H-1B Visa Chief Development Officer Jobs
Chief Development Officer roles qualify for H-1B visa sponsorship as specialty occupations requiring at least a bachelor's degree in business, nonprofit management, or a related field. Employers file the LCA with DOL and petition USCIS on your behalf, with the 85,000-slot annual cap and April lottery applying to most private-sector hires.
Find H-1B Visa Chief Development Officer JobsOverview
Showing 5 of 94+ Chief Development Officer jobs
See all 94+ Chief Development Officer Jobs
Sign up for free to unlock all listings, filter by visa type, and get alerts for new Chief Development Officer roles.
Get Access To All JobsChief Development Officer (CDO)
Here We GROW Again! CR Fitness is one of the fastest-growing Crunch Fitness franchise groups with over 100+ locations and aggressive expansion across multiple markets. Our mission is to transform lives through fitness, leadership, and opportunity. As we continue our rapid growth, we are committed to building high-quality clubs that deliver exceptional member experience and support long-term operational success.
CR Fitness Holdings is seeking an experienced and strategic Chief Development Officer (CDO) to lead the continued expansion of our growing Crunch Fitness portfolio.
Position Summary
The Chief Development Officer will provide executive leadership across real estate, site selection, lease negotiations, construction, design, development, and new club delivery. This individual will be responsible for developing and executing a scalable growth strategy that supports the company's aggressive expansion goals while ensuring projects are delivered on time, within budget, and aligned with CR Fitness and Crunch Fitness brand standards.
As a key member of the executive leadership team, the CDO will partner closely with the CEO, Operations, Finance, Legal, and other senior leaders to identify new market opportunities, build the development pipeline, optimize capital investment, and successfully bring new clubs from initial market identification through opening.
Key Responsibilities
Development Strategy & Leadership
- Develop and execute the company's long-term development strategy in alignment with organizational growth objectives.
- Lead the overall development pipeline across existing and emerging markets.
- Establish annual and multi-year development plans, priorities, budgets, timelines, and performance metrics.
- Provide executive oversight and leadership to the Real Estate and Construction functions.
- Build scalable processes and infrastructure to support continued portfolio growth.
- Serve as a strategic advisor to the CEO and executive leadership team regarding development opportunities, risks, capital requirements, and market expansion.
Real Estate & Market Expansion
- Lead market planning and real estate strategy for new club development.
- Oversee market analysis, site selection, trade-area evaluation, and deal pipeline development.
- Direct negotiations of LOIs, leases, amendments, renewals, and other real estate agreements in partnership with internal and external legal resources.
- Evaluate proposed locations based on demographics, accessibility, visibility, competition, economics, projected performance, and long-term market potential.
- Develop and maintain strong relationships with landlords, developers, brokers, municipalities, and other real estate partners.
- Present development opportunities and recommendations to executive leadership for approval.
Construction & Project Delivery
- Provide executive oversight of all new club construction, renovations, relocations, expansions, and major capital projects.
- Lead construction planning, budgeting, scheduling, design coordination, permitting, and project execution.
- Ensure projects meet established timelines, budgets, quality expectations, and brand standards.
- Partner with architects, general contractors, engineers, vendors, consultants, and internal stakeholders throughout the development process.
- Identify risks and proactively resolve issues that could impact cost, schedule, or club opening dates.
- Continuously evaluate construction processes and vendor relationships to improve speed, quality, and cost efficiency.
Financial & Portfolio Management
- Develop and manage annual development and capital expenditure budgets.
- Partner with Finance to evaluate project economics, investment returns, development costs, and financial feasibility.
- Monitor development costs against approved budgets and identify opportunities for cost savings and improved ROI.
- Maintain visibility into the entire development pipeline, including deal status, projected openings, capital requirements, construction progress, and key risks.
- Provide regular development reporting and forecasting to executive leadership.
Cross-Functional Leadership
- Partner closely with Operations to ensure seamless transition from construction and development into presale and club opening.
- Collaborate with Finance, Legal, Marketing, IT, HR, Recruiting, and other departments to ensure new locations are fully prepared for successful openings.
- Establish clear accountability, communication, and project-management standards across all development functions.
- Recruit, develop, and lead a high-performing Real Estate and Construction organization capable of supporting continued growth.
