Vice President, Product & Innovation

This position is hybrid (onsite Tuesdays & Thursdays) if located in the Washington, DC area or remote for non-local candidates. It reports to the Chief Marketing Officer and is only available for candidates with the right to work in the US. 

Responsibilities: 

Product Vision and Innovation Strategy 

• Define and own IJM’s overarching product vision and innovation strategy across the full donor giving continuum, from mass acquisition through principal-level giving; 

• Build and drive a pipeline of breakthrough product concepts and giving models designed for exponential rather than incremental growth, benchmarked against best-in-class product innovation inside and outside the nonprofit sector;  

• Own the enterprise product roadmap, including recurring giving (Freedom Partner 2.0 and its successor generations), relational fundraising products, and any new giving vehicles or channels; 

• Translate organizational strategy, board priorities, and the marketing transformation roadmap into a coherent, sequenced product agenda; 

• Guide giving tiers, offers, and packaging across mass and relational fundraising to optimize donor value and sustainable long-term revenue;  

Team Leadership 

• Lead and develop the Director, Product (Relational Fundraising), overseeing the mid-level, major, and principal donor product portfolio;  

• Lead and develop the Product Lead for Mass Engagement, overseeing mass giving products including Freedom Partner 2.0 and its evolution; 

• Build a unified product function that operates as one team across mass and relational fundraising, rather than as disconnected workstreams reporting up separately; 

• Coach product leaders to organize around strategic decision gates and the donor’s emotional and rational job-to-be-done, rather than project sequencing and activity alone; 

• Ensure every product meets IJM’s brand, messaging, and experience standards; 

Portfolio Management and Performance 

• Own the full product portfolio as a living system, tracking adoption, engagement, retention, upgrade, and revenue across every giving tier and segment;  

• Establish and report product KPIs to the CMO and Global Leadership Team, connecting product performance directly to the organization’s mass engagement revenue targets; 

• Prioritize, sequence, and sunset products based on performance, strategic fit, and donor segmentation insight; 

• Own the technology dependencies, including Salesforce Marketing Cloud and CDP infrastructure, required to deliver product personalization and lifecycle experiences at scale; 

Cross-Functional Collaboration and Integration 

• Build and maintain a shared product roadmap across Strategic Partnerships, Programs, Insights, and Global Technology Solutions, so priorities, sequencing, and dependencies are visible and agreed well before execution begins; 

• Forecast the product function’s capacity needs against the roadmap, and work with functional leaders to plan resourcing and sequencing so commitments made to donors and the board are realistic and deliverable;  

• Identify dependencies that sit outside the product function’s direct control, including technology builds, brand and creative timelines, and field data availability, and manage them proactively so they do not become blockers late in delivery;  

• Establish clear decision rights and escalation paths across the functions this role depends on, so tradeoffs get resolved quickly and ownership is never ambiguous when priorities compete; 

Leadership and Executive Engagement 

• Represent the product and innovation function at the executive and board level, presenting in an executive register calibrated for non-marketers; 

• Connect product strategy explicitly to the marketing transformation roadmap and the organization’s broader growth targets; 

• Serve as a trusted advisor to the Chief Marketing Officer on product strategy, innovation opportunities, and portfolio tradeoffs; 

• Advocate for and implement practices that respect and reflect the diverse cultures within which IJM operates; and 

• Participation in IJM’s community of spiritual formation.   

Qualifications:  

• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business, Product Management, or a related field; an MBA or Master’s degree is preferred; 

• A minimum of 12 years of experience in product management, marketing, or fundraising, including at least 5 years leading product teams and at least 3 years operating at a senior or VP level driving product strategy across a complex, multi-segment portfolio; 

• Demonstrated track record of building breakthrough products or offerings that produced step-change, not incremental, growth in engagement or revenue; 

• Experience building and leading high-performing product teams, ideally spanning both mass-market and high-touch, relationship-led offerings; 

• Comprehensive knowledge of product strategy, portfolio management, donor or customer segmentation, and innovation methodology; 

• Experience operating at the executive or board level, translating product strategy into a commercially credible narrative for non-technical audiences; and 

• Deep commitment to IJM’s core mission and values. 

Critical Qualities: 

• Eager commitment to IJM's Core Values: Christian, Professional and Bridge-Building; 

• Self-starter with strong initiative;  

• Disciplined with priorities; 

• Strong interpersonal skills and self-awareness; 

• Exceptional verbal and written communication; 

• Flexible, collaborative and eager to support others; 

• Effective team player who fosters collaborative environment; and 

• Adept at creative problem solving. 

• Visionary and entrepreneurial, driven to build what does not yet exist; 

• Driven and results-oriented; 

• Patient; works well under stress; 

• Winsome and team-oriented with a sustained positive attitude; 

• Strong ethic of service and a passion for IJM; 

• Self-motivated, organized, and disciplined to work independently; 

• Excellent attention to detail; 

• Servant leader; high EQ and CQ. 

Application Process:  

Upload Resume, Cover Letter & Statement of Faith* in one PDF document. 

*What is a statement of faith? 
A statement of faith should describe your Christian faith and how you see it as relevant to your involvement with IJM. The statement can either be incorporated into the cover letter or submitted as a separate document and should include, at a minimum, a description of your spiritual disciplines (prayer, study, etc.) and your current fellowship or place of worship. 

What does IJM have to offer? 

• Comprehensive Medical/Dental/Vision benefits 

• Monthly commuter and parking benefits in the DC metro area 

• Retirement benefit options  

• Paid leave starting at 23 days 

• 12 holidays (plus early release the day prior) 

• Daily, quarterly, and annual community spiritual formation 

• Robust staff care resources 

IJM holds strict safeguarding principles and a zero tolerance to violations of the Safeguarding Policy, Protection against Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment Policy, and Code of Ethics. Candidate selection is based on technical competence, recruitment, selection and hiring criteria subject to assessing the candidate’s value congruence and thorough background, police clearance, and reference check processes. 

At IJM, we’re committed to building a diverse workforce through fair and equitable employment practices. IJM encourages people of any race, color, age, sex, marital status or political ideology to apply for employment. While we welcome everyone into this work, we truly believe that the work we are doing is God’s work, not our own, and practice spiritual disciplines together daily. That’s why we legally require under SEC. 2000e-1 [Section702] of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that all employees practice a mature orthodox Christian faith, as defined by the Apostles’ Creed. 

IJM requires a background check, police clearance and thorough review of references with an employment offer and/or employment contract.