Head of Prospect Strategy, Research & Insights

Harvard Business School; Boston (MA); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous paid time off

Health insurance

Retirement plans

Wellbeing resources

Tuition assistance

Commuter benefits

Job summary

Harvard Business School, located in Boston, seeks a Director of Prospect Strategy & Research to lead identification, qualification, ratings, and prioritization across a large alumni population.

Reporting to senior advancement leadership, the role will oversee staff, establish service models, and partner with fundraising, analytics, and advancement operations to expand prospect coverage using data, technology, and process improvements.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required.
• 10+ years of progressively responsible experience in prospect research, prospect development, fundraising strategy, advancement operations, or a related field.
• Demonstrated experience leading and developing staff.
• Strong understanding of major gift fundraising, prospect management, and prospect development principles.
• Experience working with prospect research tools, screening resources, and constituent data.
• Experience developing operational processes, metrics, and service delivery models.
• Excellent analytical, organizational, and communication skills.
• Demonstrated ability to build relationships and collaborate across teams.

Responsibilities

• Provide leadership for prospect identification, qualification, ratings, screenings, and prospect prioritization efforts.
• Develop scalable approaches to prospect identification and prioritization that leverage research, analytics, constituent engagement data, screenings, and emerging technologies.
• Partner with fundraising leadership to support portfolio strategy, pipeline development, and fundraising planning.
• Support proactive prospecting efforts focused on strategic industries, alumni segments, affinity groups, and emerging opportunities.
• Establish frameworks that help ensure research resources are focused on the prospects and opportunities where strategic analysis adds the greatest value.
• Collaborate with advancement partners to identify opportunities to broaden prospect coverage and strengthen fundraising pipelines.
• Oversee prospect research, ratings, screenings, and constituent intelligence activities.
• Support the continued development of relationship intelligence and network-based approaches to prospect strategy.
• Ensure research products are relevant, actionable, and aligned with fundraising priorities.
• Maintain quality standards and consistency across ratings, screenings, prospect identification, and research practices.
• Evaluate and refine methodologies used to assess prospect capacity, engagement, and philanthropic potential.
• Provide leadership for workflows, service models, and operational processes that support prospect strategy and research activities.
• Develop metrics, dashboards, and reporting that provide visibility into team activities, outcomes, and organizational impact.
• Evaluate opportunities to leverage automation, AI-enabled tools, screening resources, and other technologies to improve efficiency and expand prospect coverage.
• Partner with analytics and advancement operations teams to support data-informed decision making and prospect prioritization efforts.
• Identify opportunities to streamline processes, reduce administrative burden, and improve the deployment of research resources.
• Recruit, manage, coach, and develop prospect strategy and research staff.
• Establish clear expectations, goals, and professional development opportunities.
• Support the documentation of methodologies, workflows, and best practices.
• Foster consistency in ratings, screenings, prospect identification, and research practices.
• Create an environment that encourages collaboration, continuous learning, innovation, and professional growth.

Skills

Analytical skills

Organizational skills

Communication skills

Relationship building

Team leadership

Collaboration

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Tools

Prospect research tools

Screening resources

Constituent databases

Job description

Harvard Business School, located in Boston, seeks a Director of Prospect Strategy & Research to lead identification, qualification, ratings, and prioritization across a large alumni population.

Reporting to senior advancement leadership, the role will oversee staff, establish service models, and partner with fundraising, analytics, and advancement operations to expand prospect coverage using data, technology, and process improvements.