Qualifications
- 10+ years of progressive leadership experience in real estate development, construction, or multi-unit development, with significant senior-level leadership experience.
- Proven experience leading aggressive development and expansion for a multi-unit retail, fitness, restaurant, hospitality, or other consumer-facing organization.
- Demonstrated success managing a high-volume pipeline of new locations from market identification through opening.
- Strong commercial real estate background, including site selection, market analysis, LOI and lease negotiations, and deal economics.
- Extensive understanding of construction management, development timelines, permitting, design, budgeting, and capital planning.
- Proven experience managing significant development and capital expenditure budgets.
- Strong financial acumen with the ability to evaluate project economics, ROI, risk, and investment decisions.
- Demonstrated ability to build and lead high-performing Real Estate and Construction teams.
- Strong negotiation, communication, and executive presentation skills.
- Ability to manage multiple markets, projects, and priorities simultaneously in a fast-paced growth environment.
- Bachelor's degree in Real Estate, Construction Management, Business, Finance, Engineering, or related field preferred.
- Ability to travel regularly to current and future markets.
Ideal Candidate
The ideal candidate is a growth-oriented development executive who knows how to scale. They combine strong real estate instincts with construction and financial expertise and understand how to turn an aggressive growth strategy into successfully opened locations.
They are equally comfortable negotiating a complex real estate deal, reviewing a development pipeline with executive leadership, challenging construction costs, developing a high-performing team, and creating the processes necessary to support rapid multi-market expansion.
Why CR Fitness
CR Fitness Holdings is one of the largest and fastest-growing Crunch Fitness franchise groups in the country. Our continued expansion creates an opportunity for an accomplished development leader to play a significant role in shaping where—and how—we grow next.
This is an opportunity to lead development at scale and directly influence the next chapter of CR Fitness's growth.
Compensation & Benefits
- Competitive base salary + bonus opportunity
- Medical, Dental, Vision and Life Insurance
- 401K with match and PTO
- Free CR Fitness membership and discounted Personal Training sessions
- Team-oriented work environment with significant career growth opportunities in a rapidly expanding company
Ready to help build the future of CR Fitness? Join one of the fastest-growing fitness companies in the country and play a key role in delivering world-class clubs across every market.
About CR Fitness
CR Fitness is a leading franchisee of Crunch Fitness. The company is rapidly expanding its club footprint throughout Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Texas, Tennessee, and Arizona and is led by a veteran management team with over one hundred years of combined experience in the fitness industry. With a comprehensive fitness offering and affordable price point, Crunch Fitness offers unmatched value to its members regardless of fitness level and is well positioned to take advantage of consumers’ increasing focus on health and wellness.
Crunch Fitness is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment based on race, color, religion, national origin, age, gender, sex, ancestry, citizenship status, mental or physical disability, genetic information, sexual orientation, veteran status, or military status.
Chief Development Officer (CDO)
Here We GROW Again! CR Fitness is one of the fastest-growing Crunch Fitness franchise groups with over 100+ locations and aggressive expansion across multiple markets. Our mission is to transform lives through fitness, leadership, and opportunity. As we continue our rapid growth, we are committed to building high-quality clubs that deliver exceptional member experience and support long-term operational success.
CR Fitness Holdings is seeking an experienced and strategic Chief Development Officer (CDO) to lead the continued expansion of our growing Crunch Fitness portfolio.
Position Summary
The Chief Development Officer will provide executive leadership across real estate, site selection, lease negotiations, construction, design, development, and new club delivery. This individual will be responsible for developing and executing a scalable growth strategy that supports the company's aggressive expansion goals while ensuring projects are delivered on time, within budget, and aligned with CR Fitness and Crunch Fitness brand standards.
As a key member of the executive leadership team, the CDO will partner closely with the CEO, Operations, Finance, Legal, and other senior leaders to identify new market opportunities, build the development pipeline, optimize capital investment, and successfully bring new clubs from initial market identification through opening.
Key Responsibilities
Development Strategy & Leadership
- Develop and execute the company's long-term development strategy in alignment with organizational growth objectives.
- Lead the overall development pipeline across existing and emerging markets.
- Establish annual and multi-year development plans, priorities, budgets, timelines, and performance metrics.
- Provide executive oversight and leadership to the Real Estate and Construction functions.
