VP, Business Development and Earned Revenue - Code for America

Code for America believes government can work for the people, by the people, in the new digital age, and that government at all levels can and should work well for all people. For more than a decade, we’ve worked to show that with the mindful use of technology, we can break down barriers, meet community needs, and find real solutions.

Our employees build and transform government and community tools and services, making them so good they inspire change. We merge the best parts of technology, nonprofit, and government to help support the people who need it most.

Code for America is looking for a talented VP of Business Development and Earned Revenue who will establish evidence-backed earned-revenue models that advance Code for America's mission and contribute to its long-term financial sustainability. Impact will include paying customers, viable delivery economics, disciplined investment decisions, and a practical path to growing the strongest offerings.

About the Role

The VP of Business Development and Earned Revenue will build and prove Code for America’s earned-revenue strategy, from identifying promising business models to testing them with paying customers and growing what works. Code for America is a nonprofit with an approximately $40 million annual budget, funded primarily through philanthropy. This leader will identify which mission-aligned offerings, buyers, and business models can strengthen that funding base, test them with paying customers, and guide decisions about where to invest and grow.

This is a hands-on executive role for someone who has built a new line of business from an uncertain starting point. Working with the CEO and across Product, Programs, Engineering, and Finance, the VP will translate ideas into focused commercial experiments, personally secure early paid engagements, and turn the strongest opportunities into repeatable offerings. Those offerings may include products, standardized services, implementation support, or a combination. As a member of the executive leadership team, the VP owns Code for America’s earned-revenue strategy, makes portfolio decisions within an agreed investment threshold, and brings larger investment decisions to the CEO and Board.

This role reports to the CEO and is expected to travel no more than 25% of the time.

First-Year Success Criteria

Specific revenue and learning targets will be agreed with the CEO. Success in the first year will include:

• A prioritized earned-revenue strategy grounded in customer discovery, mission value, and business cases with explicit assumptions.
• A small number of paid tests that generate revenue and credible evidence about buyer demand, pricing, procurement, and delivery economics.
• Clear recommendations – made in close partnership with the CEO – about which models deserve further investment, which need refinement, and which should stop, with a practical growth and staffing plan for the strongest opportunities.

Key Responsibilities

Earned Revenue Strategy and Opportunity Selection

• Lead the development of Code for America’s earned-revenue strategy in partnership with executive leadership, identifying the offerings, buyers, and business models most likely to generate sustainable revenue and meaningful mission impact.
• Conduct customer and market discovery to understand buyer needs, budgets, willingness to pay, alternatives, and purchasing processes.
• Assess opportunities with Product, Programs, Engineering, and Finance, considering capabilities, differentiation, delivery capacity, mission value, and financial potential.
• Develop business cases with explicit assumptions around pricing, acquisition/delivery costs, support needs, demand, and time to sustainability.
• Prioritize hypotheses and decide, in partnership with the CEO, which opportunities to test, defer, or decline.

Paid Experiments and Business Model Validation

• Translate promising ideas into bounded commercial experiments with defined offerings, buyers, price hypotheses, timelines, and stop/go criteria.
• Personally identify and cultivate early customers, shape paid pilots or initial engagements, and negotiate commercial terms.
• Develop and test pricing and payment models suited to the offering and buyer, validating whether customers will pay enough for a viable delivery model.
• Partner with Product, Engineering, and Programs to define pilot scope, confirmed staffing, technical feasibility, and delivery commitments before signing.
• Evaluate customer value, procurement feasibility, cost to deliver, and renewal potential to determine standardization vs. customization.

Repeatable Offerings and Commercial Growth

• Turn validated opportunities into repeatable offerings with clear buyer segments, value propositions, pricing, purchasing pathways, and financial expectations.
• Build a focused sales approach and pipeline for prioritized offerings. Partner with MarComms and Product Marketing on positioning and lead generation.
• Work with the Strategic Partnerships team on government buyers, aligning relationship ownership, commercial testing, and customer commitments.
• Recommend staffing and investment needed to grow proven models, building and leading an earned-revenue team as approved.

Investment Decisions and Operational Readiness

• Set revenue and learning goals with executive leadership and report progress against paid conversion, revenue, margins, and renewals.
• Provide executive leadership and the Board with clear business cases, forecasts, risks, and investment recommendations.
• Partner with Finance, Product, Programs, Engineering, and legal staff to establish invoicing, procurement, payment, security, and support arrangements.
• Coordinate with Philanthropy to align earned revenue with overall funding strategy.
• Represent Code for America with prospective customers, partners, and funders.

Qualifications

• Experience: At least 12 years of experience in business development, commercial strategy, new business creation, or related work, including executive-level responsibility.
• Track Record: Demonstrated record of building a new line of business from an early stage—identifying offerings, personally securing early paying customers, and establishing a repeatable model.
• Commercial Testing: Experience designing and running commercial experiments, evaluating evidence, and making disciplined investment tradeoffs.
• Financial Judgment: Strong financial and commercial judgment, including pricing/packaging, financial modeling, full delivery and support costs, margins, and forecasts.
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Experience working closely with product, technology, and delivery teams in a matrixed organization.
• Sales & Negotiation: Hands-on customer development, sales, and contract negotiation skills with complex stakeholders and purchasing processes.
• Team Building: Experience building and leading teams, coaching staff, and leading through influence before a dedicated team is established.
• Communication: Executive-level communication skills to present assumptions, results, and recommendations to the Board, CEO, and leadership.
• Mission Alignment: Deep commitment to Code for America's mission of making government services work well for the people who need them most.
• Travel & Location: Ability to work effectively in a remote environment in the U.S. and willingness to travel up to 25% of the time.

Bonus Qualifications

• Experience with healthcare, managed care organizations, nonprofits, or government buyers.
• Experience with government procurement or selling technology/services to government agencies.
• Familiarity with public benefits programs (SNAP, Medicaid, WIC, TANF, EITC, etc.).
• Experience developing earned-revenue models in a nonprofit or social-impact organization.
• Experience commercializing technology or working directly with product teams through iterative development.