Associate Director and / or Senior Associate Director, Strategic Events

Reporting to the Director of Donor Relations, the Associate Director and/or Senior Associate Director of Donor Relations is an essential member of the University Advancement team at the University of Virginia. The incumbent will lead a talented team charged with developing a comprehensive event and engagement strategy to ensure donors have meaningful interactions and experiences with the University.

The Associate Director and/or Senior Associate Director will serve as lead event planner and strategist and will be responsible for Advancement events involving the University’s President and senior leadership. This individual will collaborate with key stakeholders to cultivate an annual calendar of events, including board meetings, receptions, and dinners to support partners in University Advancement, schools, and affiliated units. On an ongoing basis, this individual will work closely with the Associate Director and/or Senior Associate Director of Donor Relations who leads the team focusing on donor stewardship, in order to develop and execute comprehensive and consistent strategies that keep a broad portfolio of UVA donors engaged and informed.

The ideal candidate is a strong collaborator and excellent communicator who thinks strategically and innovates to achieve departmental, organizational, and institutional objectives and goals. This individual has a high level of attention to detail and thrives in a fast-paced and nuanced organization. The Associate Director and/or Senior Associate Director is both process and product oriented, has the ability to refine and iterate on existing protocols, plans, and parterships to improve outcomes, and deliver top quality, concierge-level service to partners, constituents, and donors. The ideal candidate is well-versed in best-in-class events and donor engagement protocols and ensures that their team members have the tools needed to consistently produce events of a high caliber.

Position reports to:

Director of Donor Relations, University Advancement

Responsibilities and Duties:

• Lead, develop, and mentor a team of five full-time employees.
• Cultivate a strong, collaborative, team-oriented culture of accountability and high performance, with a focus on creating best-in-class events.
• Collaborate with Director of Donor Relations and other key stakeholders to develop tools to evaluate success of events and partnerships.
• Manage events (in-person, virtual, and hybrid), including (but not limited to) presidential and donor events.
• Take point on logistical arrangements, including but not limited to, vendor relations, leading efforts to create print and digital invitations and other event collateral, catering, and event décor.
• Coordinate and negotiate contracts with vendors and maintain event budgets.
• Utilize specialized technology, including the CRM database, event management and communications platforms, and reporting systems.
• Prepare event briefing materials for leadership in collaboration with the Director of Donor Relations and the Assistant Vice President and Chief of Staff to the Vice President for Advancement.
• Collaborate with Advancement Communications design team and other key stakeholders to develop invitations and other event collateral.
• Monitor evolving University policies, rules, and regulations and ensure that events are in compliance.
• Provide day-of event staffing support, and coordinate staffing needs on behalf of the team.
• Serve as a resource for colleagues across Grounds on best practices for event planning.
• In addition to the above job responsibilities, other duties may be assigned.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree
• At least five years of progressive experience.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in personnel management.
• The ability to interact with executive level leaders, government officials, donors/prospects, alumni, and development staff, with an understanding of protocol, political environment and implications, and confidentiality.
• Proven critical thinking and decision-making skills with ability to adjust and adapt when unforeseen situations arise.
• Exceptional attention to detail.
• Experience with negotiating contracts with vendors.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Excellent interpersonal and organizational skills.
• Ability to thrive in a collaborative and and nuanced environment
• Experience working in higher education.
• Experience working with the C-suite level of an organization.
• Demonstrated ability to motivate and retain a diverse and high performing team.

Salary Range: Anticipated salary range $72,000 - $80,000 / year.

Committed to attracting and retaining a diverse staff, University Advancement honors your experiences, perspectives and unique identity. Together, we strive to create and maintain working environments that are inclusive, equitable and welcoming so we can best achieve our mission of supporting our broadly diverse partners, schools, and networks of engaged alumni, parents, and friends of the University.

UVA Advancement offers a flexible, hybrid work environment. Some evening and weekend hours are required with this position. This job does require the ability to travel to attend meetings, events, and programs hosted by Donor Relations and other departments within University Advancement.

All team members who opt for a hybrid work arrangement must have access to and maintain a secure home office environment with high-speed internet service and work collaboratively with others using a variety of technologies and tools. This position is required to work intermittently in a shared office space located in Charlottesville, Virginia and the incumbent must live within driving distance of Charlottesville.

Physical Demands:
This is primarily a sedentary job involving extensive use of desktop computers. This role requires domestic and periodic international travel to attend meetings and staff events, as well as the ability to work evenings and weekend events on an as-needed basis.

This position is located in Charlottesville, VA.

The anticipated start date is as soon as possible.

This position is a restricted position and is dependent upon project need, availability of funding and performance.

This position will remain open until filled. This is an Exempt level, benefited position. For more information on the benefits at UVA, visit www.hr.virginia.edu/benefits . Review of applications will begin January 2, 2023.

This position will not sponsor applicants for work visas.

The University will perform background checks on all new hires prior to employment.

To Apply:
Process for Internal UVA Applicants : Please apply through your Workday Home page, search “Find Jobs”, and search for “R0043311“

Process for External Applicants: Please visit UVA job board at https://uva.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/UVAJobs and search for “ R0043311 ”.

Complete an application online with the following documents:

• CV
• Cover letter

Upload all materials into the resume submission field, multiple documents can be submitted into this one field. Alternatively, merge all documents into one PDF for submission. Applications that do not contain all required documents will not receive full consideration.

References will be completed via UVA’s standardized process Skill Survey. A total of five references will be requested via SkillSurvey during the final phase of the interview process.

For questions about the application process, please contact Jon Freeman , Recruiting Specialist, at jf2sw @virginia.edu

For more information about UVA and the Charlottesville community please see http://www.virginia.edu/life/charlottesville and https://embarkcva.com/.

COVID Vaccination Requirement and Guidelines

Please visitthe UVA COVID-19 Job Requirements and Guidelines webpageprior to applying for current information regarding vaccination requirementsandguidelines for employment at UVA.

The University of Virginia, i ncluding the UVA Health System which represents the UVA Medical Center, Schools of Medicine and Nursing, UVA Physician’s Group and the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library, are fundamentally committed to the diversity of our faculty and staff. We believe diversity is excellence expressing itself through every person's perspectives and lived experiences. We are equal opportunity and affirmative action employers. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, color, disability, gender identity or expression, marital status, national or ethnic origin, political affiliation, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, veteran status, and family medical or genetic information.