Senior Development Manager

UATX • Austin, TX

23h

About The Position

The Senior Development Manager advances one of the most ambitious fundraising efforts in higher education to support a new university in Austin, Texas. You will cultivate and manage a portfolio of mission-aligned current and prospective donors, executing sophisticated moves management strategies to secure 5-plus-figure gifts. This role is ideal for a dynamic fundraiser who thrives on building relationships, advancing major gift opportunities, is an adept collaborator, and wants to shape a growing institution at a pivotal moment. A candidate should demonstrably pursue excellence in their work and possess a desire to build a best-in-class fundraising program and portfolio at the nation’s most innovative new university.

Requirements

• Demonstrated success cultivating, soliciting, and closing major gifts in higher education, nonprofit, startup, or mission-driven environments.
• Exceptional intellectual and social curiosity, with the ability to engage thoughtfully across disciplines, ideas, and perspectives.
• Strong interpersonal agility and emotional intelligence; able to adapt communication style, tone, and approach to a wide range of donors, trustees, founders, faculty, and prospects.
• Skilled relationship builder who asks insightful questions, listens deeply, and uncovers donor motivations and philanthropic interests.
• Strategic and confident fundraiser who can move prospects toward solicitation with clarity, transparency, and persistence.
• Proven ability to synthesize complex institutional priorities and communicate them in compelling, accessible language for external audiences.
• High level of comfort engaging sophisticated, entrepreneurial, and intellectually independent donors.
• Experience using data, research, and analytics to prioritize prospects, manage portfolios, and drive fundraising outcomes.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including donor correspondence, proposals, briefing materials, and presentations.
• Ability to collaborate effectively across leadership, academic, and development teams while maintaining strong independent execution.
• Commitment to the mission and vision of University of Austin and enthusiasm for advancing innovative higher education.

Responsibilities

• Implement major gift methodology to build a portfolio of major donor supporters and prospects both in a regional strategy and within the state of Texas, setting fundraising strategies for each, and executing on each.
• Conduct 120+ visits a year, 25-40 solicitations per year (50% of those >$50k), and close $1-2.5M per year consistently outside of transformational gifts.
• Perform prospect research, portfolio management and stewardship as appropriate to maintain a steady and well-tended portfolio.
• Match donor interests with institutional priorities to pursue unrestricted funding for UATX to continue to deliver our model of no tuition, no government funding and merit-based admissions.
• Plan and execute donor events (dinners and receptions) in key cities and with key constituency groups.
• Work with other UATX team members to coordinate UATX programs, donor messaging materials, online fundraising, and more.
• Other duties as assigned.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed