Symphony Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Development Data Coordinator

Development Department

Development Operations & Services

Work Status:

Full Time

FLSA Status:

Non-Exempt

Location of Job:

Davies Symphony Hall

San Francisco, CA 

Hourly rate:

Pay Grade L

$33.02 - $34.86 hourly

Schedule:

Hybrid

Regular Hours:

9 am-5 pm

Reports To:             

Director, Development Operations

Supervisory:

No

THE ORGANIZATION

The San Francisco Symphony is among the most adventurous and innovative arts institutions in the United States, celebrated for its artistic excellence, creative performance concepts, award-winning recordings, and standard-setting education and community engagement programs. Since it was established in 1911, the Symphony has grown in acclaim under a succession of distinguished music directors: Henry Hadley, Alfred Hertz, Basil Cameron, Issay Dobrowen, Pierre Monteux, Enrique Jordá, Josef Krips, Seiji Ozawa, Edo de Waart, Herbert Blomstedt, Michael Tilson Thomas, and Esa-Pekka Salonen. In May 2026, the Symphony announced Elim Chan as the 13th Music Director in its 115-year history, beginning with the 2027–28 season. One of the most sought-after artists of her generation, Elim Chan embodies the spirit of contemporary orchestral leadership with her crystalline precision and expressive zeal.

The San Francisco Symphony presents more than 200 concerts and presentations annually for an audience of nearly 350,000 in its home of Davies Symphony Hall and around the Bay Area. As a cornerstone of its mission, the San Francisco Symphony provides some of the most extensive education and community programs offered by any American orchestra. The Symphony’s free music education experiences engage students in grades 1–12 throughout the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD), serving more than 25,000 students annually.

In 2001, the SF Symphony became the first American orchestra to launch its own in-house record label, SFS Media. Recorded live in concert and engineered at Davies Symphony Hall, SFS Media recordings showcase music by contemporary composers as well as core classical masterworks. San Francisco Symphony radio broadcasts, the first in the nation to feature symphonic music when they began in 1926, today carry the Orchestra’s concerts across the country. In 2004, the SF Symphony launched the groundbreaking multimedia Keeping Score series on PBS-TV and the web; the series was made available for unlimited free streaming on the Symphony’s YouTube channel in 2020. In 2014, the San Francisco Symphony inaugurated SoundBox, an experimental and eclectic live music series, which takes place in an alternative performance space located backstage at Davies Symphony Hall. In 2023, the San Francisco Symphony partnered with Apple for the launch of a new classical music streaming app, Apple Music Classical, and has since released 17 spatial audio recordings of live concert performances through the app. For its adventurous programming, the Symphony has been honored 19 times by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, and the Symphony’s recordings have garnered France’s Grand Prix du Disque and Britain’s Gramophone Award, as well as 17 Grammy® Awards.

JOB SUMMARY

The Development Data Coordinator is an integral role on the Development Operations & Services team, supporting the success of the San Francisco Symphony's philanthropic efforts by managing and maintaining accurate data within the organization's CRM, Tessitura, and by providing the broader Development team with reliable reporting, list generation, and fundraising configuration support. The Coordinator reports directly to the Director of Development Operations. In addition to ensuring patron and donor data is accurate and adheres to Symphony business protocols, the Coordinator administers ongoing systematic record maintenance, partners with the team on routine and ad-hoc data requests and progressively develops fluency in the Tessitura backend to modify and maintain fundraising setup. This role is well suited for a detail-oriented data professional who is curious about CRM systems, eager to grow technical depth, and energized by supporting a high-performing fundraising operation.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Data Integrity & Record Management

• Serve as a primary fundraising data administrator for Tessitura, maintaining San Francisco Symphony data in alignment with institutional and broader best-practice protocols.
• Audit patron and donor records for data accuracy and consistency, making necessary edits and merging duplicate records.
• Ensure patrons and donors who do not want to be contacted (called, emailed, mailed, and/or solicited) are properly identified and managed in the system.
• Collaborate in establishing and maintaining data entry standards and ensure that records demonstrate these policies and practices.
• Drive and invigorate a culture of data integrity within the Development team and organization wide.

Reporting, List Pulling & Data Requests

• Generate routine fundraising reports and constituent lists in support of Development team initiatives, including solicitations, stewardship mailings, and event invitations.
• Partner with the Associate Director, Development Operations & Services on the team's regular reporting cadence.
• Respond to data requests from gift officers, departmental leadership, and cross-functional partners with timeliness, accuracy, and clear documentation of methodology.
• Build and maintain proficiency in Tessitura List, Output Set, Extraction, and reporting tools; develop fluency in Excel for downstream analysis and formatting.
• Serve as the primary contact for receiving and fulfilling all requests for donors' annual tax receipts, coordinating with stewardship, gift officers, and patron services as needed.

CRM Backend & Fundraising Setup

• Develop and apply working knowledge of the Tessitura backend, including system tables, key utilities, and configuration logic.
• Build and modify fundraising setup elements within Tessitura, including campaigns, funds, appeals, designations, contribution types, and related coding structures.
• Test configuration changes in non-production environments, where available, and document changes prior to production rollout.
• Pursue Tessitura training and certifications to advance toward super-user status; apply learnings to improve team workflows and CRM hygiene.

Data Processing and Communications

• Serve as an integral part of Fundraising Events processing for Gala, Deck the Hall, and Lunar New Year, keeping the database in sync with current ticketing, contribution, and event data.
• Configure and maintain the Elevated Event Module in Tessitura, partnering with the Donor Engagement / Fundraising Events team on data structure, accuracy, and timely updates.
• Share responsibility for monitoring the SFS Giving inbox with the Annual Giving Officer.

Other

• Contribute to balancing team effort to accomplish daily goals and fulfill workloads, including general fundraising support and team coverage as needed.
• Conduct job functions and activities in alignment with the principles of the SFS's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) work, and support the organization's DEI work through participation in working groups and other initiatives as possible.
• Perform additional duties as required.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• 2–4 years' experience in for-profit or nonprofit organizations in database, data management, CRM, or development operations work; experience in the cultural sector or performing arts a plus.
• Strong organizational skills, with the ability to work independently and manage highly detailed tasks.
• Diligence with a high level of accuracy.
• Ability to handle multiple tasks and priorities, and meet deadlines in a high-volume, fast-paced environment.
• Excellent clerical and computer skills, including proficiency with MS Word, Excel, and Outlook; comfort with intermediate Excel functions (filters, pivot tables, lookups) preferred.
• Curiosity and demonstrated desire to learn new technical skills, including database backend concepts, system tables, and configuration tools.
• Experience with and knowledge of Tessitura strongly preferred; experience with comparable fundraising or constituent CRMs (e.g., Raiser's Edge, Salesforce NPSP, Altru) considered.
• Familiarity with reporting and list-building tools, query writing, or data extraction in a CRM environment preferred.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills; ability to translate data requests into clear deliverables.
• Familiarity with and/or passion for orchestral music a plus.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES

          None

WORKING RELATIONSHIPS

The internal and external constituents with whom this position most frequently interacts include:

• Development team, especially Development Operations & Services
• Donor Engagement team, particularly Fundraising Events
• Frontline Fundraising team (Annual Giving and Major Gifts officers)
• Legacy Giving team
• Patron Services department
• Finance, Accounting, and IT (occasional cross-functional partners)

EEO STATEMENT

In alignment with the values statement above, the San Francisco Symphony is committed to providing an environment of mutual respect where equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy (including childbirth, lactation and related medical conditions), national origin, age, physical and mental disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, genetic information (including characteristics and testing), military and veteran status, and any other characteristic protected by applicable law.