Back to jobs

Senior Director, Strategy & Innovation

Remote

Who We Are: 

Our vision is to grant the wish of every eligible child. Through our mission, we are uniting communities to grant life-changing wishes. As the world’s largest wish-granting organization, we strive to create a sense of community and an environment where we warmly embrace our wish families, volunteers, and colleagues.

Joining Make-A-Wish means becoming part of a mission that believes in the power of a wish.  

Location:

Remote positions are open to applicants based anywhere in the continental U.S. Hybrid positions are open to applicants based in the Phoenix, Arizona area. 

Applicants must be authorized to work for ANY employer in the U.S. We do not sponsor employment visas or other immigration processes to attain or maintain employment eligibility.

Position Summary: 

The Senior Director, Strategy & Innovation serves as the enterprise’s strategic thought leader and architect of the organization’s long-term vision. This role leads the development, refresh, governance, and execution of the Enterprise Strategic Plan, Annual Operating Plan, and Quarterly Business Reviews, ensuring alignment between enterprise priorities, mission execution, and measurable outcomes.  

The Senior Director partners closely with executive leadership and cross functional stakeholders to identify strategic opportunities, facilitate enterprise governance forums, and drive high impact initiatives that advance organizational performance and transformation. This role plays a central leadership function in enabling strategic decision making through clear strategic narratives, executive ready materials, and enterprise wide communications, ensuring alignment, clarity, and accountability across the organization.   

 

Knowledge and Abilities: 

  • Demonstrated strategic mindset with the ability to anticipate future trends and translate them into enterprise priorities. 
  • Strong consulting, facilitation, and influence skills; able to lead without direct authority across a federated organization. 
  • Advanced analytical and problem solving capabilities, including comfort with ambiguity and complex systems. 
  • Expertise in enterprise planning, portfolio management, and transformation leadership. 
  • Proven ability to communicate complex ideas clearly and persuasively to diverse audiences, including executives and the Board. 
  • Experience designing and implementing organizational change and transformation frameworks. 

 

Duties & Responsibilities: 

  • Lead the design, refresh, governance, and enterprise-wide communication of the multi-year Enterprise Strategic Plan, ensuring clarity, alignment, and sustained focus across all levels of the organization.  
  • Oversee the development and alignment of the Annual Operating Plan and enterprise performance indicators, ensuring strategic priorities translate into executable goals and measurable outcomes.  
  • Maintain visibility into organizational priorities, initiative interdependencies, and resource capacity to support informed decision-making and enterprise-level tradeoff discussions.  
  • Facilitate the Strategic Planning Council (SPC) by establishing meeting cadence and agendas; developing executive-ready materials and presentations (including internal and external business reviews); facilitating discussions with ELT, SPC, and LCLT leadership; and delivering clear pre- and post-meeting communications, decisions, and follow-ups.  
  • Deliver quarterly and annual strategic and operational performance reviews for senior leadership and the Board, translating complex data into clear insights, risks, and recommendations.  
  • Establish and sustain enterprise governance frameworks that ensure disciplined prioritization, initiative alignment, and accountability across functions and leadership forums.  
  • Guide senior leaders through strategic scenario modeling, long-range planning, and complex decision-making, supporting organizational alignment during periods of change and transformation.  
  • Translate environmental insights, organizational data, and strategic analyses into clear, compelling narratives tailored for diverse audiences, including All Staff, SLT/Director forums, SLT and ELT meetings, and other enterprise leadership venues.  
  • Lead the creation of executive-ready materials, strategic narratives, presentations, and decision frameworks that support alignment, transparency, and effective leadership communication.  
  • Partner across departments to drive shared understanding of enterprise priorities and ensure operational plans, functional strategies, and investments reinforce organizational objectives.  
  • Oversee the development and use of dashboards, KPIs, and performance management tools that enable data-driven decision-making and ongoing visibility into strategic progress.  
  • Implement structured change management practices to support adoption, sustainment, and enterprise-wide engagement with strategic priorities and transformation initiatives.  
  • Provide strategic and operational support to the Belonging & Community Council, including end-to-end meeting preparation, facilitation, development of materials, and post-meeting documentation and communications; ensure alignment with enterprise strategy and consistency with other governance councils.  
  • Support and coordinate People and Wish subgroups by aligning inputs, tracking action items, and ensuring clear communication, follow-through, and integration with broader enterprise priorities.  
  • Lead, develop, and support members of the Strategy team by setting clear expectations, prioritizing work, and managing performance, growth, and professional development. 

