Senior Director of Corporate Partnerships

Senior Director of Corporate Partnerships

The Opportunity

The Senior Director, reporting to the Vice President, Development, is the senior leader of the Arsht Center’s corporate fundraising function, accountable for strategy, performance, and long-term philanthropic growth. This individual will own and drive the corporate fundraising portfolio, donor stewardship, and pipeline development, ensuring that the Arsht Center achieves ambitious revenue goals while building a scalable, high-performing development operation.

Arsht has secured support from leading corporate partners, including Bank of America and Lexus, which underscores the organization’s ability to attract significant, multi-year investments and operate at the forefront of arts and culture philanthropy. The Senior Director of Corporate Partnerships will build on this momentum, serving as the architect of the Arsht’s corporate philanthropic strategy, leading the team, and overseeing all aspects of corporate sponsorship fundraising. The Senior Director will optimize systems, strengthen the pipeline, and ensure high-performance management across the function. They will operate as frontline fundraisers, cultivating high-impact investments from corporate partners.

The Senior Director will partner closely with the Vice President, Development, and the President & CEO on top relationships and key solicitations. Playing a critical role, they will support and coach internal stakeholders, including senior leadership and programmatic teams, on strategy and engagement.

Externally, the Senior Director will serve as a key ambassador, representing the Center with corporate donors and partners at high-level events, programs, and performances. This role may include travel to support cultivation.

The successful candidate will have a deep commitment to the Arsht Center’s mission and be an experienced development leader with strong strategic, relationship-building, and management capabilities. This is a full-time, in-office position.

Candidate Profile

The Senior Director will possess the following attributes and competencies:

Strategic Leadership and Philanthropic Planning

• Design and implement a comprehensive corporate partnerships strategy that supports annual fundraising goals, capital and special projects initiatives, and long-term institutional sustainability.
• Set ambitious revenue targets, define high-value portfolio priorities, and oversee accurate forecasting and pipeline coverage.
• Secure significant support from local and national corporations for performances, series sponsorships, festivals, education programs, community engagement initiatives, special projects, and capital and endowment priorities.
• Analyze corporate philanthropic giving landscape to identify and pursue new growth opportunities.
• Identify, cultivate, solicit, and close new corporate partnerships at the six and seven figure level, including multi-year commitments, capital gifts, and endowment support.
• Develop tailored proposals and pitch decks that articulate the impact of multi-year, special project, or capital priorities, and endowment support on the Arsht Center’s long term artistic, educational, and community mission, including naming opportunities, legacy recognition, and long term visibility.
• Demonstrate executive presence, sound judgment, and strong communication skills in all leadership activities.

Team Leadership and Collaboration

• Support a high-performing, collaborative team culture that emphasizes excellence, accountability, and consistent delivery of ambitious goals.
• Work with the Development Manager and Director of Development, as well as the entire Development Team, to fulfill donor benefits and foster attentive donor stewardship, ensuring alignment and accountability across the team.
• Support the internal fundraising capability by helping lead staff on donor strategy and engagement best practices.
• Guide development operations, systems, and budgets with the Vice President, Development, and the Assistant Vice President, Development.
• Foster deep cross-team collaboration to integrate strategies with Arsht programmatic and advocacy efforts.
• Reinforce strong CRM discipline, ensuring accurate pipeline tracking, forecasting, and reporting to support data-driven decision making.
• Work in close partnership with the Arsht’s Finance Department and the Assistant Vice President of Development to reconcile sponsorship payments and maintain pipeline accuracy, CRM integrity, and reporting.

Donor Engagement, Relationship Management, and Stewardship

• Develop tailored proposals that articulate the impact of multi-year, special project, or capital priorities, and endowment support on the Arsht Center’s long term artistic, educational, and community mission, including naming opportunities, legacy recognition, and long term visibility.
• Ensure quality control and alignment of all proposals, communications, and fundraising initiatives.
• Cultivate, solicit, and actively steward corporate donors to secure transformative support.
• Own and actively manage a $1 million+ portfolio, leading cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship strategies.
• Represent the Arsht Center at performances, donor events, and external functions to strengthen relationships and advance institutional visibility, ensuring experiences are strategic, immersive, and impactful with appropriate mobilization of organizational capacity.
• Reinforce a culture of philanthropy across the Arsht, making certain all teams understand and contribute to fundraising success through storytelling, relationship building, and strategic engagement.

Qualifications

• Passionate about Arsht Center’s mission and committed to driving community impact at scale.
• 5+ years of experience in corporate fundraising, sponsorship sales, partnerships, preferably within a not-for-profit, cultural, or large-scale institution.
• Demonstrated success securing major corporate gifts and sponsorships from both local and national companies, including experience with capital campaigns, special projects, or endowment-level commitments.
• Demonstrated success in achieving ambitious revenue targets.
• Demonstrated success in personally closing six- and seven-figure gifts.
• Strong relationship building, negotiation, and strategic planning skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including proposal development and executive level presentations.
• Ability to work evenings, weekends, and holidays as required to support performances and events.
• Exemplary work ethic and leadership skills.
• Strong executive presence with the ability to influence and engage senior stakeholders, board members, and international partners.
• Able to combine bold ambition with pragmatic solutions, pushing boundaries while achieving results.
• Exceptional strategic thinking, operational oversight, and analytical skills with the ability to connect fundraising strategy to organizational impact.
• Innovating problem-solving. Comfortable designing and executing unconventional approaches to donor engagement and philanthropic growth.
• Ability to build trust and strong relationships.
• Ability to inspire confidence in donors.
• Resilience and adaptability, thriving in a fast-paced, evolving environment with complex challenges.

Physical Requirements

• While performing the duties of this position, the employee is frequently required to stop, reach, stand, walk, lift, pull, push, grasp, communicate, and use repetitive motions.
• While performing the duties of this position, the employee may frequently lift and or move 25 pounds of materials.
• The position requires the individual to meet multiple demands from multiple people and interact with the public and other staff.