Assistant Vice President for Engagement

Ast Vice President

Master's degree in an appropriate area of specialization and six years of appropriate experience; or a bachelor's degree in an appropriate area of specialization and eight years of appropriate experience.

The Assistant Vice President (AVP) for Engagement serves as the university's chief architect of constituent experience and the donor continuum. This executive leader is responsible for designing and governing a comprehensive strategy that guides alumni, donors, parents, students, volunteers, and friends through a lifelong journey of connection, engagement, philanthropy, and advocacy.

The AVP leads the development of a modern, data-driven engagement ecosystem that leverages constituent insights, analytics, technology, artificial intelligence, and personalized engagement strategies to create meaningful experiences at scale. Through the integration of alumni relations, annual giving and donor relations, the AVP develops and manages a coordinated engagement strategy designed to strengthen institutional affinity, increase philanthropic participation, and help build a sustainable pipeline of future major and principal gift donors.

As a senior Advancement leader, the AVP is responsible for ensuring that constituent engagement serves as a strategic driver of campaign success, donor pipeline development, revenue growth, and long-term philanthropic growth. The AVP partners closely with development, operations, communications, and academic leadership to create a seamless constituent journey that advances institutional priorities while delivering measurable engagement and fundraising outcomes.

With the importance of engaging alumni and friends with meaningful communication, experiential, volunteer or philanthropic touchpoints, this position plays a critical role in strengthening the prospect pipeline, enhancing the constituent experience, and achieving institutional fundraising goals leading to the ability for Advancement to identify major gift prospects earlier, cultivate them more effectively, and allocate fundraising resources where they are most likely to produce results.

To help foster deeper collaboration efforts and meaningful engagement with alumni, donors, and leadership, as well as members of our advancement staff, this will be an onsite position at our main campus in Gainesville, Florida. 

Strategic Leadership & Constituent Experience

• Provide vision, leadership, and strategic direction for the university's constituent experience strategy and engagement ecosystem
• Provide oversight of Alumni Relations, Annual Giving, and Donor Relations teams in alignment with the Engagement Ecosystem and the established organizational mission, vision and values.
• Serve as the institutional leader responsible for designing and optimizing the constituent journey across the entire donor continuum.
• Develop a comprehensive engagement strategy that aligns constituent experiences with advancement goals, campaign objectives, and institutional priorities.
• Establish a framework for guiding individuals from awareness and affinity to engagement, philanthropy, volunteer leadership, advocacy, and transformational giving.
• Create scalable engagement models capable of delivering personalized experiences to hundreds of thousands of alumni, donors, and friends.
• Ensure that engagement investments generate measurable advancement outcomes, including increased participation, donor retention, leadership annual giving growth, prospect identification, and major gift pipeline development.
• Position constituent engagement as a strategic enterprise function that supports fundraising success across the university.
• Champion the use of artificial intelligence in the day-to-day operations of the teams.
• Foster a collaborative and constituent-centered culture that promotes innovation, teamwork, service excellence, and alignment with the university’s mission and advancement priorities.
• Lead organizational planning and talent development efforts, including recruitment, performance management, succession planning, employee engagement, and leadership development to build and sustain high-performing teams.
• Oversee budgets, resource allocation and operational effectiveness.
• Champion a culture of continuous improvement by evaluating processes, implementing best practices, leveraging technology and constituent data, and driving operational efficiencies that enhance engagement, fundraising, and stewardship results.

Engagement Strategy & Individualization

• Lead the design and execution of a bold, industry leading, integrated engagement ecosystem vision to scale individualized engagement across the University’s hundreds of thousands of constituents.
• Ensure alignment of alumni relations, annual giving, and donor relations within a lifecycle-based engagement continuum.
• Establish governance for data integrity, engagement definitions, and KPI tracking consistent with CASE standards.
• Leverage constituent data, behavioral insights, analytics, and emerging technologies to create relevant and timely engagement experiences.
• Champion the use of artificial intelligence, automation, predictive modeling, and digital engagement tools to enhance constituent relationships and organizational effectiveness.
• Establish audience segmentation, engagement scoring, constituent personas, affinity modeling, and journey orchestration strategies that improve engagement outcomes.
• Ensure that engagement experiences are coordinated across channels, programs, and constituent populations to create a seamless institutional experience.

