Head of Major Gifts & Development, Academic Medicine

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At Hackensack Meridian Health we help our patients live better, healthier lives — and we help one another to succeed. With a culture rooted in connection and collaboration, our employees are team members. Here, competitive benefits are just the beginning. It’s also about how we support one another and how we show up for our community.

Together, we keep getting better - advancing our mission to transform healthcare and serve as a leader of positive change.

The Executive Director, Development, Academic Medical Centers , will provide strategic leadership for all philanthropic initiatives in support of the hospital's integrated missions of clinical excellence, biomedical research, and graduate medical education. Reporting to the Vice President, the Executive Director will develop and implement a comprehensive major and principal gift program, inclusive of grateful patient philanthropy, personally managing a portfolio of the Foundation's most significant donor relationships. The Executive Director will partner with medical center leadership, including department chairs, physician-scientists, and hospital administration, to identify transformative funding priorities and to articulate compelling cases for philanthropic support to individuals, families, foundations, and corporations. The Executive Director will oversee a team of development professionals and will contribute to the development of annual budgets, long-range campaign plans, and strategies that advance the medical center's position as a national leader in medicine and medical education.

This position will be focused on JFK University Medical Center in Edison, NJ.

Education, Knowledge, Skills and Abilities Required:

• Bachelor's degree required
• Minimum of ten (10) years of progressively responsible experience in major gift fundraising, with at least five (5) years in an academic medical center, research university, or comparable complex institution.
• Demonstrated record of personally closing gifts of $1 million or more from individuals, families, and institutional sources.
• Deep familiarity with the academic medicine environment, including the faculty governance, research enterprise, and clinical program dynamics unique to academic medical center settings.
• Ability to translate complex scientific and clinical concepts into compelling donor narratives and case statements.
• Experience with endowment fundraising, planned giving vehicles, and the structuring of complex, multi-year gift commitments.
• Proven ability to lead, inspire, and develop a team of fundraising professionals in a matrixed, mission-driven organization.
• Experience working closely with board-level volunteers and institutional leadership.
• Experience with donor management/CRM systems.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Proficient computer skills that include but are not limited to Google Suite and/or Microsoft Office platforms.

Education, Knowledge, Skills and Abilities Preferred:

• Masters degree
• Passionate commitment to the mission of academic medicine: advancing research, training the next generation of physicians and scientists, and delivering exceptional patient care.
• Strategic thinker who can simultaneously manage long-term campaign planning and day-to-day donor engagement with equal rigor.
• Politically astute and highly collaborative; adept at navigating the complex stakeholder dynamics of a large academic health system.
• Intellectually curious with the capacity to engage deeply with faculty researchers and clinicians as a credible partner in mission advancement.
• Creative, entrepreneurial, and results-driven, with an unwavering focus on donor impact and philanthropic stewardship.
• High emotional intelligence and executive presence; equally effective one-on-one with gift prospects as well as presenting to a group.
• Experience with comprehensive or capital campaign fundraising at an academic medical center or research university is a significant plus.

If you feel that the above description speaks directly to your strengths and capabilities, then please apply today!