Role Purpose

The Director of Advancement Operations is a senior leadership role within the Philanthropy & Alumni Engagement (P&A) Directorate at King’s College London. It has a core responsibility for leading the enabling functions and infrastructure that are essential to the delivery of objectives across philanthropy and alumni engagement. This includes oversight of and overall accountability for teams working across data & insights; donation management; compliance services; and prospect research. The postholder also has responsibility for driving strategy, business and financial planning across the Directorate. They will contribute to the Directorate strategy and be responsible for this being translated into business, financial and workforce plans. They will ensure that a framework is in place to enable all programmes, teams and individuals to have clear objectives and targets, driving a high-performance culture. This will include ensuring that reporting processes are in place to provide management information internally and also to support reporting into university senior leadership. As a member of the P&A Leadership Team, the postholder will work in close collaboration with other senior colleagues within the Directorate to deliver the above responsibilities and also to collectively ensure that wider objectives are being met. This will involve delivering strategic initiatives, over-seeing growth and expansion, managing transformation and change, optimising operational efficiency, and fostering organisational excellence. This post also deputises as needed for the Executive Director and will be required to develop and maintain strong relationships with senior officers across the University and at external partners. They will also be well connected and influential in relevant sector-wider discussions, leading P&A’s response on these issues where required.

Key Responsibilities

Operational Leadership

• Develop, lead and implement an Advancement Operations strategy that effectively provides the infrastructure to enable delivery of P&A’s philanthropic and alumni engagement objectives. To work collaboratively with line reports, LT colleagues and others in doing so. • In line with this strategy and via close working with and appropriate delegation to the Associate Director, provide strategic direction and leadership for core enabling functions, including the following: - Ensure the provision of an efficient and compliant international donation management service that facilitates, processes, accepts and administers £25m+ in donations each year. - Ensure the provision of a suite of systems and software products that effectively enable fundraising and alumni engagement programmes, and that take advantage of new technologies, solutions, AI, and global sector best practice. Work closely with King’s central IT to ensure that P&A has a database that is fit for purpose and evolves to enhance functionality. - Ensure the creation and implementation of an ambitious prospect strategy that provides an effective pipeline of prospective donors capable of donating significant gifts for university priorities and that supports fundraising and campaign targets. - Ensure the provision of focused and insightful business intelligence to inform strategic and operational decision-making across all the P&A programmes. • Have overall accountability for compliance, assurance and risk management for the Directorate. Ensure that a P&A risk register, major incident and business continuity plans, and internal audits are in place and undertaken appropriately. With the Associate Director, ensure expertise is provided in relation to Data Privacy and FOI, influencing University policy and process. • Ensure that due diligence and gift acceptance policies and processes are fit for purpose and working effectively, with the effective creation of papers for the gift acceptance committee (FERG), and ensuring ultimately that risk is accurately assessed and mitigated. • Keep abreast of professional and regulatory developments and, with the Associate Director, act as the expert on all regulatory and statutory matters relating to philanthropy. Use professional networks to support work in this area and contribute to discussions with charity and HE sector peers, leading on responses to regulatory and other types of consultations as necessary. • Facilitate well-structured fundraising partnerships (e.g. with KHP hospital charities), where needed, through developing ways of working frameworks and/or MOUs to ensure collaborative success. • Build and maintain supportive, productive working relationships and partnerships with leaders and staff across King’s, including the Chief Information Officer, Senior Vice President (Operations) and the Chief Financial Officer.

Strategy, Planning and Performance

• Contribute to the creation and regular review of the P&A strategy as a member of the Leadership Team. • Develop and maintain a framework and process for operationalising the strategy through the development of annual Directorate business, financial and workforce plans, which connect to plans and objectives at team and individual level. • Connected to the above, meet the requirements of the University annual integrated planning process and as required lead on the development of any investment business cases. • Ensure there is a robust and effective process in place for overseeing the effective and prudent use and management of the P&A budget. • Maintain and refine the Directorate’s performance management framework ensuring it provides clear expectations, metrics and targets at department, team and individual levels, and enables a high-performance culture. Work closely with the Director of Philanthropy & Campaign to ensure effective fundraising performance management is in place. • Ensure there are reporting suites and processes in place to support the above, to inform decision-making and to feed into accountability and review mechanisms with university senior leadership. • Contribute to the development and implementation of a Campaign Plan including leading workstreams relating to the operational enablement of campaign objectives. • Lead as required on transformation initiatives designed to scale up operations to deliver an increase in philanthropic revenue and/or engagement.

Team Leadership

• Provide line management for direct reports that is supportive, enabling and transparent in terms of responsibilities and expectations, with appropriate and clear delegation. • Provide strategic leadership for the wider teams of professionals reporting into the post, fostering a collaborative and high performing culture where teams are integrated and supported, with clear goals. • Act as a role model across the Directorate for the P&A core values, supporting a motivational environment where people are developed, encouraged and supported to achieve outstanding results.