Associate Senior Vice President for Development

University of Southern California; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 412,000 - 463,000; Full time

Job summary

The University of Southern California seeks an accomplished advancement executive to serve as Associate Senior Vice President for Development focused on principal and transformational giving.

This leader will shape and execute enterprise-wide philanthropic strategies, personally advance USC's most significant gift opportunities, and align partners across the university around ambitious institutional priorities.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience.
• Minimum 10 years of professional experience, including 8+ years in leadership.
• Deep knowledge of fundraising strategies, donor engagement, and advancement operations.

Responsibilities

• Lead portfolio of $10M+ gift opportunities.
• Drive closure of $25M+ in gifts annually, incl. $10M+ for health sciences and at least one endowed chair.
• Provide strategic leadership for principal and transformational giving and international philanthropy.
• Build and guide fundraising plans across academic, research, health sciences, athletics, and regional strategy.

Skills

Fundraising leadership

Strategic planning

Donor engagement

Executive collaboration

Communication & negotiations

Education

Bachelor's degree

Master's degree

Job description

Associate Senior Vice President for Development

The University of Southern California seeks an accomplished advancement executive to serve as Associate Senior Vice President for Development focused on principal and transformational giving. This leader will shape and execute enterprise-wide philanthropic strategies, personally advance USC's most significant gift opportunities, and align partners across the university around ambitious institutional priorities.

The Associate Senior Vice President's leadership will encompass three principal areas:

• Lead a portfolio composed primarily of prospects with the capacity to make gifts of $10 million or more.
• Drive the closure of $25 million or more in gifts annually, including at least $10 million for health sciences and the establishment of at least one endowed chair.
• Provide strategic leadership for principal and transformational giving, international philanthropy, athletics principal gift fundraising, and the university's East Coast regional strategy.

The Opportunity

Reporting to the Senior Vice President for Advancement, the Associate Senior Vice President will serve as both an enterprise advancement leader and one of USC's most senior frontline fundraisers. The role requires the ability to mobilize leaders and fundraising teams across a complex institution while personally advancing relationships and gift opportunities of extraordinary scale.

Additional Key Responsibilities

• Build and advance a robust proposal pipeline, including five to seven proposals of $10 million or more, five to nine proposals in the $1 million to $9.99 million range, and at least one proposal at the $100 million level.
• Lead strategic planning and execution for comprehensive fundraising initiatives, aligning philanthropic opportunities across academic, research, health sciences, athletics, and broader institutional priorities.
• Establish fundraising priorities, governance processes, and accountability frameworks, and lead senior teams responsible for principal giving, international philanthropy, and regional fundraising.
• Bring renewed focus to USC's international fundraising strategy and build the organizational capacity to grow annual international philanthropy from its current level of more than $35 million toward a goal of more than $75 million.
• Drive the university's East Coast regional strategy and significant philanthropic opportunities supporting USC Athletics.
• Partner with executive and academic leaders, fundraisers, and other colleagues to advance complex gift opportunities requiring university-wide coordination and to foster a culture of collaboration and shared accountability.
• Support the university president, trustees, and volunteer leaders in advancing principal and transformational gift opportunities, including preparing for and staffing donor meetings and travel and participating in trustee meetings as requested.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or combined experience and education as a substitute for the minimum education requirement.
• At least 10 years of relevant professional experience, including at least eight years in a leadership role.
• Deep knowledge of comprehensive fundraising strategies, principal and transformational giving, planned giving, donor engagement, and advancement operations.
• Demonstrated ability to develop enterprise-wide initiatives, lead executive teams through complex organizational change, and build partnerships with executive leaders, academic leaders, governing bodies, fundraisers, donors, and external constituents.
• Exceptional judgment, communication, negotiation, and facilitation skills, with the ability to influence decisions and manage multiple high-priority initiatives.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree.
• Experience leading enterprise-wide fundraising within a complex institution, preferably in higher education.
• Demonstrated record of personally cultivating, soliciting, and closing principal gifts of $10 million or more.
• Experience planning or leading a comprehensive campaign and guiding organizational transformation through fundraising initiatives.
• Expertise in international philanthropy and global fundraising strategy.
• A record of partnering effectively with executive leadership, governing boards, and academic leaders on institutional fundraising priorities.

The Successful Candidate

The ideal candidate will have the credibility to engage USC's most senior leaders and donors, the discipline to translate ambitious goals into coordinated action, and the leadership to strengthen teams, systems, and partnerships for lasting performance.

Required Documents and Additional Information

Resume and cover letter required (may be uploaded as one file). Please do not submit your application without these documents.

The budgeted salary for this position is $412,000 to $463,000. When extending an offer of employment, the University of Southern California considers factors such as (but not limited to) the scope and responsi