 

Qualifications: 

  • Bachelor's degree or equivalent work experience is required. 
  • 12+ years of experience with 7+ years experience in strategy, business transformation or organizational planning. 
  • 5+ years of people management experience required. 
  • Experience leading enterprise-wide strategy development and execution required. 
  • Experience working in a nonprofit, matrixed and/or federated organization preferred. 
  • Demonstrated success influencing executive stakeholders and driving cross-functional initiatives. 

 

Working Environment: 

  • Ability to thrive in a remote environment. 
  • Some travel required. 
  • May require work outside a traditional Monday – Friday work week, and outside normal business hours. 

This Role's Hiring Range

$152,000 - $160,000 USD

What We Offer:

Benefits

  • Comprehensive benefit package, effective day 1: Medical, Vision*, Dental*, Wellness
  • Competitive compensation with annual incentive potential    
  • Health Savings Account and Flexible Spending Account Options    
  • Health Reimbursement Account fully funded by Make-A-Wish America
  • Short Term Disability*, Long Term Disability* and Life Insurance 
  • Additional Insurance Plans: Accident, Critical Illness, Hospital Indemnity, Pet Insurance through Figo 
  • 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan with 5% match after one year of service
  • Eligibility for student loan forgiveness through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program   
  • The organization will send a laptop, 24” monitor, and a docking station/adaptor to new hires 

Time Off

  • Up to 15 PTO days 
  • 10 Sick Days 
  • 11 Paid Holidays 
  • 2 Volunteer Days after one year of service 
  • 2 Personal Days accrued annually   
  • Parental Leave      

Also... 

  • Employee Awards and Recognition Programs    
  • Individual and Leadership Development     
  • Discounts and special offers for theme parks, events, hotels, concerts, and movie tickets   

*Monthly premiums paid for the employee for vision, dental, and short/long term disability.

Apply for this job

*

indicates a required field

Resume/CV*

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Cover Letter

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Please enter your street address, city, state, and zip code 

Select...
Select...
Are you a current or former employee of a Make-A-Wish America Chapter or National Team? *
Are you a current or former volunteer or board member for a Make-A-Wish Chapter or the National Team? *
Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...

U.S. Standard Demographic Questions

We invite applicants to share their demographic background. If you choose to complete this survey, your responses may be used to identify areas of improvement in our hiring process.
Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...
Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

As set forth in Make-A-Wish America’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

Select...
Select...
Race & Ethnicity Definitions

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection. As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measure the effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categories is as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.

Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability

Form CC-305
Page 1 of 1
OMB Control Number 1250-0005
Expires 04/30/2026

Why are you being asked to complete this form?

We are a federal contractor or subcontractor. The law requires us to provide equal employment opportunity to qualified people with disabilities. We have a goal of having at least 7% of our workers as people with disabilities. The law says we must measure our progress towards this goal. To do this, we must ask applicants and employees if they have a disability or have ever had one. People can become disabled, so we need to ask this question at least every five years.

Completing this form is voluntary, and we hope that you will choose to do so. Your answer is confidential. No one who makes hiring decisions will see it. Your decision to complete the form and your answer will not harm you in any way. If you want to learn more about the law or this form, visit the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) website at www.dol.gov/ofccp.

How do you know if you have a disability?

A disability is a condition that substantially limits one or more of your “major life activities.” If you have or have ever had such a condition, you are a person with a disability. Disabilities include, but are not limited to:

  • Alcohol or other substance use disorder (not currently using drugs illegally)
  • Autoimmune disorder, for example, lupus, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV/AIDS
  • Blind or low vision
  • Cancer (past or present)
  • Cardiovascular or heart disease
  • Celiac disease
  • Cerebral palsy
  • Deaf or serious difficulty hearing
  • Diabetes
  • Disfigurement, for example, disfigurement caused by burns, wounds, accidents, or congenital disorders
  • Epilepsy or other seizure disorder
  • Gastrointestinal disorders, for example, Crohn's Disease, irritable bowel syndrome
  • Intellectual or developmental disability
  • Mental health conditions, for example, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD
  • Missing limbs or partially missing limbs
  • Mobility impairment, benefiting from the use of a wheelchair, scooter, walker, leg brace(s) and/or other supports
  • Nervous system condition, for example, migraine headaches, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis (MS)
  • Neurodivergence, for example, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, dyspraxia, other learning disabilities
  • Partial or complete paralysis (any cause)
  • Pulmonary or respiratory conditions, for example, tuberculosis, asthma, emphysema
  • Short stature (dwarfism)
  • Traumatic brain injury
Select...

PUBLIC BURDEN STATEMENT: According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. This survey should take about 5 minutes to complete.