- Build scalable processes and infrastructure to support continued portfolio growth.
- Serve as a strategic advisor to the CEO and executive leadership team regarding development opportunities, risks, capital requirements, and market expansion.
Real Estate & Market Expansion
- Lead market planning and real estate strategy for new club development.
- Oversee market analysis, site selection, trade-area evaluation, and deal pipeline development.
- Direct negotiations of LOIs, leases, amendments, renewals, and other real estate agreements in partnership with internal and external legal resources.
- Evaluate proposed locations based on demographics, accessibility, visibility, competition, economics, projected performance, and long-term market potential.
- Develop and maintain strong relationships with landlords, developers, brokers, municipalities, and other real estate partners.
- Present development opportunities and recommendations to executive leadership for approval.
Construction & Project Delivery
- Provide executive oversight of all new club construction, renovations, relocations, expansions, and major capital projects.
- Lead construction planning, budgeting, scheduling, design coordination, permitting, and project execution.
- Ensure projects meet established timelines, budgets, quality expectations, and brand standards.
- Partner with architects, general contractors, engineers, vendors, consultants, and internal stakeholders throughout the development process.
- Identify risks and proactively resolve issues that could impact cost, schedule, or club opening dates.
- Continuously evaluate construction processes and vendor relationships to improve speed, quality, and cost efficiency.
Financial & Portfolio Management
- Develop and manage annual development and capital expenditure budgets.
- Partner with Finance to evaluate project economics, investment returns, development costs, and financial feasibility.
- Monitor development costs against approved budgets and identify opportunities for cost savings and improved ROI.
- Maintain visibility into the entire development pipeline, including deal status, projected openings, capital requirements, construction progress, and key risks.
- Provide regular development reporting and forecasting to executive leadership.
Cross-Functional Leadership
- Partner closely with Operations to ensure seamless transition from construction and development into presale and club opening.
- Collaborate with Finance, Legal, Marketing, IT, HR, Recruiting, and other departments to ensure new locations are fully prepared for successful openings.
- Establish clear accountability, communication, and project-management standards across all development functions.
- Recruit, develop, and lead a high-performing Real Estate and Construction organization capable of supporting continued growth.
Qualifications
- 10+ years of progressive leadership experience in real estate development, construction, or multi-unit development, with significant senior-level leadership experience.
- Proven experience leading aggressive development and expansion for a multi-unit retail, fitness, restaurant, hospitality, or other consumer-facing organization.
- Demonstrated success managing a high-volume pipeline of new locations from market identification through opening.
- Strong commercial real estate background, including site selection, market analysis, LOI and lease negotiations, and deal economics.
- Extensive understanding of construction management, development timelines, permitting, design, budgeting, and capital planning.
- Proven experience managing significant development and capital expenditure budgets.
- Strong financial acumen with the ability to evaluate project economics, ROI, risk, and investment decisions.
- Demonstrated ability to build and lead high-performing Real Estate and Construction teams.
- Strong negotiation, communication, and executive presentation skills.
- Ability to manage multiple markets, projects, and priorities simultaneously in a fast-paced growth environment.
- Bachelor's degree in Real Estate, Construction Management, Business, Finance, Engineering, or related field preferred.
- Ability to travel regularly to current and future markets.
Ideal Candidate
The ideal candidate is a growth-oriented development executive who knows how to scale. They combine strong real estate instincts with construction and financial expertise and understand how to turn an aggressive growth strategy into successfully opened locations.
They are equally comfortable negotiating a complex real estate deal, reviewing a development pipeline with executive leadership, challenging construction costs, developing a high-performing team, and creating the processes necessary to support rapid multi-market expansion.
Why CR Fitness
CR Fitness Holdings is one of the largest and fastest-growing Crunch Fitness franchise groups in the country. Our continued expansion creates an opportunity for an accomplished development leader to play a significant role in shaping where—and how—we grow next.
This is an opportunity to lead development at scale and directly influence the next chapter of CR Fitness's growth.
Compensation & Benefits
- Competitive base salary + bonus opportunity
- Medical, Dental, Vision and Life Insurance
- 401K with match and PTO
- Free CR Fitness membership and discounted Personal Training sessions
- Team-oriented work environment with significant career growth opportunities in a rapidly expanding company
Ready to help build the future of CR Fitness? Join one of the fastest-growing fitness companies in the country and play a key role in delivering world-class clubs across every market.
