Assistant Director/Senior Manager - Development Team

Job Title: Assistant Director/Senior Manager - Development Team

Reports To: Pro Vice Chancellor (Fundraising & Development, Alumni Relations, Strategic Communications and the Placements Office).

Location: Okhla, New Delhi (travelling as per role requirement)

Experience (in years): Minimum 10-12 years of experience with premier organisations

Nature of Work: Full-Time

About Ashoka University: https://www.ashoka.edu.in/

Overview: The Pro Vice- Chancellor oversees four important university-wide functions- Fundraising & Development, Alumni Relations, Strategic Communications and the Careers Office.

The position is a senior, embedded role, designed for an experienced professional who can independently own workstreams, manage cross-functional coordination, and operate as a trusted institutional partner to the Pro Vice Chancellor.

At this grade, the role carries genuine ownership and independently manages fundraising operations, leads the reporting and MIS infrastructure, drive cross-team collaboration. They are expected to exercise judgment, take initiative, and build durable institutional systems.

Key Responsibilities

Fundraising & Development Operations

- Independently manage the domestic fundraising pipeline, i.e. UHNI prospects, family offices, corporate foundations, and CSR desks, from prospect research through cultivation and stewardship

- Lead coordination of international donor engagement across diaspora networks and philanthropic institutions in the US, UAE, Singapore, and UK; prepare briefing materials and support the Pro Vice Chancellor in all external-facing interactions

- Drive stewardship operations, i.e. impact reports, acknowledgements, annual giving communications, and bespoke donor correspondence.

- Lead compliance requirements with the Finance team for all donor transactions and regulatory filings

- Plan and manage donor events, cultivation dinners, and campus visits end-to-end, coordinating across operations, communications, and academic teams

- Own the fundraising CRM - data integrity, pipeline hygiene, relationship health flags, and reporting

Executive Communications & Content

- Own preparation of all decks for the Pro VC - board presentations, donor pitches, leadership reviews, external conferences, and internal town halls

- Draft, edit, and finalise talking points, executive summaries, concept notes, and pre-read materials for all significant meetings and engagements

- Write high-quality institutional communications, proposals, and speeches on behalf of the Pro Vice Chancellor

- Partner with the Strategic Communications team to ensure narrative consistency, messaging alignment, and a coherent institutional voice across channels and audiences

MIS, Data & Institutional Reporting

- Design, build, and own the MIS - providing a consolidated, accurate, and real-time view of performance across Fundraising, Alumni Relations, Careers, and Communications

- Establish and manage regular reporting cadences: weekly dashboards, monthly performance reviews, quarterly board reports to ensure data is clean, meaningful, and decision-ready

- Work with each vertical head to define KPIs, standardise data inputs, and drive accountability through shared metrics

- Maintain the action tracker, decision log, and risk register; proactively close open loops and escalate blockers

- Prepare analytical briefs and data narratives for proposals, leadership conversations, and strategic planning exercises

Cross-Team Coordination & Collaboration

- Act as the primary coordination interface to drive alignment, surfacing interdependencies, and enabling smooth execution

- Own the rhythm of cross-team collaboration — design and chair regular syncs, set agendas, capture and circulate minutes, and track follow-through with accountability

- Proactively identify and leverage synergies across verticals — where alumni engagement feeds the fundraising pipeline, or where career placement data strengthens donor-facing impact narratives.

- Coordinate with different departments on university-wide initiatives

- Maintaining process documentation, onboarding new team members, and ensuring continuity across leadership transitions or team changes

Strategic & Institutional Projects

- Lead or co-lead scoping and execution of long-horizon institutional projects - endowment campaigns, alumni engagement frameworks, reputational initiatives, and partnership development

- Represent in internal working groups, external meetings, and partner conversations when delegated

- Contribute to planning for major institutional milestones - capital campaigns, ranking submissions, anniversary initiatives

- Bring structured thinking and project management discipline to unstructured, high-priority asks that cut across verticals

Qualifications and Skills Required:

- 10–12 years of professional experience with demonstrated progression in responsibility

- Demonstrated ability to own and deliver complex, multi-stakeholder workstreams independently

- Excellent written communication — decks, briefs, proposals, donor correspondence

- Strong analytical ability — comfortable with data, dashboards, and MIS design

- Maturity to work alongside senior leadership and external stakeholders with discretion

- Advanced proficiency with Excel / Google Sheets and PowerPoint / Google Slides

- Prior experience in fundraising, development, alumni relations, or donor stewardship

- Background in higher education, social sector, or philanthropy

- Exposure to international philanthropic markets — US, UAE, Singapore, UK

- Experience in a chief of staff, programme management, or institutional strategy function

- Familiarity with CRM platforms (Salesforce, or equivalent)