Chief Development Officer for Foundation and Government Giving

About the Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met presents over 5,000 years of art from around the world for everyone to experience and enjoy. The Museum lives in two iconic sites in New York City—The Met Fifth Avenue and The Met Cloisters. Millions of people also take part in The Met experience online.

Since its founding in 1870, The Met has always aspired to be more than a treasury of rare and beautiful objects. We are committed to fostering a collaborative and respectful work environment with a staff as diverse as the audiences we engage. Our staff members are art lovers who are passionate about working toward a common goal: creating the most dynamic and inspiring art museum in the world.

At The Met, every staff member – from security officers to researchers to scientists and beyond – lives by our core values of respect, inclusivity, collaboration, excellence, and integrity. 

Respect: Engage one another with collegiality, empathy, and kindness, always.

Inclusivity: Ensure that all are and feel welcome and valued.

Collaboration: Reach across boundaries to exchange ideas and work together toward our shared mission.

Excellence: Lead the cultural world in quality and expertise—and inspire curiosity and creativity.

Integrity: Hold ourselves to the highest moral standards, admit when we fall short, and then evolve. 

GENERAL STATEMENT OF RESPONSIBILITIES & DUTIES:

As Chief Development Officer for Foundation and Government Giving, you will serve as a senior strategist and ambassador for institutional fundraising, leading a high-performing program that secures support for exhibitions, conservation, audience engagement initiatives, capital priorities, and core operations. You will drive a comprehensive funding strategy that integrates proactive prospect identification, rigorous proposal development, exemplary stewardship, and meticulous grant compliance to ensure sustained and growing institutional support at The Met.

You will oversee and mentor a team of four full‑time professionals, fostering a culture of excellence, collaboration, and accountability. In this capacity, you will work in close partnership with colleagues across Institutional Advancement, Curatorial, Conservation, Audience Engagement, Finance, and other departments throughout the Museum to shape and position projects for competitive institutional funding, aligning opportunities with both programmatic ambitions and organizational priorities.

In this role, you will represent the Museum to senior leaders at major private foundations, government agencies, and other philanthropic entities—cultivating influential relationships, advancing strategic partnerships, and stewarding long-term support. Your leadership will be essential in elevating the Museum’s institutional giving portfolio, expanding its reach, and securing resources that strengthen its impact for audiences locally and globally.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES & DUTIES:

• Drive a Museum‑wide institutional giving strategy that strengthens existing donor relationships and builds a robust pipeline across all program areas through focused research, cultivation, and stewardship.

• Partner with senior leadership to support major institutional fundraising initiatives

• Supervise the preparation of foundation proposals for education programs, capital projects, conservation, publications, exhibitions, and more

• Oversee compliance with grant terms, including narrative and financial reporting, donor recognition requirements, and acute tracking of expenditures and deliverables

• Cultivate and steward funder relationships with program officers and foundation representatives through meetings, briefings, tours, and events

• Support Museum leadership in their engagement with institutional funders

• Collaborate with curators, educators, conservators, and program staff to develop compelling, fundable projects and accurate budgets

• Manage team performance reviews and promote best practices in grants management and donor relations

• Oversee gifts processing, acknowledgements, and grant tracking

• Collaborate with Development Operations to ensure streamlined systems for grant reporting and revenue forecasting

• Participate in donor events, exhibition openings, and institutional activities as needed.

REQUIREMENTS & QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor’s Degree required; Master’s degree preferred;

• At least 10 years senior-level experience in fundraising or a related field;

• Strong leadership, supervisory and management experience;

• Excellent written and oral communication skills;

• Ability to work well under pressure and multi-task on a broad variety of projects in a fast-paced, deadline-oriented environment;

• Mature interpersonal skills to interact with all internal and external constituencies; ability to work effectively with curators and conservators, donors and fellow staff;

• Strict attention to detail, time management and accuracy in work is critical.

• Familiarity with local and national foundation and government funding sources.

• A background and interest in art history strongly desired;

COMPENSATION RANGE:

• Pay Range: $170,000.00 - $200,000.00 / Annually

The advertised pay scale reflects the good faith minimum and maximum salary range for this role. The advertised pay scale is not a promise of a particular wage for any specific employee. The specific compensation offered to a candidate may be dependent on a variety of factors including, but not limited to, the candidate’s experience, education, special licensing or qualifications, and other factors.

Visa Sponsorship

Visa sponsorship is not available for this position.

Location Requirements

At time of employment, employees are expected to be located within commuting distance of the Museum. “Commuting distance” means that they are located in one of following states: New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, or Pennsylvania (the “Tri-state and PA” areas), and be able to commute to and from the Museum in a single day.

Benefits Offerings

The Museum provides competitive compensation, and generous benefits and perks for all eligible employees. Note: Benefits Offering may differ based on Employee Status.

• Medical, dental, vision and life insurance
• 403(b) basic retirement plan and optional matching retirement plan with an outstanding employer match
• Considerable paid time off, including annual leave, sick leave, and 13 Museum holidays
• Long-term disability coverage
• Flexible Spending Accounts & Health Savings Account (pre-tax income for eligible health care expenses)
• Commuter benefits (pre-tax income for parking or mass transit expenses)
• Free financial-planning services
• Financial assistance for relevant coursework, seminars, and training programs
• 25% discount for staff in Museum shops
• A subsidized staff cafeteria
• Access to the Museums Council pass, which grants free admission to various museums and cultural institutions

We recognize that it is highly unlikely that someone meets 100% of the desired attributes for a role. If much of this job description describes you, then please apply for this role.

The Met is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals. As part of this commitment, The Met will ensure that persons with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations. If reasonable accommodation is needed in this process, please contact benefits@metmuseum.org.  

The Metropolitan Museum of Art provides equal opportunity to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, age, mental or physical disability, pregnancy, alienage or citizenship status, marital status or domestic partner status, genetic information, genetic predisposition or carrier status, gender identity, HIV status, military status and any other category protected by law in all employment decisions, including but not limited to recruitment, hiring, compensation, training and apprenticeship, promotion, upgrading, demotion, downgrading, transfer, lay-off and termination, and all other terms and conditions of employment.