Sr. Director Prospect Operations & Data Strategy

Job Posting Location:

Claremont, CA

Job Posting Title:

Sr. Director Prospect Operations & Data Strategy

Job Description:

ABOUT POMONA COLLEGE:

Located near Los Angeles, California, Pomona College is widely regarded as one of the nation's premier liberal arts colleges. Established in 1887, Pomona College is known for small classes, a challenging curriculum, close relationships between students and faculty, and a range of student research and leadership opportunities. Pomona is a member of The Claremont Colleges.

JOB PURPOSE:

The Senior Director of Prospect Operations & Data Strategy provides strategic leadership for the College’s advancement data and prospect development functions. This role sets direction for prospect identification, qualification, and rating; portfolio development and tracking; and research to support fundraising priorities. The Senior Director also leads the Data Administration department, ensuring the accuracy, integrity, and security of advancement data. In addition, the position oversees analytics, including principal, major, and annual gift prospect modeling, as well as evaluation of fundraising performance across programs to inform strategy and drive results. 

Pomona College advancement secures the philanthropic support to realize the overall educational mission of the college. This position reports to the Executive Director, Advancement Services and works very closely with colleagues in the operations department, all frontline fundraisers, the overall Advancement Division, the Office of the Vice President for Advancement, and campus partners. The Senior Director is responsible for engaging in a full range of prospect research, relationship management and analytics programs to support Pomona College. This leadership position is highly visible and plays an instrumental role in building and growing a sustainable donor pipeline by translating data into actionable insights and decision support tools.

Pomona is committed to a mission-centric approach to development. Every member of the Advancement staff plays a role in providing the College’s donors with the service and attention that ensures an exceptionally positive and fulfilling philanthropic experience that results in a positive impact for the college.  

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

The Senior Director of Prospect Operations & Data Strategy is responsible for strategically building a collaborative and centralized prospect management system while delivering high-quality research, data administration, and analytics services in support of Pomona College’s ambitious fundraising goals. Partnering with Advancement leaders, the Senior Director directs Advancement data strategies to align with the prospect process, reporting requirements, and overall fundraising priorities.

The role works closely with frontline fundraisers and other stakeholders to design strategies that encourage proactive research, data stewardship, and prospect management efforts, ensuring the College builds a broad-based principal, major, and leadership annual gift pipeline using both emerging technologies and established resources. Key responsibilities include proactively identifying prospects; developing relationship-based prospect research; leading strategic planning and reporting; and creating, implementing, and managing policies and procedures for prospect management, research, and data administration.

The Senior Director provides strategic leadership and oversight for business intelligence, data analytics, and insight practices within Advancement, fostering a sustained, data-informed, donor-centric operation. The position also assesses and plans for team development to ensure appropriate staffing and skill alignment to meet the College’s fundraising objectives.

Currently, the Senior Director leads four core functions—Research, Relationship Management, Analytics, and Data Administration—overseeing a team that includes three direct reports and additional staff. The role provides vision, technical strategy, and business expertise to guide the successful implementation of Advancement systems, including the CRM, data warehouse, analytics, and reporting solutions, in collaboration with Advancement Services leadership. Reporting directly to the Executive Director of Advancement Services, the Senior Director plays a critical role in building, strengthening, and maximizing the impact of these functions for Pomona College.

The incumbent works independently and collaboratively to perform the following essential duties and responsibilities:

• Lead and supervise and mentor Prospect Research, Relationship Management, Data Administration, and Analytics department staff to achieve overall fundraising success for the Col