Job Summary Overview

The Vice President of Community Development sets the vision and drives enterprise execution to deepen the institution’s community impact across Arizona. This executive leads a statewide strategy spanning financial inclusion, education, partnerships, sponsorships, volunteerism, philanthropy/foundation governance, and reputation stewardship.

Essential Job Functions

• Build a community development strategy aligned to strategic growth plan, Arizona demographics, and local market needs; translate strategy into ongoing tactics with results captured on scorecards.
• Develop and prioritize initiatives (inclusive of, and in addition to the Azpire brand) that expand access to banking, increase financial capability, and strengthen local economies—with equitable reach into rural, Hispanic, and un/underbanked communities. 
• Source, vet, and manage high leverage partnerships (nonprofits, chambers, schools, workforce boards, municipalities, small business ecosystems, tribal nations).
• Manage, develop and grow advisory boards that create ongoing sources of feedback from communities in need of financial solutions, and that become champions for our business and outreach strategies. 
• Establish criteria and ROI frameworks for sponsorships (brand lift + community impact + business outcomes).
• Negotiate partner agreements; manage agencies and vendors; enforce performance clauses.
• Represent the institution on relevant boards/coalitions; lead internal community initiatives.
• Scale financial education (youth, adult, small business) through in person events, digital content, and trusted local partners.
• Lead inclusion initiatives (e.g., multilingual outreach, fair access product design, community micro grants, small business capacity building), in concert with Product, Retail, Marketing, and Risk.
• Coach leaders throughout the organization on the intersection of community outcomes and business health (deposits, loans, households, attrition, referrals).
• Provide executive oversight to the Arizona Financial Foundation: governance, grantmaking, impact reporting, donor relations, and employee giving/volunteering.
• Define a balanced scorecard: impact (lives reached, learning outcomes), reach (events/partners/markets), equity metrics, and commercial results (new members/customers, small business relationships, digital engagement).
• Publish monthly dashboards (progress reports) and an annual impact report; align disclosures with regulatory and stakeholder expectations.
• Partner with marketing team on storytelling that elevates authentic local impact; ensure alignment with Employee Engagement Groups and public affairs narratives.
• Serve as executive spokesperson at community events, public forums, and media engagements as required.
• Build and develop a high performing team (community managers, educators, coordinators); establish a culture of inclusion, accountability, and local empowerment.
• Champion employee volunteerism and leadership pathways tied to community impact.

Position Required Qualifications

Minimum Education and Experience

10 years progressive experience in community development, public affairs, philanthropy/foundation leadership, or CRA/community compliance; 5+ years at director/VP level. Bachelor’s degree required, master’s degree in public administration, Business, or related field preferred.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Deep partnership acumen across nonprofits, education, small business, municipal/tribal stakeholders.
• Current involvement in multiple boards, fundraising or other committees, business networking groups, or professional associations. 
• Strong data literacy: program evaluation, impact measurement, and dashboarding; familiarity with HMDA/fair lending topics (for banks).
• Executive presence: public speaking, board engagement, media interaction.
• Collaborative leader skilled at cross functional execution (Retail, Marketing, Product, Risk, Compliance, Legal).

Licenses, Training, and Certifications Required

None.

Preferred Qualifications

Spanish preferred 

Hybrid Work Environment and Physical Demands

Hybrid Phoenix HQ with field leadership statewide; frequent on site partner and event presence. Evening/weekend availability (~20%) aligned to community calendars and partner needs. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally required to climb or balance; stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl. While performing the duties of this job the employee is regularly required to stand, walk, sit, and use hands to finger keys accurately when using calculator machines or computer keyboards; reach with hands and arms. The employee must regularly lift and/or move up to 25-50 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distant vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate. Must be able to travel independently to department and branch locations. 

NOTE: The job description is intended to be generic in nature. It is not an exhaustive list of all duties and responsibilities. Requirements listed in the above qualifications and physical requirements are representative of the knowledge, skill, abilities, physical demands, or work environment required or encountered that must be met by an employee to successfully perform each duty and each function of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these essential functions.

Employees who work from home must have business operational internet to complete work tasks and communicate via video call or chat messaging systems in a dedicated workspace.