Senior Director of Development

8:15 AM- 4:30 PM M-F

Some weeknights and weekends varies depending on need. Some travel nights and weekends are required.

Northern Kentucky University is an Equal Opportunity/Equal Access institution. We embrace inclusiveness, equity, and global awareness in all dimensions of our work and seek excellence through diversity among our students, administrators, faculty, and staff. Application by members of diverse groups is encouraged.

This position will have primary responsibility for developing and managing a robust portfolio of major and principal gift prospects for the university, and for managing junior gift officers as a senior leader in the Office of Development.

The Senior Director of Development reports to the Assistant Vice President of Development and will serve as a major gift fundraising leader for Northern Kentucky University's priorities, colleges, and programs, with the goal of increasing gifts of $25K and above. The Senior Director will serve as the primary development liaison to one or more units of the university, and help to develop and execute strategic plans for the major gifts program, positioning the university and its units to achieve significant growth over the next 3-5 years in preparation for the next comprehensive campaign. Key elements of these plans will address pipeline development, portfolio optimization, and alignment with university and college priorities. Additionally, the Senior Director will manage one or more gift officers as assigned, adding leadership bench strength to ensure talent retention, achievement of annual metric goals, and adequate professional skill development.

The Senior Director will collaborate with key partners across University Advancement including Economic Engagement, Alumni Engagement and Annual Giving, Marketing and Communications, Advancement Operations, and Special Events to identify potential prospects, leverage university events to engage prospects and steward donors, utilize university systems to record prospect and donor interactions, track proposals, and maintain prospect and donor contact information, and analyze major gift program progress and performance. The Senior Director will work with Deans, faculty, and other senior academic and administrative leaders across the University to facilitate their appropriate participation in the development process as needed to cultivate, solicit, and close gifts.

The Senior Director will personally build and manage a portfolio of 60-75 major gift prospects to generate a minimum of $1.5M in annual philanthropic revenue and serve as a development leader within the Division to assist the AVP with the strategic direction and growth of the program through participation in special projects, as assigned.

A bachelor's degree plus 7-10 years of progressive responsibility in fundraising or business development or a master's degree plus at least 5 years of closely related experience, is required, as is at least 2 years of management experience and a proven track record of closing gifts or contracts of $25K or more. Previous experience working with the corporate community and experience with gift planning concepts is preferred.

The successful candidate for this role will be intellectually curious, possess a positive growth mindset and a keen understanding of and passion for the value of higher education, and be able to translate the priorities of faculty and academic leadership into a compelling philanthropic vision. The successful candidate must also be able to balance leadership of self within both the college unit and the broader organization against expectations as an individual fundraising contributor.

Other key competencies of the successful candidate for this position include:

The Senior Director will benefit from the partnership of a seasoned Assistant Vice President of Development and Vice President of Advancement, passionate and dedicated volunteer leadership, and a significant base of alumni and prospects with as yet untapped capacity. In addition, the Senior Director will benefit from a collaborative and collegial culture within the Advancement Division.

Competitive benefits including medical, retirement matching, generous vacation and seasonal holiday closures, and flexible/hybrid work are offered, in addition to bonus potential for excellent results at the discretion of the AVP and VP.