King's College London

About Us

Philanthropy & Alumni Engagement (P&A) provides a fundraising and alumni engagement function in support of King’s College London. We are proud to work with colleagues across the university and its health partners to help them serve society through world-leading education, research and healthcare.  Our work also includes a partnership with the Maudsley Charity in support of children’s mental health initiatives between the university’s Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience and the South London & Maudsley NHS Trust.

We are a committed team that brings together fundraisers working across different channels, alongside colleagues who promote King’s College London’s engagement with its worldwide alumni community. Our work is underpinned and enhanced by a range of dedicated professionals in supporting areas covering proposition development, supporter engagement, supporter operations and business operations.

We have an impressive, well-established track record of success in securing support that allows the university and partners to deliver on their missions. This includes our global, award-winning World Questions: King’s Answers campaign, which set the standard in the sector and enabled us to raise substantial funds to help tackle some of the world’s biggest challenges. Ambitious and innovative, the team has won awards such as a CASE Platinum Award for Fundraising and a CASE Gold Award for Donor Relations and Stewardship. We are strongly values-driven with a focus on sustaining an excellent and supportive culture, which we see as key to creating a successful team that can support the university and its partners in making a real and positive difference to the world we live in.

More on King’s College London

King’s College London is an internationally renowned university delivering exceptional education and world-leading research. The university is dedicated to driving positive and sustainable change in society and realising our vision of making the world a better place.  Through its commitment to exceptional education, impactful research and genuine service to society, King’s College London is creating positive change in its communities, both in London and on the world stage. The Strategic Vision 2029 looks forward to King’s College London’s 200th anniversary in 2029 and sets out ambitious plans in five key areas: 

• Educating the next generation of change-makers
• Challenging ideas and driving change through research
• Giving back to society through meaningful service
• Working with our local communities in London
• Fostering global citizens with an international perspective

About the role

Help shape the future of alumni engagement at King's.

King's College London seeks an exceptional leader to drive forward our ambitious alumni engagement strategy during an exciting period of growth and transformation. As Associate Director: Alumni Engagement, you will play a pivotal role in building and maintaining relationships with our global community of over 360,000 alumni.

Working as a key member of our Philanthropy & Alumni Engagement Leadership Team, you will implement innovative approaches to alumni engagement that support King's Vision 2030 and our upcoming fundraising campaign. You'll lead a high-performing team to deliver a programme of events, volunteer activities, and services focusing on:

• Growing our contactable alumni base through creative engagement strategies
• Developing sophisticated supporter journeys for priority audiences
• Building strategic faculty partnerships to scale local alumni engagement
• Preparing compelling alumni engagement strategies for King's next fundraising campaign
• Enhancing data-driven decision making through effective use of Dynamics CRM

The successful candidate will bring:

• Proven experience in developing and implementing engagement strategies that deliver measurable results
• Strong track record in building effective partnerships in complex organisations
• Demonstrated success in leading high-performing teams and managing change
• Experience in using data to drive strategic decision-making
• Excellent understanding of advancement principles in higher education

Working arrangements include hybrid working (minimum 40% on site) with occasional evening and weekend work for alumni events. 

This is a full time role and you will be offered an indefinite contract.  P&A has a hybrid working approach, with a minimum of 40% of time in the office. Typically, this equates to two days per week, but we’re very happy for colleagues to be in more frequently if they so wish.

About You

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:

Essential criteria

1. Ability to engage and build networks with the most senior stakeholders in the university, operating with confidence and in a way that brings through the expertise and recommendations of P&A  
2. Excellent understanding of principles/best practice around strategy design, development and implementation
3. Excellent knowledge of the broader alumni relations and engagement sector, including trends and innovations
4. Ability to lead work and discussions within P&A to ensure alumni activity is set up for success and aligned with broader Departmental goals and strategy
5. Ability to effectively represent alumni activity and perspectives in P&A Leadership Team discussions
6. Understanding and experience of leading and motivating a team
7. Ability and experience of using diplomatic skills to navigate differing perspectives and still bring colleagues together in support of key objectives

Desirable criteria

1. Knowledge of Dynamics CRM and digital engagement platforms
2. Experience of working internationally with diverse stakeholder groups
3. Track record of developing successful faculty engagement models in higher education

Downloading a copy of our Job Description

Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the next page after you click “Apply Now”. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.

Further Information

We pride ourselves on being inclusive and welcoming. We embrace diversity and want everyone to feel that they belong and are connected to others in our community.

We are committed to working with our staff and unions on these and other issues, to continue to support our people and to develop a diverse and inclusive culture at King's. We are open to discussing flexible working arrangements, including part-time, compressed hours and/or job shares, as appropriate.

  We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the advert. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.

To find out how our managers will review your application, please take a look at our ‘How we Recruit’ pages.  

First stage skills based interviews are due to be held on 9th April 2025. Selected candidates will be taken through to a second stage which will involve a stakeholder interview and a values-based interview.