Working in close partnership with the Marketing & Growth (M&G) division and I&E leadership, this role ensures that private funding opportunities, donor communications, and engagement strategies are aligned with division priorities, programmatic realities, and evidence of impact.

This position serves as the primary division-level liaison between I&E and M&G and project manages high-priority private funding opportunities within I&E. The role ensures that internal teams are aligned, inputs are coordinated, timelines are met, and opportunities reflect division strategy and capacity. The Senior Advisor focuses on portfolio-level alignment, opportunity governance, and knowledge-management systems that enable fundraising teams to pursue strategic, high-value opportunities.

Location

Hybrid – Washington DC, Fairfield, CT or Lexington, KY office locations

What You’ll Be Doing (Essential Duties)

*not inclusive of all role responsibilities. May be subject to change

Division Strategy & Fundraising Alignment (35%)

• Partner with I&E leadership and M&G to align private fundraising priorities with division strategy, funding gaps, and programmatic capacity.
• Represent I&E for the development of annual and multi-year private funding goals and track progress against division targets.
• Serve as the primary liaison between I&E and M&G to ensure consistent positioning, messaging, and understanding of programmatic priorities.
• Identify trends, risks, and gaps across the private pipeline and elevate strategic opportunities or concerns to leadership.
• Monitor domestic and international portfolios ensuring opportunities reflect division-wide priorities and avoid internal competition.

Opportunity Project Management & Governance (40%)

• Lead priority private funding project opportunities within I&E, ensuring alignment across technical teams, MERL, finance, and leadership.
• Responsible for internal inputs, timelines, and decision points for high-value or complex opportunities.
• Establish and maintain clear processes for reviewing and aligning opportunities with I&E priorities and programmatic realities.
• Facilitate go/no-go decision-making for major opportunities in partnership with I&E and M&G leadership.
• Provide strategic guidance on high-value, cross-portfolio opportunities to ensure feasibility and alignment with division strategy.
• Track progress of priority opportunities across the division and ensure follow-through on action items.
• Identify opportunities to leverage funding across initiatives or align private funding with public funding strategies.

Knowledge Management & Fundraising Enablement (25%)

• Responsible for division-level fundraising resources and programmatic content on SaveNet to reflect SCUS strategic priorities and areas of greatest need.
• Ensure fundraisers and leadership have access to clear, current information on I&E priorities, programmatic strengths, and funding gaps.
• Coordinate with program, MERL, and communications teams to ensure donor-facing messaging reflects Impact & Evidence strategy
• Facilitate regular coordination between I&E and M&G to review pipeline progress, share insights, and strengthen alignment.
• Elevate effective fundraising across portfolios through improved systems, tools, and knowledge-sharing .

Required qualifications for the role

• Minimum of a bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience, plus at least 7 years of relevant experience

• Demonstrated experience in large matrix organizations with a distributed workforce and various service lines in multiple state and communities throughout the United States
• Experience adapting new projects, initiatives and technologies based on partner need, donor requirements, and accessibility in different locations.
• Proven interpersonal and communications skills; ability to convey complex strategic plans and ideas in simple appropriate ways to staff, partners and donors

• Demonstrated understanding of issues related to poverty in rural communities and the ability to convey that understanding in a clear and easily understood way

• Professional proficiency in MS Office suite
• Professional proficiency in spoken and written English

Compensation

Save the Children is offering the following salary ranges for this position, dependent on candidate location:

• Geo 1 - NY Metro, DC, and other locations with labor costs significantly above national average: Target Salary for this position is $119,425 - $133,475 base salary
• Geo 2 - Locations around the US National Labor Cost Average: Target Salary for this position is $107,525 - $120,175 base salary
• Geo 3 - Locations significantly below the US National Labor Cost Average: Target Salary for this position is $96,050 - $107,350 base salary

The salary ranges listed above are for US based candidates. For candidates located outside of the US, salary ranges will be based on the salary scales of the local employer of record. Actual base salary may vary based on, but not limited to, relevant experience, base salary of internal peers, business sector, and geographic location (more information on job structure is available here).

About Us

We are looking to build an inclusive team at Save the Children. We offer a range of outstanding benefits to support this goal:

• Flexible schedules and time off: Flexible schedules, generous PTO, 11 paid holidays plus 2 floating holidays and hybrid working opportunities
• Health: Competitive health care, dental and vision coverage for you and your family
• Family: A variety of paid leaves: caregiver, parental/adoption, critical child illness and fertility benefits
• Employee Rewards Program: Annual merit increases and/or additional incentives for eligible employees
• Retirement: A retirement savings plan with employer contributions (after one year)
• Wellness: 15 safety and wellness days annually (if hired on or after July 1, safety and wellness days prorated to 8 days), mental health benefits and support through Calm and company-hosted events
• Employee Assistance Program free and confidential assessments, short-term counseling, referrals, and follow-up services
• Learning & Growth: Access to internal and external learning & development opportunities and mentorships

Click here to learn more about how Save the Children US will invest in you.

Save the Children is committed to conducting its programs and operations in a manner that is safe for the children it serves and helping protect the children with whom we are in contact. All Save the Children representatives are explicitly prohibited from engaging in any activity that may result in any kind of child abuse.

Save the Children is committed to minimizing safety and security risks for our valued employees, ensuring all are given training, support and information to reduce their risk exposure while maximizing the impact of our programs for children and families. Our shared duty, both agency and individual, is to seek and maintain safe working conditions for all.

If you require disability assistance with the application or recruitment process, please submit a request to applicantsupport@savechildren.org