Associate Vice President, Advancement Strategy

The Opportunity:

The Associate Vice President for Advancement Strategy is a senior leadership position reporting to the Senior Vice President for Advancement & Partnerships. This role will serve as Strategic Advisor, Campaign Co-Director - Administration, and Chief of Staff, as a member of the division's Executive Team and helping convert executive vision into clear priorities, disciplined execution, and measurable progress.

The Associate Vice President partners closely with the Senior Vice President to ensure the division stays aligned, focused, and prepared to act on its highest priorities. This person creates clarity from ambiguity, anticipates risks and opportunities, frames options with sound judgment, and helps the Senior Vice President and Executive Team spend time on the work that matters most. The role also leads two functional teams, one focused on relationship management with the university's foundation board, and one focused on communications and marketing for advancement and partnership initiatives and holds administrative oversight of all phases of the university's comprehensive campaign, from planning through execution and results analysis.

Responsibilities:

Strategic Leadership and Campaign Management:

• Serve as a strategic advisor to the Senior Vice President and Executive Team, translating strategy into action by connecting day-to-day decisions to long-term goals, aligning stakeholders with different priorities, supporting disciplined decision-making, and tracking division-wide goals and performance metrics.
• Working alongside the Senior Vice President and the Senior Associate Vice President for Advancement (Development), serving as Campaign Co-Director - Development, lead the marketing and communications administrative side of the university's fundraising campaigns with constant evolution in mind.
• Oversee campaign planning studies, timelines, committee coordination, goal setting, strategy, and progress tracking while creating the systems, communications, and accountability routines needed to keep complex campaign work moving across multiple teams.

Chief of Staff Duties:

• Serve as a trusted advisor to the Senior Vice President and Executive Team, offering confidential counsel on fundraising, alumni engagement, volunteer management, organizational priorities, and sensitive leadership matters.
• Identify issues before they become crises, help teams distinguish between matters requiring executive attention and those that can be delegated, and ensure the division remains aligned, focused, and prepared to act on its highest priorities.

Team Supervision:

• Provide leadership across foundation board relations and advancement communications and marketing, a team of 10 to 15 staff members overseen through 2 direct reports.
• Delegate work, set expectations, develop talent, monitor performance and accountability, and model the emotional intelligence, discretion, influence, and collaborative problem-solving expected of a senior Chief of Staff role.

Executive Support and Communications:

• Research and prepare reports, briefings, presentations, speeches, talking points, and decision materials for the Senior Vice President, for both internal and external audiences.
• Communicate with clarity, brevity, and executive presence, tailoring messages for senior leaders, staff, donors, volunteers, board members, and university partners.
• Partner with the executive assistant to help manage the Senior Vice President's calendar and communications flow, ensuring meetings, follow-up, and information-sharing are purposeful, well-documented, and aligned with the Senior Vice President's highest-value work.

Division Coordination:

• Gather regular reports from teams across the division and work to keep operations running smoothly and efficiently.
• Serve as a communication link between departments, build trust across the organization, surface difficult issues early, resolve conflicts diplomatically, keep the Senior Vice President informed of important matters, and respond on the Senior Vice President's behalf when needed with sound judgment and discretion.

Budget Oversight:

• Develop and monitor the Senior Vice President's budget and sponsorship opportunities and provide budget approval oversight for the foundation board relations and communications/marketing teams, along with related annual plans, hiring, training, and evaluations.

Minimum Qualifications:

Bachelor's or Master's degree and 12+ years of relevant experience with at least 5+ years of leadership experience; or an equivalent combination of education and experience pursuant to Fla. Stat. 112.219(6).

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience working in higher education advancement, fundraising, or a related nonprofit environment.
• Direct experience supporting or advising a senior executive in a chief of staff or similar capacity.
• Experience with capital campaign planning or management.
• Demonstrated success leading and developing teams of 10 or more staff.
• Experience with budget development and oversight.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including experience preparing executive-level materials such as briefings or presentations.
• Demonstrated strategic thinking, sound judgment, and ability to make decisions with incomplete information while maintaining confidentiality and discretion.
• Proven ability to influence without formal authority, align stakeholders across departments, create clarity from ambiguity, and move priorities forward in a fast-paced executive environment.
• High emotional intelligence, executive presence, adaptability, and relationship-building skills across senior leadership, staff, volunteers, donors, and campus partners.
• Master's degree in a related field.

Special Instructions to the Applicants:

• The anticipated starting salary for a well-qualified candidate is $185,000 to $215,000. Advancement and Partnerships values the unique contributions that each team member brings to our division. The final determination of a successful candidate's starting salary will vary based on several factors, including education and relevant experience. The anticipated pay scale indicated for this position generally applies to candidates who meet the minimum requirements and several of the preferred qualifications outlined above. All offers are contingent on successful background and reference screens.
• All applicants must be authorized to work for any U.S. employer. Visa sponsorship is not available for this position, and the university cannot accommodate H-1B transfers or employment-based visa processing for individuals currently sponsored by another employer.
• This role requires the successful candidate to work on-site at UCF as their primary work location. On-site presence is an essential function of this role.

Department
Advancement and Partnerships

Work Schedule
Monday - Friday 8:00AM - 5:00PM

Type of Appointment
Regular

Expected Salary
Negotiable

Job Posting End Date
11-12-2026-12-00-AM