Senior Executive Director of Gift and Estate Planning

University of Texas at Austin • Austin, TX

5d • Onsite

About The Position

The University of Texas at Austin is seeking a strategic leader for its Gift and Estate Planning team. This role involves setting direction, building organizational capacity for planned giving, and providing executive-level guidance to donors, prospects, advisors, and colleagues. The position drives the vision, strategy, and performance of the team responsible for securing significant charitable gifts. The University of Texas at Austin, founded in 1883, is a top-ranked university with a strong commitment to excellence and innovation. Texas Development is a dynamic community of over 500 fundraising professionals dedicated to creating meaningful donor experiences and supporting the university's mission.

Requirements

• Minimum of ten years of progressively responsible experience in gift planning, major gifts, or complex charitable giving, including significant experience in a higher education or large nonprofit setting.
• Demonstrated success personally soliciting and closing six and seven figure planned and complex gifts.
• Experience managing volunteer leadership structures, such as advisory boards or committees, including board relations and volunteer-driven solicitation strategies.
• Minimum of five years of experience directly supervising, developing, and holding accountable a team of fundraising professionals.
• Demonstrated working knowledge of charitable gift vehicles and estate planning instruments, including wills, trusts, gift annuities, retirement assets, and complex assets.
• Exceptional relationship-management, negotiation, and executive presence with high-net-worth donors, senior academic leadership, and external advisors.
• Proficiency with CRM/fundraising databases and donor pipeline management systems.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.
• Must be eligible to work in the United States on a full-time basis for any employer without sponsorship.
• Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States.
• Regular and consistent attendance is required in this job.

Nice To Haves

• Advanced degree (e.g., JD, MBA) or professional credential such as Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy (CAP®) or Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE).
• Experience partnering with legal counsel, tax financial advisors, and estate administrators on gift acceptance and estate realization processes.
• Track record of setting strategic vision and goals for large-scale, multi-unit development function across a complex, decentralized institution.

Responsibilities

• Own the strategic and operational leadership of the Gift and Estate Planning team, setting the vision and annual priorities that drive an average of $200,000,000 in planned gifts each year.
• Lead, develop, and hold accountable a leadership team of 12 direct reports, building a high-performing culture of collaboration and results.
• Manage the Gift Planning Advisory Board and its two meetings a year and continue the development of a new committee of volunteer advisors and support an increase in gifts of business interests.
• Direct the estate realization process in partnership with UT System leadership, establishing clear standards and serving as the authoritative voice on process and procedure for the broader Texas Development community.
• Lead the strategic deployment of the Gift and Estate Planning team’s footprint across colleges, schools, and units, shaping how the function scales to deliver dedicated support university-wide and integrating teams under a unified strategic approach to prospect identification, networking, and pipeline development.
• Set strategic direction for discovery and solicitation approaches across the team, providing executive analysis and judgment on the strategies used to close planned gifts.
• Elevate organizational capability by leading education and training initiatives for development colleagues university-wide and shaping the strategy for special events and the marketing of planned giving.
• Drive goal-setting and long-range strategy for the entire Gift Planning team.
• Partner with Prospect Research, Marketing and Communications, and Stewardship to maintain a cohesive strategic model that builds and sustains a pipeline of donors annually documenting estate plans.
• Maintain a standard for donor engagement documentation, ensuring substantive contacts are captured and reviewed to sharpen team strategy and performance.
• Lead solicitations both personally and in partnership with volunteers and academic leadership, modeling the gift-closing strategy expected across the team.
• Partner with faculty, colleagues, and university staff in strategic prospect research and proposal development.
• Model individual excellence while leading the team, building and carrying a portfolio of prospective donors, and personally closing a minimum of $10M or more in planned gifts.
• Consistently deliver 12-20 proposals annually, setting the benchmark for the team’s own performance standards.
• Additional duties as assigned.

Benefits

• Competitive benefits package that includes insurance and retirement benefits in addition to other programs and services.
• Professional development opportunities that help every team member accomplish their goals, enrich their skillset and deepen their engagement with UT.

What This Job Offers

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