Development Officer | Advancement Office

Employment Opportunity:  Development Officer – a full-time (35 hours per week) one-year contract position (renewable) | Subject to a probationary period

Established in 1789, the University of King’s College is Canada’s oldest chartered university and is associated with Dalhousie University. A small and extraordinarily lively academic community located in Halifax (Kjipuktuk), Nova Scotia, King’s is known nationally and internationally for its interdisciplinary programs in the humanities, including its first-year Foundation Year Program, its professional programs in journalism and its fine arts programs in creative writing. King’s is a community in which students, faculty, alumni and staff work to bring greater understanding, creativity and compassion to the world.

King’s owns a unique niche in Canadian higher education. It is the university for thinkers and creators who are lovers of ideas, books, writing, scholarly conversations, the fine arts and learning in community. It is a university that aims to open doors to the transformative education it provides to students from all backgrounds and communities by opening itself to being transformed by what inclusivity brings to the college. It is an exciting time in the university’s history, with a high-profile capital project in its infancy, a new president to be formally installed in October, and a college-wide effort underway to review, rejuvenate and reinvest in our outstanding academic programs. This timing creates an exceptional opportunity for the successful candidate to join a collaborative, service-oriented team in the King’s Advancement Office.

The university’s Office of Advancement is responsible for fundraising, communications and alumni impact and engagement activities. Advancement professionals cultivate relationships with alumni, parents and friends and work with them to help them achieve their philanthropic goals, which support student success, academic excellence and have community impact.

The King’s Advancement Office accomplishes a lot with a very small team. The Development Officer position, which is the first designated position of its kind at King’s, is designed to increase fundraising revenue for King’s priorities, helping to positively position the university within the broader community and, along with Advancement colleagues, to foster an environment that encourages and enables donor engagement, volunteerism and financial support.

Reporting to the Director of Advancement, the Development Officer is responsible for helping to implement the university’s Three-Year Fundraising Strategy. The position is aimed at attracting mid-level gifts ($10-50k) through individual donor giving. Using Advancement’s database and research tools, the Development Officer is responsible for relationship management through identification, cultivation, solicitation and stewardship of a portfolio of donor prospects. From time to time, the Development Officer may also play a role in assisting the office with its requests to foundations.

Key Responsibilities

• Work with the Director (and others) to increase mid-range gifts in support of the university’s priorities.
• Work with the Director (and others) to become familiar with and comfortable conversing about the university’s needs and aspirations.
• Help to prepare compelling funding proposals and align projects and budgets with philanthropic interests.
• Manage a portfolio of suspects, prospects and donors, advancing their relationship and engagement with King’s through personalized strategies, reporting and acknowledgement activities.
• Track fundraising activities and track proposals, manage related budgets and balance competing priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Provide fundraising leadership by briefing and collaborating with advancement colleagues and their key stakeholders.

Additional Responsibilities

• When needed, possible, and presumed beneficial, research foundation priorities, help to prepare compelling funding proposals and align projects and budgets with philanthropic interests.

This position involves local travel, travel throughout the Maritimes and Ontario, and less frequently potential travel elsewhere in Canada for donor meetings. It may also require attendance at some evening events. The successful candidate must hold a current driver’s license and be legally allowed to drive in Canada (need not own a vehicle).

Required Qualifications

• Undergraduate degree or diploma preferably in Fundraising or Non-Profit Management, Marketing, Communications, English, Journalism, or a humanities-focused area of study. CFRE designation will be considered an asset.
• Minimum five years’ experience in fundraising or other relationship-intensive work (or an equivalent combination of training and experience)
• Demonstrated experience of leading small-scale projects
• Ability to handle confidential matters with a high level of integrity
• Demonstrated experience developing and writing both summary and comprehensive funding proposals, including positioning projects and budgets, to highlight the strongest possible alignment between a project’s impact and an individual donor’s philanthropic interests. Similar experience with developing and writing summary and comprehensive project management documents will also be considered.
• Experience with fund development software or similar customer relationship management software. Experience with Raiser’s Edge will be considered an asset.

Closing Date: October 15, 2026

Salary will be commensurate with level of education and experience.  The salary range for this position is: $60,762–$68,595 including a benefits plan with medical, dental and travel.

To apply for this position, please forward a resume and covering letter to:

Pethrona Russell
Human Resources Manager
University of King’s College
6350 Coburg Road
Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 2A1

pethrona.russell@ukings.ca

We thank all applicants for their interest, however, only candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.

The University of King’s College is committed to diversity, equity, accessibility and inclusion. We encourage and welcome applications from Indigenous persons (especially Mi’kmaq), persons with a disability, racialized persons, including persons of Black/African descent (especially African Nova Scotians), women, persons of a minority sexual orientation and/or gender identity, and all candidates who would contribute to the diversification of our community.