Director, Development Operations

Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) – Toronto, ON | Permanent, Full-time

Reports to: Chief Development Officer

Leads: A team of three across prospect research, development operations and analytics

Status: Permanent Full-time

Great fundraising runs on great intelligence. Join us as Director, Development Operations, and lead the central function at the heart of TSO fundraising. This is where everything we know about our donors, prospects, and partners comes together, and where growth strategies for major gifts, individual giving, and corporate sponsorship take shape.

If you're a strategic thinker, a rigorous operator, and a leader who builds strong teams, come build the foundation that one of Canada's leading orchestras will grow on

The Role

The Director, Development Operations is a strategic and operational leader who sets the direction for, and runs, the systems and intelligence behind the Toronto Symphony Orchestra's fundraising: prospect strategy and pipeline governance, data and insights, campaign and major-initiative infrastructure, Tessitura and fundraising technology, and gift administration. Reporting to the Chief Development Officer as a member of the Development leadership team, you will work alongside the Directors of Philanthropy, Individual Giving, and Partnerships & Events to make sure every fundraising decision rests on reliable data, sound systems and clear insight.

This is a moment to raise the bar. The TSO's Tessitura platform has just been upgraded, the Development team has been restructured for growth, and major international touring and campaign initiatives lie ahead. You'll lead a capable team with a solid foundation,



with the mandate to make Development Operations a strategic partner to every fundraiser in the department.

About the TSO

For more than a century, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) has been a cornerstone of Canadian culture, steadfast in its commitment to musical excellence and to the vibrant communities we serve. Through acclaimed concerts, recordings, and tours, the TSO enriches audiences while reflecting the diversity of Toronto—one of the world's most multicultural cities. Music Director Gustavo Gimeno brings artistic vision and a sense of adventure to the 93-musician orchestra. Engaging audiences of all ages, the TSO leads a myriad of education, health-and-well-being, and community-access programs, including the tuition-free Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra, cultivating the next generation of Canadian artists.

What you'll do

- Set the department's prospect strategy and own its prospect management system – ratings, portfolio assignment rules, moves management standards and pipeline reviews – so that fundraising time goes to the relationships with the greatest potential.
- Partner with the Directors of Philanthropy, Individual Giving, and Partnerships & Events to keep pipelines full, prioritized and moving, and to identify opportunities that span portfolios.
- Direct proactive prospect identification in priority areas, including subscriber-to-donor conversion,



mid-level and leadership giving upgrades, corporate prospects, and Board and volunteer networks.
- Lead the department's data and insights function, turning analysis into clear recommendations on where to focus, whom to approach and where to invest.
- Define the KPIs, dashboards and forecasts that the Chief Development Officer, Development leadership and the Board use to track performance, and maintain a single, trusted source of revenue and pipeline reporting, reconciled with Finance.
- Lead performance analysis across giving streams – retention, acquisition, upgrades, lifetime value, donor migration and return on investment – and revenue forecasting for annual budgeting and campaign planning.
- Partner with Marketing to use patron and ticketing data to identify donor prospects, and develop prospect scoring and predictive models as the function maturing.
- Hold full accountability for the department's operational readiness for campaign-scale fundraising, including gift-counting policy, pledge management, gift agreements, and recognition and naming records.
- Lead campaign and major-initiative progress reporting to Development leadership, campaign volunteers, the Development Committee and the Board.
- Own Development's fundraising technology strategy, roadmap and budget, and represent Development in the governance of the TSO's shared Tessitura database alongside Marketing, Patron Services, Finance and IT.
- Lead major upgrades and new functionality, and assess automation and AI-enabled tools for value, cost and privacy risk.
- Be accountable for accurate, timely and CRA-compliant gift processing, receipting, revenue

📌 Director, Development Operations (Toronto)
🏢 Toronto Symphony Orchestra
📍 Toronto