Prospect Development Officer - Development and Alumni Relations Office - 80 at University of Birmingham

Birmingham, England, United Kingdom -

Full Time

Start Date

Immediate

Expiry Date

21 Jun, 26

Salary

35608.0

Posted On

23 Mar, 26

Experience

2 year(s) or above

Remote Job

Yes

Telecommute

Yes

Sponsor Visa

Skills

Prospect Identification, Data Analysis, Report Writing, Due Diligence, Research Processes, Data Management, GDPR Compliance, Analytical Skills, Attention To Detail, Communication Skills, Negotiation, Influence, Customer Service, Problem Solving, IT Skills, MS Office

Industry

Higher Education

Description

Position Details Development and Alumni Relations Office Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK Full time starting salary is normally in the range £33,002 to £35,608 with potential progression once in post to £39,906 Grade: 6 Full Time, Permanent Closing date: 16th April 2026 Our offer to you People are at the heart of what we are and do. The University of Birmingham is proud to have been a part of the City of Birmingham and the wider region for over 100 years, and we are equally proud to be recognised as a leading global university. We want to attract talented people from across the city and beyond, support them to succeed, and celebrate their success. We are committed to helping the people who work here to develop through our sector-leading Birmingham Professional programme which provides all professional services staff with development opportunities and the encouragement to reach their full potential. With almost 5,000 professional services jobs in a wide-range of functions in Edgbaston and in our campus in Dubai, there are plenty of opportunities for you to be able to develop your career at the University. We believe there is no such thing as a typical member of staff and that diversity is a source of strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation, and debate. We warmly welcome people from all backgrounds and are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is at the heart of who and what we are, and how we work. Supporting our people to achieve a healthy work/life balance is important both to our employees and to the success of the University and, depending on the role, we offer a variety of flexible working arrangements. We therefore welcome discussions on all forms of flexible working. In addition, you will receive a generous package of benefits including 40 days paid holiday a year, one paid day a year for volunteering, occupational sick pay, and a pension scheme. We also have three high quality subsidised day nurseries. The University is situated in leafy Edgbaston and there are excellent transport links to our beautiful campus, including main bus routes and a train station on site. On campus we have a state-of-the-art sports centre with pool, shops, places to eat and drink, our own art gallery, museum and botanical gardens. Find out more about the benefits of working for the University of Birmingham [https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/jobs/staff-benefits] Background Office overview Our University has a proud history of philanthropy stretching back to its foundation in 1900. With a clear vision to change the lives of the people of Birmingham, Joseph Chamberlain raised the funds required to build the University from citizens and corporations based locally and around the globe. Since then philanthropy has continued to play an important role in shaping the University. There have been a number of fundraising campaigns, including a £1m urgent capital appeal after the Second World War and a £1.4m campaign to fund the Vale ‘student village’ in the 1960s. In 2015 we closed the Circles of Influence Campaign, raising £193 million, making it the largest HE fundraising campaign outside Oxbridge and London. The University has global reach, including several partnerships with other leading universities around the world, and is grounded in its local community, having opened the first fully comprehensive University secondary school in the country in 2015. We are an ambitious and successful research-intensive University (one of the top 100 research-led universities globally) and have produced 10 Nobel Prize winners, including three who received their awards in 2016. Academics here are exploring the impact of climate change, helping to address global health epidemics, seeking ways to diagnose cancers earlier and create more effective personalised treatments, and changing our understanding of Shakespeare. Our students come from nearly 150 countries and our flagship outreach programmes mean that almost 25% of our student population come from disadvantaged backgrounds: one of the highest proportions in the UK. DARO (The Development and Alumni Relations Office) exists to support this academic and student community by engaging, inspiring, and celebrating alumni, individuals, and charitable funders who give their money, time, and networks to support the University’s strategic priorities. The Office, which is comprised of five teams, is focused on fundraising and volunteering from alumni, organisations and individuals who are passionate about changing lives, through funding various research trials, supporting student bursaries, mentoring students, and providing internships. We are currently at the heart of delivering the Birmingham in Action campaign with goals to raise £600m and generate 1,250,000 volunteer hours. As an office, we are committed to sustainability and value green working practices. The environment is an integral part of our campaign and we encourage eco-friendly ways of working in order to have a positive impact on our campus and global surroundings. Role Summary We are looking for a Prospect Development Officer to join our highly successful prospect development team, working in partnership with our fundraising team to manage their prospect pools and portfolios. You will provide insight and advice on donors, trusts, foundations, corporations, and other organizations, collating and reviewing data and writing concise and informative reports for the fundraising team and senior stakeholders within the University. You will proactively identify new prospects, ensuring that biographical information is accurate and up to date. Other responsibilities include leading on the improvement and expansion of research processes, supporting with bespoke research requests, supporting the Head of Prospect Development with specialist research projects, and providing support to the philanthropic due diligence process. Main Duties As Prospect Development Officer you will excel in the following areas: * Contributing to day-to-day prospect identification processes. This includes identifying and evaluating potential and existing fundraising prospects (including individuals, corporates, and charitable foundations in the UK and internationally), through desk-based research using online sources (e.g. LinkedIn/Companies House) and supporting the Prospect Development Managers and Head of Prospect Development in scoping new opportunities for high-capacity prospect identification. * Using information on DARO