Senior Executive Director of Development for Principal Gift Strategy

University of Texas at Austin

12d • Onsite

About The Position

The Senior Executive Director of Development for Principal Gift Strategy serves on Texas Development’s Fundraising Vertical and collaborates with colleagues, leaders, and faculty across campus to set, track, and drive principal-gift strategy. The role manages three or more managers of fundraisers, raises principal-level gifts, and models fundraising expectations through a small personal portfolio.

The position develops and advances the principal-gift band strategy, sets and tracks annual fundraising targets, translates institutional targets into expectations for Chief Development Officers and the President’s Office, and manages pipeline forecasts and reviews. It also supports donor strategy, solicitation success, proposal quality, gift-officer training, and metric development. The job is based on the UT Austin main campus in Austin, Texas, with on-site work generally Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Additional hours may be required during peak periods and special events, and frequent travel to visit prospects and donors is required.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree.
• At least 3–5 years of successful management of major-gift or principal-gift fundraisers and/or programs.
• At least 6–8 years of experience closing $1M+ gifts year over year, with demonstrated ability to execute full-cycle donor strategy and move high-capacity prospects through a principal-giving strategy quickly.
• High degree of emotional intelligence.
• Demonstrated tenacity, adaptability, and ability to earn trust across campus.
• Ability to drive results.
• Highly effective written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills.
• Ability to think strategically and creatively with an entrepreneurial mindset while working well under pressure.
• Project management skills.
• Ability to work independently and collaborate across teams.
• Experience with VIP, Raiser’s Edge, or a similar CRM.
• Ability to travel frequently to visit prospects and donors.
• Ability to use discretion and maintain integrity and professionalism.
• Must be eligible and authorized to work in the United States full-time for any employer without sponsorship.
• Relevant education and experience may be substituted as appropriate.

Nice To Haves

• 10+ years of fundraising, management, and/or program management experience.
• Experience working in a large-scale, complex academic research university.
• Knowledge of UT Austin policies and procedures.

Responsibilities

• Develop the Principal Gift band strategy in collaboration with development leadership.
• Set year-over-year fundraising growth targets, track progress, and maintain responsibility for achieving band goals; build on prior fundraising results and identify pipeline development opportunities.
• Translate institutional fundraising targets into Principal Gift band expectations for Chief Development Officers and the President’s Office.
• Work with managers and Prospect Research & Management on goal setting for the band.
• Monitor planned principal-gift solicitations and coach gift officers, through their managers, toward solicitation success.
• Deliver a consolidated proposal forecast using consistent stage definitions across contributing officers and colleges, schools, and units.
• Explain forecast variances and risks, and recommend band-level actions to fundraising leadership across campus.
• Lead regular pipeline reviews with key development teams and establish action plans with owners and deadlines.
• Review visits, prospect engagement, proposals, and closures with development stakeholders to identify trends and gaps.
• Partner with development teams to identify gaps in proposal quality, moves management, portfolio coverage, and stewardship.
• Coordinate donor strategy and warm handoffs when opportunities move between gift bands.
• Track agreed actions and escalate persistent barriers or resource needs to GIFT leadership.
• Partner with the learning and development team to create gift-officer training focused on principal-giving strategies and activities.
• Manage senior fundraisers who oversee principal- and major-gift fundraisers across colleges, schools, and units.
• Carry a small personal portfolio and model fundraising expectations.
• Serve on a Metrics Refresh Task Force to determine future metric expectations for principal-gift officers.
• Perform additional duties as assigned.

Benefits

• Competitive benefits package, including insurance and retirement benefits, plus other programs and services.
• Professional development opportunities to support employees’ goals, skills, and engagement with UT.
• Retirement plan through the Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS), with the option to elect the Optional Retirement Program (ORP) subject to eligibility requirements.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior