Director, Research and Prospect Management - Hybrid

The Director, Prospect Research and Prospect Management provides essential strategic leadership and direction for the College’s Prospect Research and Development function. This function is critical to the successful execution of our comprehensive fundraising campaign, which is now operating in its crucial leadership phase.

This role is indispensable for ensuring the efficient, strategic identification, qualification, and aggressive strategic management of high-capacity major and principal gift prospects. The Director directly influences the pace and achievement of our highest philanthropic targets by optimizing the donor pipeline.

The Director will drive the team’s utilization of best-in-class industry software and emerging AI technology to significantly enhance traditional prospect research methodologies, pipeline management, and overall operational efficiency. This position leads and mentors a team of prospect researchers, advising senior gift officers and campaign leadership on donor strategy, and ensuring the College is strategically positioned to achieve its most ambitious fundraising goals and secure the campaign's success.

Primary Position Responsibilities

• Strategic Research and Prospect Identification: Lead and direct the team in performing sophisticated, traditional prospect research to identify, qualify, and prioritize high-capacity prospects. Oversee the collection, confirmation, analysis, interpretation, and summarization of complex biographical, financial, and philanthropic data to assess wealth and giving capacity.
• Prospect Management and Strategy: Oversee the prospect management system, including pipeline moves management, portfolio optimization, and key performance metric tracking. Provide strategic counsel and support to gift officers on donor cultivation and solicitation strategies, ensuring effective management of donor relationships.
• Team Leadership and Management: Supervise, mentor, and evaluate a team of three Prospect Development professionals. Foster a culture of excellence, ethical research practices, and continuous professional development.
• Technology and Methodology Implementation: Establish and maintain best-practice methodologies for prospect research and pipeline management, ensuring strategic leverage of best-in-class industry software (e.g., wealth screening tools, CRM/database) and emerging AI technology to maximize efficiency, data accuracy, and prospect yield.
• Information Delivery and Records: Ensure the timely creation and delivery of accurate, high-quality research briefings and reports for the President, Trustees, senior staff, and volunteer leaders to inform personal contacts and solicitations. Coordinate with records staff to achieve effective data management for the constituent database.

Supervisory Responsibilities

• Associate Director, Prospect Research
• Assistant Director, Prospect Research
• Prospect Research Analyst

Basic Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor’s degree required.
• 7-10 years of professional experience in prospect research and prospect management within a fundraising environment, including experience with relational databases and managing a team.
• Experience leveraging modern technology (including industry software and/or AI tools) for prospect development.
• Demonstrated experience managing or guiding a team or function, including responsibility for project prioritization, cross-functional partnership, and mentoring staff or colleagues.

Skills and Abilities

• Leadership and Management: Proven ability to supervise, mentor, and manage a professional staff; strong organizational and project management skills.
• Research Expertise: Deep proficiency in conducting high-level donor research, recognizing and assessing complex wealth indicators, and calculating philanthropic capacity (both an art and a science).
• Communication: Outstanding written and oral communication skills, with the ability to synthesize complex information and present critical findings strategically for executive-level audiences.
• Technical Proficiency: Demonstrated facility with modern, best-in-class prospect research and prospect management approaches and software, with an eagerness to explore and implement emerging AI solutions to optimize work.
• Core Competencies: Meticulous attention to detail, sound judgment, strategic thinking, strong interpersonal skills, self-motivation, and the flexibility to adjust priorities in a dynamic environment.

Flexibility & Schedule We value a collaborative hybrid environment. You will join us on campus on Mondays and Wednesdays, plus a third day of the week that works best for your schedule. While standard hours are 8:30 AM – 4:30 PM Monday through Friday, this role is critical to our donor relations, so some flexibility for evening and weekend events will be necessary.