Director, Prospect Development

The salary of the finalist selected for this role will be set based on a variety of factors, including but not limited to departmental budgets, qualifications, experience, education, licenses, specialty, and training. The above hiring range represents the University's good faith and reasonable estimate of the range of possible compensation at the time of posting.

Position Summary

Reporting to the Director of Strategic Planning, the Director, Prospect Development is responsible for leading the prospect identification, research and prospect management efforts of Columbia Business School's Development and Alumni Relations office in support of School and campaign priorities. The position will play a key role in setting strategy, policies, and service standards for how prospect development partners with senior leadership and fundraisers across major, leadership and principal giving. The Director will operate proactively to build and advance a robust pipeline, translate data into actionable intelligence and ensure fundraisers and senior leaders have timely, high quality insight to move relationships forward. The Director serves as both a strategic leader and active practitioner, balancing high-level direction with hands-on execution of priority initiatives. In this capacity, the Director cultivates team capabilities and strengthens cross-functional collaboration to enhance overall performance.

Please submit a cover letter along with your application.

About Columbia Business School :

For over a century, Columbia Business School (CBS) has helped develop leaders and builders of enterprises who drive value for their stakeholders and society at large through our MBA, MS, PhD, and Executive Education programs. We are equally committed to cultivating new scholars and teachers and to creating and disseminating pathbreaking knowledge, concepts, and tools that advance the understanding and practice of management through our faculty research and PhD programs. Our vision is simple : to develop ideas and leaders that transform the world, from the very center of business.

Our ever-evolving curriculum, featuring pioneering courses, STEM certification, and immersive experiential learning, prepares students to excel in key areas such as digital transformation, entrepreneurship, innovation, twenty-first-century finance, the intersection of business and society, and climate and sustainability. The CBS administration enables CBS's educational and scholarly mission through strategic and operational guidance and support, optimizing School resources through well-designed, transparent processes with a culture of respect for all.

Responsibilities

Prospect Identification, Research & Prospect Management

In conjunction with the Director of Strategic Planning, defines and leads the strategic vision, policies and standards for the Prospect Development function to ensure there is consistent, high-quality support for the CBS fundraising team throughout the giving cycle.

Develops, institutionalizes, and maintains a formal service model that clearly defines how Prospect Development partners with fundraisers at each stage of the donor cycle, including trip planning, first-visit research, ask-stage intelligence, and related support.

Establishes and oversees the annual and multi-year goals, metrics, and operating cadences for research, ratings, portfolio health, and pipeline growth aligned to School and campaign priorities.

Designs and executes proactive strategies to expand the prospect pool and build pipelines for School priorities at the principal, major, and leadership gift levels.

Translates screening and external data into actionable intelligence by developing methodologies to verify ratings and communicate strategic implications.

Oversees portfolio governance standards, assignment models, review cycles, and reporting to ensure data integrity and timely movement of prospects through the pipeline.

Provides strategic guidance that improves the quality, velocity, and impact of fundraising activity.

Leads continuous process improvement and change management across the function and partner teams.

Stakeholder Engagement and Enablement

Serves as a strategic thought partner to fundraisers and School leadership.

Develops briefing materials and prospect intelligence for the Dean and senior leaders in support of principal-gift and board-level engagement.

Provides training and education for fundraisers on how to engage Prospect Development services and leverage data for strategy.

Supports diversification of the School's board and pipeline to reflect CBS's alumni and student communities.

People Management and Team Development

Supervises the Assistant Director and student research staff, including hiring, training, goal setting, coaching, and performance evaluation.

Builds team capacity through cross-training and professional development to ensure coverage and resilience.

Fosters a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous learning.

Data Analytics & Insights, Technology Platforms and Reporting

Aligns qualitative research with quantitative data models to create consistent and actionable insights.

Develops shared data standards and consistent processes to ensure research insights and analytics findings are aligned and easily understood across teams.

Owns data integrity standards and timely entry of research and ratings in the CRM system.

Designs reporting that provides transparency into prospect activities, portfolio health, and pipeline outcomes.

Delivers guidance and training to staff on data quality,reporting best practices, and CRM usage for prospect management.

Evaluates and implements research tools, technologies, and subscriptions that enhance efficiency and value.

Collaboration and External Engagement

Partners closely with the Advancement Services team to integrate modeling, scoring, and segmentation into prospecting and portfolio decisions.

Represents CBS Prospect Development in collaboration with University Development, peer institutions, and industry networks.

Exchanges best practices and maintains awareness of emerging trends in prospect development and data-driven philanthropy.

Other duties as assigned / required

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required. Minimum 5-7 years of experience in prospect development or related field required.
• Understanding of best practices in fundraising, research, prospect identification, and prospect management.
• Outstanding written and oral communication skills with the ability to translate complex information to different audiences.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working in higher education or other complex institutions; competency in data analysis, analytics, and modeling; experience with Principal Gift prospecting and strategy development; Salesforce experience a plus.

Equal Opportunity Employer / Disability / Veteran

Columbia University is committed to the hiring of qualified local residents.