Executive Director for Prospect Development and Advancement Intelligence

About the role

The Division of University Advancement seeks an innovative, strategic leader to serve as Executive Director for Prospect Development and Advancement Intelligence. Reporting to the Associate Vice President for Advancement Operations, the Executive Director will lead UB’s comprehensive prospect development and business intelligence program, helping the university strengthen donor engagement, optimize fundraiser portfolios, develop a robust philanthropic pipeline, and achieve its long-term fundraising priorities. As a trusted partner to advancement leadership, the Executive Director will lead a cross-functional team responsible for prospect research, prospect management, portfolio strategy, analytics, pipeline development, and constituent records. The successful candidate will transform complex data into actionable intelligence while fostering innovation, collaboration, service excellence, and data-informed decision-making throughout the division.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership and direction for a high-performing team responsible for prospect research, analytics, prospect management, portfolio strategy, data intelligence, and constituent records.
• Lead university-wide prospect and portfolio strategy, establishing effective approaches to prospect identification, qualification, assignment, moves management, pipeline development, and portfolio optimization.
• Partner with advancement leaders and frontline fundraisers to establish fundraising goals, assess portfolio health, strengthen prospect movement, and improve fundraiser effectiveness.
• Advance the use of analytics and emerging technology by overseeing predictive modeling, donor segmentation, dashboards, performance reporting, artificial intelligence, and other tools that turn data into actionable insights.
• Guide prospect intelligence and philanthropic due diligence, ensuring the delivery of high-quality research, prospect profiles, briefing materials, wealth assessments, and capacity and affinity analyses.
• Champion data quality, governance, confidentiality, and ethical practice in collaboration with Application Services, Constituent Records, and other advancement partners.
• Serve as a trusted advisor and subject-matter expert, translating complex information and fundraising trends into clear recommendations that support institutional priorities and long-term philanthropic growth.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree and at least 7 years of progressively responsible related experience in prospect development, advancement analytics, fundraising strategy, advancement operations, or a related field.
• Demonstrated supervisory and management experience with high-performing teams.
• Experience with predictive analytics, business intelligence tools, CRM data, dashboards, and platforms such as Salesforce, Tableau, or Power BI.
• Skilled at navigating complex information, communicating with organizational leaders, and developing trusted partnerships across a sophisticated advancement organization.

Benefits

• Mission-driven team advancing student success, groundbreaking research, and meaningful philanthropic impact at a leading public research university.
• Building on the momentum of the historic $1 billion Boldly Buffalo campaign.
• Opportunity to shape UB’s next chapter and support its ambition to become one of the nation’s top 25 public research universities.
• Purposeful work, strong professional growth, and the opportunity to shape fundraising strategy through data, technology, and collaboration.

About the University at Buffalo

The University at Buffalo (UB) is one of America’s leading public research universities and a flagship of the State University of New York system, recognized for excellence and impact. UB is a premier, research-intensive public university dedicated to academic excellence. Its research, creative activity, and people positively impact the world. Like the city it calls home, UB is distinguished by a culture of resilient optimism, resourceful thinking, and pragmatic dreaming that enables it to reach others every day.