Leadership Giving Officer

Department: KCL Philanthropy
Grade and Salary: £39,076 - £43,909 per annum, including London Weighting Allowance    
Job ID: 128386

About Us

Philanthropy & Alumni Engagement (P&A) provides a fundraising and alumni engagement function in support of King’s College London. We are proud to work with colleagues across the university and its health partners to help them serve society through world-leading education, research and healthcare.  Our work also includes a partnership with the Maudsley Charity in support of children’s mental health initiatives between the university’s Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience and the South London & Maudsley NHS Trust.

We are a committed team that brings together fundraisers working across different channels, alongside colleagues who promote King’s College London’s engagement with its worldwide alumni community. Our work is underpinned and enhanced by a range of dedicated professionals in supporting areas covering proposition development, supporter engagement, supporter operations and business operations.

We have an impressive, well-established track record of success in securing support that allows the university and partners to deliver on their missions. This includes our global, award-winning World Questions: King’s Answers campaign, which set the standard in the sector and enabled us to raise substantial funds to help tackle some of the world’s biggest challenges. Ambitious and innovative, the team has won awards such as a CASE Platinum Award for Fundraising and a CASE Gold Award for Donor Relations and Stewardship. We are strongly values-driven with a focus on sustaining an excellent and supportive culture, which we see as key to creating a successful team that can support the university and its partners in making a real and positive difference to the world we live in.

More on King’s College London

King’s College London is an internationally renowned university delivering exceptional education and world-leading research. The university is dedicated to driving positive and sustainable change in society and realising our vision of making the world a better place.  Through its commitment to exceptional education, impactful research and genuine service to society, King’s College London is creating positive change in its communities, both in London and on the world stage. The Strategic Vision 2029 looks forward to King’s College London’s 200th anniversary in 2029 and sets out ambitious plans in five key areas: 

1.      Educating the next generation of change-makers

2.      Challenging ideas and driving change through research

3.      Giving back to society through meaningful service

4.      Working with our local communities in London

5.      Fostering global citizens with an international perspective

About the role

We are seeking a motivated and passionate Leadership Giving Officer to cultivate and solicit gifts from alumni who have the capacity to make donations to the university of between £1,000 and £50,000.

You will be working in an exciting and varied role that blends marketing and fundraising skills as part of the Leadership Giving team within the Philanthropy & Alumni Engagement department. We are a warm, collaborative, and enthusiastic team with a passion for innovative fundraising for meaningful impact.

The postholder will support fundraising for exciting and impactful initiatives across the university. The primary responsibility of the role is to manage two of the flagship Leadership Giving Programmes: the Kingsmaker Guild and Key to King’s. Additionally, they will also manage a portfolio of prospective and existing donors who they will connect with personally, engaging them with the university with the aim of soliciting new or uplifted donations.

Sitting within the KCL Philanthropy Team and working collaboratively with the other fundraisers in the university, the Leadership Giving Officer will manage the delivery of mass-fundraising appeals and stewardship, while also spending time in direct interaction with donors, both in and out of the office.

This role would be well suited to someone with marketing experience who is at the early stages of their fundraising career and keen to apply their skills in a hands-on environment. Candidates without marketing experience but with a strong aptitude for strategic communication and relationship building are also encouraged to apply.

We are looking for someone willing to learn new skills and who is keen to have their work make a real difference in the world while having a great time doing it!

This is a full-time post (35 hours per week), and you will be offered an indefinite contract. P&A has a hybrid working approach, with a minimum of 40% in the office. Typically, this equates to two days per week, but we’re very happy for colleagues to be in more frequently if they so wish.

About You

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:

Essential criteria

1.      Fundraising and/or marketing experience

2.      Experience of managing projects, or strategy development skills

3.      Excellent communication skills, both spoken and written

4.      Excellent interpersonal skills with an ability to build relationships with a wide range of stakeholders, both internally and externally

5.      Resilience, adaptability, and resourcefulness

6.      Goal orientated and persistent in achieving objectives

7.      The ability to think laterally, and to develop and execute creative and targeted strategies to engage and build long term relationships with prospective and current supporters

Desirable criteria

1.      Face-to-face fundraising experience

2.      Knowledge of Microsoft Dynamics or other similar fundraising database

3.      Experience of working within the Higher Education sector

Downloading a copy of our Job Description

Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the next page after you click “Apply Now”. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.

Further Information

We pride ourselves on being inclusive and welcoming. We embrace diversity and want everyone to feel that they belong and are connected to others in our community.

We are committed to working with our staff and unions on these and other issues, to continue to support our people and to develop a diverse and inclusive culture at King's. We are open to discussing flexible working arrangements, including part-time, compressed hours and/or job shares, as appropriate and in the context of the business needs associated with the role.

We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the advert. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.

To find out how our managers will review your application, please take a look at our ‘How we Recruit’ pages.

We offer the opportunity of an “Ask Us Anything” Teams call on Tuesday 4th November at 3pm. During this call you will be able to ask any questions you might have about the role, the selection process, our department, our core values and work culture, our current hybrid work policy, or simply listen to others’ questions.

This role will have two interview stages: a standard skills-based interview followed (for up to two appointable candidates) by a Core Values interview.

First stage interviews are due to be held week commencing 17th November. Core Values interviews are due to be held week commencing 24th November.

Closing Date: 09-Nov-2025