Director, Development Information Technology

Cornell University welcomes candidates for the position of Director, Development Information Technology, based in Ithaca, NY. This executive-level role offers a rare opportunity to lead a major, multi-year digital transformation that will modernize development technology and fundamentally transform how Cornell engages alumni, donors, grateful patients and friends across the globe.

Position Summary

Reporting to both Cornell’s Vice President and Chief Global Information Officer and the Vice President for Alumni Affairs and Development, the Director, Development Information Technology serves as the strategic and operational leader for development and engagement technology across Cornell University. This role leads a complex, multi-year, enterprise-wide technology transformations with significant organizational impact, including the transition to a unified, modern CRM and development and engagement technology ecosystem.

This is a transformational leadership role operating in a dynamic and evolving environment. The Director must be comfortable navigating ambiguity, shaping future-state solutions, and driving progress amid competing priorities, diverse stakeholder needs, and shared governance structures. Acting as a trusted strategic partner to senior leaders in IT and Development, the Director bridges functional and technical perspectives to ensure technology solutions are innovative, sustainable, and deeply aligned with business needs.

This role sits at a pivotal moment for the university helping to define not only new systems, but new ways of working with technology in support of Cornell’s mission.

Key Responsibilities

• Enterprise Development Technology Leadership: Provide strategic leadership for development and engagement technology across Cornell University, setting vision and direction for enterprise systems that support fundraising, engagement, analytics, and operations.
• Transformational Program Leadership: Lead a highly visible, multi-year enterprise implementation to a unified, Salesforce-based CRM and development and engagement technology ecosystem, ensuring strong governance, disciplined execution, and sustainable organizational adoption.
• CEMI-DEEP Technical Leadership: Serve as the technical lead for the Donor and Engagement Experience Project (DEEP), a core component of the Cornell Experience Modernization Initiative (CEMI), partnering closely with functional leaders, IT leadership, and external vendors.
• Business Partnership & Solution Design: Develop a deep understanding of development and engagement business processes and user needs, translating functional requirements into scalable, modern technology solutions that measurably enhance business outcomes.
• People & Team Leadership: Build, lead, and develop high-performing, cross-functional teams by setting clear direction and expectations, fostering trust and collaboration, and holding individuals and teams accountable for results; inspire and align diverse perspectives to operate effectively amid complexity and evolving priorities.
• Cross-Campus & Stakeholder Leadership: Coordinate and align technology initiatives across multiple campuses and locations, including Ithaca, Weill Cornell Medicine, Cornell Tech, and the Lab of Ornithology, effectively navigating shared governance structures, and stakeholder perspectives.
• Change Management & Communication: Lead structured change management efforts, including communication planning, stakeholder engagement, training, and adoption strategies, to ensure sustainable outcomes and long-term success.

About Information Technology at Cornell

Information Technology (IT) is a strategic enabler for many functions at Cornell University, with staff located across colleges, administrative units, and campuses throughout the institution. While comprised of many organizations, IT operates as one partnering closely with faculty, staff, and students to support teaching, research, and business operations. By being embedded where the Cornell community is, IT is well positioned to provide support ranging from day-to-day needs to large, complex initiatives that advance major academic, research, and operational objectives across the university. Check out this link to find out more about IT@Cornell.

About Development and External Engagement at Cornell

Cornell’s development and external engagement efforts span the Ithaca campus, Weill Cornell Medicine, and Cornell Tech, supporting philanthropy, alumni and constituent engagement, communications, and external relations across the university. Through its current comprehensive campaign, scheduled to conclude in June 2026, Cornell has already surpassed its initial goals of raising $5 billion and engaging 200,000 alumni-having raised $6.6 billion to date across all locations and engaged nearly 220,000 alumni. These achievements reflect the scale, complexity, and collaborative nature of development and external engagement work at Cornell, as teams partner across academic, healthcare, and public-facing missions to build meaningful, long-term relationships with alumni, donors, patients, members, and friends worldwide. Check out these links to find out more about: Alumni Affairs and Development| Weill Cornell Medicine External Affairs| Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Required Qualifications

• Master’s degree with 10+ years of progressively responsible experience in enterprise systems, IT leadership, advancement technology, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Proven success leading large, complex, cross-functional technology initiatives with multiple stakeholders and competing priorities.
• Experience transitioning organizations to new enterprise CRM platforms or similar large-scale systems.
• Strong strategic thinking and the ability to partner effectively with senior leaders to align technology with business objectives.
• Demonstrated change management expertise, including stakeholder engagement, communication, training, and adoption strategies.
• Exceptional collaboration, communication, and relationship-building skills across diverse organizations and cultures.

Work Location

This position is based in Ithaca, NY with a hybrid work arrangement and requires travel to NYC at least once a quarter. Employees typically perform this role a minimum of two days onsite and more often as business requires. The university reserves the right to modify, suspend, revoke or terminate the hybrid work arrangement at any time.