Donor Continuum & Pipeline Development

• Lead the development and governance of a comprehensive engagement strategy that intentionally cultivates future philanthropic support along the donor continuum.
• Design and oversee engagement pathways that move constituents from initial connection to increasing levels of philanthropic commitment.
• Develop strategies that increase the identification, qualification, and progression of future major prospects.
• Partner with development leadership to ensure engagement activities contribute directly to pipeline generation and fundraising performance.
• Establish systems for measuring the relationship between engagement behaviors and philanthropic outcomes.
• Work collaboratively to develop engagement and participation strategies that support comprehensive campaign goals and long-term fundraising objectives.
• Work collaboratively to ensure alignment between annual giving, leadership annual giving, major gifts, stewardship, and volunteer engagement strategies.
• Increase revenue through annual giving and alumni programs.

Enterprise Collaboration & Influence

• Serve as a strategic partner across the university to advance institutional engagement and philanthropic goals.
• Collaborate with academic and administrative leadership to strengthen constituent engagement across the university.
• Partner with advancement operational teams to ensure accurate reporting using industry standards.
• Collaborate with Strategic, Communications, Marketing & Engagement (SCME) team on coordinated messaging across the engagement lifecycle.
• Partner with Development to ensure alignment of engagement strategies with campaign initiatives, major gifts pipeline and institutional priorities.

University of Florida
At the University of Florida, we are feeding communities, healing coastlines, exploring space, curing diseases, powering cities, building industries, and imagining wonders.  As the state’s most comprehensive university, UF is a land, sea, and space grant institution with ties to every Florida county, a top academic medical center, and much more.  The ideas born here gather steam and make tangible impacts. Florida is among the nation’s leaders in technology transfer, turning discoveries into companies, products, and jobs. Come join us—let’s see where we can go together.

Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville, Florida is a vibrant, welcoming city known for its natural beauty, rich culture, and strong sense of community. As home to the University of Florida and UF Health, it is a hub for education, healthcare, and innovation. With award-winning parks, a thriving arts scene, and a variety of dining and entertainment options, Gainesville offers something for everyone.

Ranked the #1 city to move to in Florida by USA Today in 2024, Gainesville combines small-town charm with big-city amenities—making it a great place to live, work, and thrive.  Visit the city’s website for community information.

Annual salary commensurate with education and experience.  The University of Florida offers a competitive benefits package including:

• Affordable State Health Plans: Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance
• Comprehensive Coverage: Life and Disability Insurance
• Secure Retirement Options: Generous plans to safeguard your future.
• Paid Time Off: Including 11 paid holidays, as well as family, sick, and vacation leave.
• Professional and Personal Growth: Opportunities through UF Training & Organization Development, leadership development, LinkedIn learning, and more
• PSLF Eligibility: We are a Public Service Loan Forgiveness Eligible Employer

Click here to learn more. 

Master's degree in an appropriate area of specialization and six years of appropriate experience; or a bachelor's degree in an appropriate area of specialization and eight years of appropriate experience.

The ideal candidate will possess:

• Minimum of seven to ten years of progressively responsible leadership experience in advancement, alumni relations, fundraising, donor relations, constituent engagement, or related fields.
• Experience in higher education, nonprofit, or mission-driven organizations.
• Experience managing complex constituent engagement and fundraising programs.
• Demonstrated success in strategic planning, team leadership, and program management.
• Demonstrated experience leveraging technology to increase organizational efficiency or effectiveness.
• Strong understanding of annual giving, stewardship, donor engagement, and alumni relations best practices.
• Familiarity with advancement CRM systems, donor analytics, and constituent engagement platforms as well as Windows operating systems, Microsoft Word, Excel, and Access, various internet browsers and email platforms.
• Ability to respond effectively to change in a creative, demanding and fast-paced environment.
• Ability to be self-motivated and self-managing while collaborating closely with senior leadership and delivering the division and university vision.
• Demonstrated excellent attention to detail and work quality including the ability to deliver creative, high-quality work quickly, in a dynamic organization under time pressure.
• Ability to listen carefully and take into account stakeholder needs and react appropriately.
• Ability to manage multiple projects and prioritize work to maximize productivity.
• Effective time management and organizational skills are essential for success in this position.
• The ability to work strategically, develop and implement programs and activities for stakeholders, along with a talent for motivating staff, partners and volunteers.
• The ability to meet deadlines and work independently.
• Competency in problem solving with exceptional written and verbal communication skills.
• Support the University’s commitment to creating a respectful and collaborative work environment that values integrity, professionalism, and mutual respect in all interactions.

In order to be considered for this position, you must upload a cover letter and resume with completed application form. All requested materials must be submitted by 11:55 p.m. (ET) of the posting end date.

Work visa sponsorship is not available for this position