Sr. Director, Development Strategy

Details

Posted: 2026-06-05

Location: Baltimore, Maryland

Categories: Staff/Administrative

Internal Number: 121457-en_US 1

The Sr. Director of Development Strategy leads a functional area tasked with the planning, launch, and/or management of transformational projects at Johns Hopkins University. The role supports high-priority, transformative projects and programs from concept to implementation in line with the Johns Hopkins Ten for One Strategic Plan. This position will work collaboratively across several University departments to support high-level strategic planning issues and initiatives. The role has key responsibilities in multiple, distinct areas essential for the planning and successful launch of new projects at Johns Hopkins University. In addition, this position will assist with the successful operation and administration of a large portfolio of donor-funded programs, as well as aid in the evaluation and stewardship of these programs. This role will be expected to operate at both strategic and tactical levels.

The Development and Alumni Relations organization at Johns Hopkins University has a development team of approximately 550 individuals and an overall budget of $70 million. The division enjoys tremendous support from the academic leadership of Johns Hopkins University and Medicine. More than 190 front-line fundraisers help to generate an average of $800 million in total commitments annually, with the last three fiscal years averaging over one billion dollars per fiscal year.

This team is responsible for managing and stewarding the institution’s largest donor, referred to as the Foundation, and works closely with the Senior Vice President and Associate Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations on all Foundation-related work.

The Sr. Director of Development Strategy is responsible for overall coordination, status reporting, and stewardship of information related to transformational giving. This role builds communication and dashboard strategies for internal and external stakeholders. In addition to managing a small, report-focused team, the Sr. Director will act as a leader within the Office of Strategic Initiatives, mentoring staff, representing leadership, and helping define and reach organizational goals.

Specific Duties & Responsibilities:

Operations Management:

• Manage and actively participate in strategic planning; extensively collaborate with JHU Leadership and faculty.
• Outline high level vision, overarching goals and organizational structures to implement the programs supported by principal-level donors. Act as an advisor and thought partner to key DAR leadership.
• Create and run program oversight structures and track project performance to ensure the successful completion of short and long-term goals.
• Establish and staff project teams to include membership from Central Budget & Finance, Office of the Provost, Development and Alumni Relations (Sr. VP and Sr. Associate VP), Marketing & Communications, and the Office of the President.
• Exercise independent discretion and judgment and assume full responsibilities for resolving issues and problems of material importance.

Project Management:

• Oversee the production and delivery of reports, financial updates, grant agreements, monthly programmatic updates and other communications. Build relationships with donors and regularly update them on the impact of their philanthropic support of the institution.
• Independently manage critical, timely and important short-term and long-term special projects as needed. Collaborate as required with other team members, including writing reports, developing plans, defining and communicating alternatives and making recommendations regarding appropriate courses of action based on thorough understanding of desired outcomes, expectations and timelines.
• Assume responsibility for keeping broad initiatives (both research and programmatic) on-track and completed on a timely basis. This includes working directly with university administration as well as Schools and Directors to obtain and track pertinent and oftentimes confidential information.
• Using a shared dashboard, track and assess progress toward goals/priorities and takes appropriate action to influence outcomes.

Leadership and Supervision:

• Manage professional and administrative staff.
• Develop and support a culture of continuous quality-improvement, shared efficiencies and professionalism within the team, as well as provide prompt and accurate responses to both internal and external requests.
• Supervise and motivate team members by assigning tasks, monitoring performance, facilitating training, resolving conflicts, and ensuring compliance with safety and company policies to achieve organizational goals.

Representation and Leadership in DAR:

• Represent DAR by participating on various internal working groups.
• Build and stay in close working relationships and coordination with a wide range of offices and staff, internal or external to the University.
• Interact with members of the university administration and leadership of the JHU Schools on matters of importance to the team.
• Represent DAR by attending meetings, gathering information, and making decisions as appropriate.

Other duties as assigned.

In addition to the duties described above, the Sr. Director, Development Strategy will also:

• Serve as primary reporting liaison between donor team, internal DAR partners, finance, and executive leadership teams.
• Lead reporting initiatives supporting multimillion-dollar fundraising and donor portfolios.
• Oversee donor reporting operations, ensuring accuracy, timeliness, and compliance across all deliverables.
• Partner with leadership to translate gift implementation into strategic and actionable reporting.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree.
• 10 years of related experience with progressive leadership responsibilities, including at least three years of supervisory/management experience.
• Additional education may substitute for required experience, and additional related experience may substitute for required education permitted by the JHU equivalency formula beyond a high school diploma/graduation equivalent.

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced degree
• Experience setting vision and multi-lateral goals for a team
• Experience in a leadership role in a comprehensive or capital campaign
• Higher education and/or academic medical center fundraising experience
• Principal gift level experience (either in stewardship or solicitation)
• Ability to successfully manage multiple projects and people on a cross-functional, cross-organizational basis.
• Customer-focused mindset and solid understanding of how metrics, analytics, and data can be used to deepen understanding, improve decision making and build trust.
• Superior interpersonal and communications skills, both written and verbal, needed along with the ability to develop and deliver clear presentations to institutional leadership and external stakeholders.
• This role leads a dynamic team that has a high expectation of responsiveness and problem-solving. As such, there is an expectation of scheduled and unscheduled evening and weekend work.