Executive Director, Development, Academic Medical Centers

John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center; Woodbridge Township (NJ); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Hackensack Meridian Health is seeking an Executive Director, Development, Academic Medical Centers to provide strategic leadership for philanthropic initiatives at JFK University Medical Center in Edison, NJ. The role oversees a portfolio of major gifts, partners with hospital leadership, and guides a team of development professionals to advance clinical, research, and education missions.

You will design and implement comprehensive fundraising programs, cultivate top-tier donors, and collaborate

Qualifications

• Experience leading major gifts programs and donor-centric fundraising.
• Ability to build and manage a diverse donor portfolio.
• Strong leadership and mentoring skills to grow a development team.

Responsibilities

• Oversees major and principal gift program, managing top-tier prospects through all donor-cycle stages.
• Builds and sustains relationships with hospital leadership and faculty to align priorities with funding opportunities.
• Leads and mentors development professionals, establishing performance benchmarks and accountability.
• Champions endowed giving, including professorships and research endowments, to secure long-term support.
• Develops and manages annual fundraising budgets and provides reports to senior leadership.

Skills

Donor relations

Fundraising

Portfolio management

Team leadership

Budgeting

Job description

• Requisition # 2026-186038
• ShiftDay
• StatusFull Time with Benefits

Overview

Our team members are the heart of what makes us better.

At Hackensack Meridian Health we help our patients live better, healthier lives — and we help one another to succeed. With a culture rooted in connection and collaboration, our employees are team members. Here, competitive benefits are just the beginning. It’s also about how we support one another and how we show up for our community.

Together, we keep getting better – advancing our mission to transform healthcare and serve as a leader of positive change.

The Executive Director, Development, Academic Medical Centers, will provide strategic leadership for all philanthropic initiatives in support of the hospital's integrated missions of clinical excellence, biomedical research, and graduate medical education. Reporting to the Vice President, the Executive Director will develop and implement a comprehensive major and principal gift program, inclusive of grateful patient philanthropy, personally managing a portfolio of the Foundation's most significant donor relationships. The Executive Director will partner with medical center leadership, including department chairs, physician-scientists, and hospital administration, to identify transformative funding priorities and to articulate compelling cases for philanthropic support to individuals, families, foundations, and corporations. The Executive Director will oversee a team of development professionals and will contribute to the development of annual budgets, long-range campaign plans, and strategies that advance the medical center's position as a national leader in medicine and medical education.

This position will be focused on JFK University Medical Center in Edison, NJ.

Responsibilities

A day in the life of a Executive Director, Development, Academic Medical Centers at Hackensack Meridian Health includes:

• Understands the complex, mission-driven nature of an academic medical center, including the integration of clinical care, research, and medical education and leverages this understanding to articulate compelling, donor-centered philanthropic opportunities.
• Builds and sustains deep relationships with medical center leadership, department chairs, researchers, and clinical faculty to identify transformative funding priorities aligned with institutional research and education missions.
• Designs and executes a comprehensive major and principal gift program targeting prospects capable of six-, seven-, and eight-figure commitments; personally manages a portfolio of top-tier prospects through all phases of the donor cycle.
• Works collaboratively to actively engage physicians and other clinicians in the identification of grateful patients and families.
• Leads and mentors a team of development professionals responsible for raising major- and principal-level gifts and who are dedicated to medical center priorities, establishing clear performance benchmarks, accountability structures, and a culture of excellence in donor engagement.
• Champions endowment fundraising, including named professorships, research endowments, and fellowship funds, educating donors on the long-term legacy value of endowed giving.
• Drives planned and deferred giving conversations within the medical center donor base, partnering with gift planning colleagues to cultivate estate commitments and blended gift strategies.
• Engages, staffs, and grows the volunteer leadership, inspiring trustees to serve as philanthropic ambassadors and to participate actively in peer-to-peer solicitation.
• Collaborates with institutional giving and grants teams to align foundation proposals with medical center research priorities, ensuring a coordinated approach to institutional funders.
• Develops and manages the annual fundraising budget for the medical center portfolio, tracking performance against goals and providing regular reports to senior leadership