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Executive Director of Development, Principal Gifts

Required Qualifications (as evidenced by an attached resume):

Bachelor’s degree (foreign equivalent or higher). Seven (7) years of full-time fundraising, sales or related experience in a higher education institution, a large non-profit, or complex healthcare system. Proven record of success in cultivating, soliciting, and closing principal level gifts ($1MM ) and/or major level gifts ($100,000 ) from donors. Management experience.

Preferred Qualifications:

Master’s degree (foreign equivalent or higher). One (1) additional year of full-time fundraising, sales or related experience in a higher education institution, a large non-profit, or complex healthcare system. Contact management software experience.

Brief Description of Duties:

Reporting to the Assistant Vice President, Principal Gifts and Strategic Fundraising Initiatives, the Executive Director of Development, Principal Gifts will drive fundraising efforts for Stony Brook University, with a focus on securing gifts between $1 million to $5 million. The incumbent will be a part of a centrally-based Principal Gifts team whose mission is to support colleges, schools, and units in closing more principal gifts for the University. As part of this team, the Executive Director will design and implement strategic fundraising plans to identify, cultivate, solicit, and steward the University’s highest-level donors. The Executive Director will work closely with West and East Campus major gift officers, as well as senior academic leadership, to advance institutional priorities through transformational philanthropy. They will coordinate personalized engagement strategies and facilitate meaningful interactions between principal gift donors and senior university leaders, including the President, Provost, Vice Presidents, Deans, faculty, and key volunteers. The Executive Director must meet clearly defined annual performance metrics and demonstrate experience managing complex donor relationships and multiple priorities in a fast-paced, mission-driven environment.

+ Lead the development and execution of strategic fundraising plans that support principal gift activity between $1MM to $5MM across West and East Campus units. Collaborate with academic and administrative leaders to identify funding priorities and translate them into compelling philanthropic opportunities. Serve as a strategic advisor to campus partners, providing guidance on donor strategy, proposal development, and engagement planning to advance transformational gifts.

+ Direct and prepare cultivation materials for high impact prospects, overseeing the creation of major funding proposals, talking points and strategies, assessments of potential support, briefings for senior officers and key volunteers and stewardship reports. Manage a portfolio of principal gift prospects.

+ Manage members of the Principal Gifts team, providing strong leadership to foster growth, development and collaboration. Implement team wide strategies, develop best practices, and integrate new technologies to ensure the success of the individuals as well as the team.

+ Serve on the Leadership Team for Principal Gifts and collaborate closely with the Stony Brook University Advancement Team. Lead the development of a robust fundraising program in support of Principal Gift level fundraising. Collaborate with the AVP and leadership to support ongoing philanthropic priorities for Stony Brook.

+ Other duties as assigned.

Special Notes:

The Research Foundation of SUNY is a private educational corporation. Employment is subject to the Research Foundation policies and procedures, sponsor guidelines and the availability of funding. This is a full-time appointment. FLSA Exempt position, not eligible for the overtime provisions of the FLSA. Minimum salary threshold must be met to maintain FLSA exemption.

For this position, we are unable to sponsor candidates for work visas.

Resume/CV and cover letter should be included with the online application.

_Stony Brook University is committed to excellence in diversity and the creation of an inclusive learning and working environment. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, pregnancy, familial status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status and all other protected classes under federal or state laws._

If you need a disability-related accommodation, please call the university Office of Equity and Access (OEA) at (631) 632-6280 or visit OEA (https://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/oea/) _._

_In accordance with the Title II Crime Awareness and Security Act_ a _copy of our crime statistics can be viewed_ here (https://www.stonybrook.edu/police/) _._

Visit our WHY WORK HERE (https://www.stonybrook.edu/jobs/working-here/) page to learn about the **total rewards** we offer.

SUNY Research Foundation: A Great Place to Work. (https://www.rfsuny.org/media/rfsuny/documents/hr/RFRecruitmentFlyer.pdf)

The starting salary range (or hiring range) to be offered for this position is noted below, it represents SBU’s good faith and reasonable estimate of the range of possible compensation at the time of posting.

**Job Number:** 2504007

**Official Job Title:** : Senior Administrative Staff Associate

**Job Field** : Administrative & Professional (non-Clinical)

**Primary Location** : US-NY-Stony Brook

**Department/Hiring Area:** : Advancement

**Schedule** : Full-time

**Shift** : Day Shift **Shift Hours:** : 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. :

**Posting Start Date** : Dec 9, 2025

**Posting End Date** : Jan 8, 2026, 11:59:00 PM

**Salary:** : $181,000 - $210,000

**Appointment Type:** : Regular

**Salary Grade:** : E6

**SBU Area:** : The Research Foundation for The State University of New York at Stony Brook

**Req ID:** 2504007