and University activities or events, online research, and/or data analysis to identify opportunities to help colleagues progress relationships with current prospects and donors (e.g. identifying prospects’ philanthropic or personal interests that align with DARO fundraising priorities). * Responsibility for delivery of key outputs including event briefings, snapshot profiles, and in-depth meeting briefing profiles on potential prospects, donors, and senior alumni. * Responsibility for ensuring that newly identified prospects have up-to-date records on DARO’s database (e.g. research rationale, business details), adhering to the Data Protection Act/GDPR and University data procedures and ethical standards. * You will be required to help, train and empower other DARO colleagues to undertake their own preliminary prospect research. * Responsibility for keeping abreast of the latest research directories and subscriptions etc., assessing their usefulness, and making recommendations to the Head of Prospect Development to help determine future resources for the team. * Oversee the Prospect Development teams’ research request process, including monitoring, assigning, completing, and archiving/logging different research requests that are submitted to the Prospect Development team (e.g. requests for in-depth profiles), updating the Head of Prospect Development on the volume and type of requests being made, and liaising closely with colleagues across DARO to negotiate deadlines. * Ensure all research requests for which you are responsible are completed to specification, within a timely manner, and to a high standard. * Administering key aspects of DARO’s philanthropic due diligence process, which includes informing DARO colleagues about the process and how to access it. * Carrying out due diligence research by undertaking specialised online searches to identify any ethical, reputational, or financial due diligence issues, and collating findings in an objective and concise manner for the approval of the Head of Prospect Development. * Responsibility for updating procedures for research data management and other profiling processes relating to meeting and events briefing profiles. * Use DARO’s database to query, export, and manipulate data sets, as well as review and analyse datasets to support various prospect development processes and functions (e.g. event briefing profiles, prospect identification activity, and prospect pool management). * Promotes equality and values diversity, acting as a role model and fostering an inclusive working culture. * Supports the University’s sustainability agenda through resource efficient working. * Any other duties commensurate with the grade. Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience * Educated to Degree level (or equivalent qualifications) - where no equivalent qualification is held, practical relevant experience and expertise in a similar role will be required * Experience and/or understanding of fundraising prospect development or undertaking research in a professional or academic capacity (e.g. market research, academic research, evaluations of projects/services). * An understanding of what makes a good fundraising prospect for the University of Birmingham. * Some knowledge of prospect pool/portfolio management processes. * Strong analytical and research skills, including the ability to collect, assess, and analyse information rapidly, identifying key points and drawing conclusions. Willingness to challenge and verify the accuracy of information obtained. * Strong report-writing abilities, in order to write concisely and present information clearly and objectively for a range of stakeholders. * The ability to work on a range of projects simultaneously and to meet deadlines. * Methodical and meticulous with strong attention to detail. * Strong communication and interpersonal skills to effectively deal with people at all levels. * An ability to negotiate, motivate, and influence. * Excellent customer service skills with a can-do approach to building partnerships and supporting the needs of colleagues. * The ability to work with initiative, solve problems and think laterally. * Desirable: knowledge of relationship management software, for example Raisers Edge or Blackbaud CRM, as well as an understanding of effective management of information and data within databases for ease of searching, analysing, updating, and reporting. * Knowledge and understanding of Data Protection regulations and ethical and proportional research practices, (e.g. GDPR and the Fundraising Regulator Code of Practice) as well as experience maintaining sensitive data to a high standard. * Knowledge and understanding of due diligence needs and processes. * Excellent IT skills including competence with all aspects of MS Office, email and the internet in order to support different elements of prospect research (e.g. data analysis). Strong knowledge of using social media platforms like LinkedIn. * Evidence of literacy and numeracy, with the ability to write clearly, and to analyse information and data. * Knowledge of the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010, and how to actively ensure in day to day activity in own area that those with protected characteristics are treated equally and fairly. Informal enquiries to Andreea Stangu, email: a.stangu@bham.ac.uk [a.stangu@bham.ac.uk] View our staff values and behaviours here [https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/about/our-strategy/our-values] Use of AI in applications: We want to understand your genuine interest in the role and for the written elements of your application to accurately reflect your own communication style. Applications that rely too heavily on AI tools can appear generic and lack the detail we need to assess your skills and experience. Such applications will unlikely be progressed to interview. We believe there is no such thing as a 'typical' member of University of Birmingham staff and that diversity in its many forms is a strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation and debate at the heart of University life. We are committed to proactively addressing the barriers experienced by some groups in our community and are proud to hold Athena SWAN, Race Equality Charter and Disability Confident accreditations. We have an Equality Diversity and Inclusion Centre that focuses on continuously improving the University as a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. We are also committed to sustainability, which is a key part of our strategy. You can find out more about our work to create a fairer university for everyone on our website [https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/university/about/equality/index.aspx].

Responsibilities

The officer will manage prospect pools and portfolios in partnership with the fundraising team, providing insights and advice on donors, trusts, foundations, and corporations through data collation and report writing. Key duties include proactively identifying new prospects, leading research process improvements, supporting bespoke research requests, and assisting with philanthropic due diligence.