Senior Advisor (Virginia Residents Only) – Armstrong McGuire

The Opportunity

About Armstrong McGuire

Armstrong McGuire is a full-service nonprofit consulting firm and leadership platform serving social sector leaders and organizations through leadership development, organizational development, and resource development. Our work is grounded in four values: integrity, experience, relationships, and results.

We meet clients at the intersection of experience and empathy. Senior Advisors bring the structure, perspective, and partnership that help clients see clearly, decide wisely, and move from conversation to action.

Role at a Glance

A Senior Advisor is a seasoned nonprofit professional who leads complex client engagements, builds trusted relationships, applies Armstrong McGuire methods with sound judgment, and contributes to the firm’s reputation, learning culture, and business development by identifying potential client needs and opportunities, making introductions when appropriate, and participating in client conversations, pitches, and proposals.

The Senior Advisor serves as an independent contractor, with a primary focus on leading and delivering high-quality client work. Senior Advisors bring expertise in leadership development, organizational development, and/or resource development, and they work flexibly across geographies in alignment with client needs and priority markets.

Expectations of a Senior Advisor

The Senior Advisor is a client-focused consulting lead on assigned Armstrong McGuire projects, accountable for quality, integrity, and agreed-upon deliverables. The role combines consulting expertise with listening, facilitation, coaching, decision support, project leadership, and relationship stewardship. A Senior Advisor:

Diagnoses the client’s context before making recommendations or engaging project objectives.

Begins by seeking to understand a client’s realities rather than assuming that past answers fit every organization.

Brings repeatable processes, tools, and sound judgment to complex work.

Builds client clarity and capacity rather than taking over.

Works confidently and collaboratively with executives, boards, committees, staff teams, funders, donors, volunteers, and community partners.

Demonstrates ethical conduct, diplomacy, follow-through, and clear, consistent, and professional client communication.

Key Responsibilities

In this role, the Senior Advisor is expected to lead client work with discipline, judgment, and care across the following responsibilities:

Lead client engagements from launch through closeout, maintaining clear scope, roles, milestones, decisions, and communication.

Facilitate meetings, interviews, listening sessions, retreats, assessments, and decision-making processes appropriate to the engagement.

Analyze qualitative and quantitative information; identify themes; and translate findings into practical, actionable recommendations.

Produce concise, practical, client-ready deliverables using Armstrong McGuire brand standards, tools, templates, and shared systems.

Manage project time, budgets, dependencies, risks, and scope changes in coordination with the internal project team.

Protect confidential information and apply sound judgment in sensitive, relationship-centered environments.

Follow the applicable statement of work, Armstrong McGuire contractor procedures, client requirements, and relevant laws or compliance for each assignment.

Respect ownership and use of work product, including client-specific deliverables, Armstrong McGuire materials, and any pre-existing contractor intellectual property.

Senior Advisors are also given opportunities to contribute to firm learning and visibility by submitting occasional blog posts and other communications pieces, representing Armstrong McGuire at social sector events, and participating in monthly/quarterly staff meetings and other relevant firm gatherings, as appropriate.

Core Competencies

Successful Senior Advisors demonstrate the following competencies in both client engagements and firm collaboration:

Consulting judgment: Asks thoughtful questions, recognizes patterns, manages ambiguity, and synthesizes interviews, surveys, documents, financial or operational information, and stakeholder input to help clients make sound decisions.

Relationship leadership: Builds trust across different roles, viewpoints, identities, and levels of authority.

Facilitation and communication: Creates inclusive discussions, navigates tension, listens for consensus, and communicates complex ideas simply.

Project discipline: Plans and schedules work (including client logistics), uses time well, coordinates contributors, meets deadlines, and addresses scope adjustments or risk early.

Adaptability and learning: Stays curious, seeks context, accepts feedback, and adapts tools and methods without losing rigor.

Technology fluency: Uses communication, CRM, document, project, survey, shared drive, and AI tools responsibly, practically, efficiently, and consistently.

Business development: Recognizes potential client needs, supports client conversations, pitches, and proposals as appropriate, makes introductions when useful, and works with the business development team to translate expertise into a clear client value proposition.

Practice Area Expertise

Senior Advisors typically bring deep experience and the ability to translate that into consulting practice, across at least two of the three Armstrong McGuire practice areas, or exceptional depth in a priority area aligned with firm needs:

Leadership Development: Includes board and staff development; executive transition; executive search; onboarding; coaching; interim leadership

Organizational Development: Includes strategic planning; governance; organizational assessment and alignment; community engagement; program learning and evaluation; theory of change development; evaluation planning; outcome measurement; data collection design

Resource Development: Includes fundraising strategy; campaigns; board engagement in fundraising; donor relations; gift planning; philanthropic advising

Qualifications/Selection Indicators

This position is based in Virginia and only current residents of Virginia will be considered.

Senior Advisor status is a proactive, mutual decision based on firm need, demonstrated work, values alignment, client satisfaction, proficiency with Armstrong McGuire tools and methodologies, and a sustained relationship. It is not automatic or earned through a checklist alone, and Senior Advisor status is evaluated annually.

The following indicators help clarify both the baseline qualifications expected of a Senior Advisor and the evidence used to assess initial readiness and continued alignment for the role.

Baseline Qualifications

Significant leadership experience in nonprofit, philanthropic, public, private, or adjacent mission-driven settings.

Demonstrated consulting capability – not merely deep nonprofit experience – including leading client-facing projects, diagnosing needs, facilitating decisions, and producing useful deliverables.

Experience partnering with executives, boards, committees, and diverse stakeholder groups.

A record of producing high-quality work, meeting commitments, and maintaining strong professional relationships.

Clear expertise connected to current or emerging client needs, geography, sector, or priority markets.

Selection Indicators

Work samples demonstrate clear thinking, strong writing, useful analysis, and client-ready presentation.

References affirm integrity, collaboration, judgment, reliability, and the ability to lead through complexity.

Prior Armstrong McGuire work, when applicable, demonstrates client satisfaction, values alignment, and proficiency with firm methods and tools.

The advisor shows capacity for project-based work, timely communication, travel or in-person facilitation when required, and responsible management of competing commitments.

The advisor can contribute credibly to a team-based consulting model.

How To Apply

To apply, scroll to the bottom of this page. You will see instructions for uploading your compelling cover letter, resume, and salary requirements.

Please provide all requested information to be considered. For technical assistance, contact talent@armstrongmcguire.com . No phone calls, please. Applications will not be accepted by email or directly from third-party posting sites.

Applications will be accepted until November 30 th .