About CR Fitness
CR Fitness is a leading franchisee of Crunch Fitness. The company is rapidly expanding its club footprint throughout Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Texas, Tennessee, and Arizona and is led by a veteran management team with over one hundred years of combined experience in the fitness industry. With a comprehensive fitness offering and affordable price point, Crunch Fitness offers unmatched value to its members regardless of fitness level and is well positioned to take advantage of consumers’ increasing focus on health and wellness.
Crunch Fitness is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment based on race, color, religion, national origin, age, gender, sex, ancestry, citizenship status, mental or physical disability, genetic information, sexual orientation, veteran status, or military status.
See all 94+ H-1B Visa Chief Development Officer Jobs
Sign up for free to unlock all listings, filter by visa type, and get alerts for new H-1B Visa Chief Development Officer Jobs.
Get Access To All JobsTips for Finding H-1B Visa Sponsorship in Chief Development Officer
Map your degree to the specialty occupation standard
USCIS requires your degree field to directly relate to fundraising strategy, organizational development, or nonprofit management. A general business degree may trigger an RFE unless your employer documents the connection explicitly in the petition.
Search LCA filings filtered for CDO-level roles
Use the OFLC Wage Search to pull certified LCAs filed under job titles like Chief Development Officer or VP of Development. Employers with recent LCA history for this title have already cleared the DOL wage certification step and are structurally prepared to sponsor.
Target cap-exempt employers for faster sponsorship timelines
Universities, nonprofit hospitals, and government-affiliated research organizations are cap-exempt, meaning they can file your H-1B petition at any time without waiting for the April lottery. CDO roles at these institutions often move from offer to approval in 60 to 90 days.
Use Migrate Mate to find verified H-1B sponsors for this role
Migrate Mate surfaces employers with confirmed H-1B filing history for Chief Development Officer and equivalent titles, so you're applying to organizations that have already navigated the sponsorship process rather than discovering mid-offer that they won't file.
Negotiate petition filing before accepting an offer
Confirm in writing that the employer will file a standard I-129 petition and cover USCIS filing fees before signing. CDO roles sometimes stall at legal review when nonprofit boards haven't pre-approved sponsorship costs, which delays your start date by months.
Check O*NET to strengthen your specialty occupation argument
The O*NET profile for Chief Executives and related development titles documents the degree-level education typically required. Your attorney can reference this data directly in the petition to preempt USCIS specialty occupation challenges specific to executive-track nonprofit roles.
H-1B Visa Chief Development Officer: Frequently Asked Questions
Does a Chief Development Officer role qualify as a specialty occupation for H-1B purposes?
Yes, provided the employer can demonstrate the role normally requires at least a bachelor's degree in a specific field such as nonprofit management, business administration, or public administration. USCIS scrutinizes executive titles more closely than technical roles, so your employer's attorney should document the degree requirement in both the job description and the LCA before filing.
How do I find employers willing to sponsor H-1B visas for CDO roles?
Search for organizations with a verified H-1B filing history for Chief Development Officer or equivalent titles. Migrate Mate filters employers by LCA filing history at this level, which is a reliable signal that the organization has already worked through legal review and budget approval for executive-level sponsorship.
Are nonprofit organizations better H-1B sponsors for this role than for-profit companies?
Nonprofits affiliated with universities or research institutions can file as cap-exempt employers, bypassing the annual lottery entirely and filing petitions year-round. That structural advantage is significant for CDO candidates because it removes lottery risk and compresses the timeline from offer to authorized start date considerably compared to for-profit sponsors.
What happens to my H-1B status if the CDO role changes significantly after I'm approved?
Material changes to your job duties, title, or work location can require your employer to file an amended H-1B petition before the change takes effect. For CDO roles, restructuring that shifts primary responsibilities away from development and fundraising toward general executive management may affect the specialty occupation basis USCIS originally approved.
Can I start working immediately after my employer files the H-1B petition for a CDO position?
Only if you're already in valid H-1B status with a different employer and are using portability under AC21, which allows you to change employers after 180 days. Otherwise, you cannot begin work until USCIS approves the petition, unless your employer pays for premium processing, which USCIS adjudicates within 15 business days.