Description Position Details Development and Alumni Relations Office Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK Full time starting salary is normally in the range £33,002 to £35,608 with potential progression once in post to £39,906 Grade: 6 Full Time, Fixed Term contract for 2 years Closing date: 19 th April 2026 UK travel may be required for this role Our offer to you People are at the heart of what we are and do. The University of Birmingham is proud to have been a part of the City of Birmingham and the wider region for over 100 years, and we are equally proud to be recognised as a leading global university. We want to attract talented people from across the city and beyond, support them to succeed, and celebrate their success. We are committed to helping the people who work here to develop through our sector-leading Birmingham Professional programme which provides all professional services staff with development opportunities and the encouragement to reach their full potential. With almost 5,000 professional services jobs in a wide-range of functions in Edgbaston and in our campus in Dubai, there are plenty of opportunities for you to be able to develop your career at the University. We believe there is no such thing as a typical member of staff and that diversity is a source of strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation, and debate. We warmly welcome people from all backgrounds and are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is at the heart of who and what we are, and how we work. Supporting our people to achieve a healthy work/life balance is important both to our employees and to the success of the University and, depending on the role, we offer a variety of flexible working arrangements. We therefore welcome discussions on all forms of flexible working. In addition, you will receive a generous package of benefits including 40 days paid holiday a year, one paid day a year for volunteering, occupational sick pay, and a pension scheme. We also have three high quality subsidised day nurseries. The University is situated in leafy Edgbaston and there are excellent transport links to our beautiful campus, including main bus routes and a train station on site. On campus we have a state-of-the-art sports centre with pool, shops, places to eat and drink, our own art gallery, museum and botanical gardens. Find out more about the benefits of working for the University of Birmingham Background The University of Birmingham is a global institution working within a diverse and vibrant City, offering an inspiring education to our students, and undertaking critically important research. We are a place of open, critical thinking, and the creation, sharing and dissemination of knowledge. Professional Services put students at the heart of all they do and enable an exceptional educational experience. They provide outstanding support to our researchers and help the University to grow its influence regionally, nationally, and globally. They ensure the University’s resources are used wisely, manage and improve the infrastructure which sits at the heart of the institution, and support decisions to be made quickly and based on sound evidence. Our Birmingham Professional programme operates across the University, supporting colleagues to network and collaborate, offering opportunities to learn and develop, contributing to the delivery of the University’s objectives, and helping everyone to understand the broader context within which we work. Our University has a proud history of philanthropy stretching back to its foundation in 1900. With a clear vision to change the lives of the people of Birmingham, Joseph Chamberlain raised the funds required to build the University from citizens and corporations based locally and around the globe. Since then philanthropy has continued to play an important role in shaping the University. There have been a number of fundraising campaigns, including a £1m urgent capital appeal after the Second World War and a £1.4m campaign to fund the Vale ‘student village’ in the 1960s. In 2015 we closed the Circles of Influence Campaign, raising £193 million, making it the largest HE fundraising campaign outside Oxbridge and London. The University has global reach, including several partnerships with other leading universities around the world, and is grounded in our local community, having opened the first fully comprehensive University secondary school in the country in 2015. We are an ambitious and successful research-intensive University (one of the top 100 research-led universities globally) and have produced 10 Nobel Prize winners, including three who received their awards in 2016. Academics here are exploring the impact of climate change, helping to address global health epidemics, and changing our understanding of Shakespeare. Our students come from nearly 150 countries and our flagship outreach programmes mean that almost 25% of our student population come from underrepresented backgrounds: one of the highest proportions in the UK. DARO exists to support this academic and student community by engaging, inspiring, and celebrating alumni, individuals, and charitable funders who give their money, time, and networks to support the University’s strategic priorities. The Office, which is comprised of five teams, is focused on fundraising and volunteering from alumni, organisations and individuals who are passionate about changing lives, through funding various research projects, supporting student bursaries, mentoring students, and providing internships, as well as providing a versatile programme of engagement opportunities for our global alumni community. Role Summary The Donor Experience Officer role is your opportunity to join our excellent team at an exciting time. Stewardship and donor experience are vital activities to the success of any philanthropic campaign. Donors of time and money need to be thanked and understand what their support has achieved, and how integral their gifts have been to making a positive and meaningful difference to the student community and to academic research. In doing so, donors are encouraged to continue their giving, and to increase and diversify their support. The Donor Experience Officer will work with the Donor Experience Manager and second Donor Experience Officer, in a team of three. The Donor Experience Officer will be expected to manage and support with the stewardship activity for a number of our supporters, including our regular donors, legacy pledgers, volunteers, charitable and corporate organisations and major donors. The successful candidate will work with our Communications and Events Teams to deliver appropriate, meaningful and effective activities that express gratitude and communicate impact. They will work closely with colleagues in the Philanthropy, Charitable Partnerships, Volunteering and Regular Giving teams to build programmes to steward these key donor communities and will work alongside the Data team to help manage donor data and segmentation. The successful candidate will have outstanding communication skills with experience in writing for impact, in creating digital content, and an understanding of the needs and expectations of different audiences. They will be able to balance creativity and imagination with a structured, thoughtful and organised approach to their work. They will be creative and conscientious programme deliverers who value integrity and sincerity, and who will demonstrate these qualities through their work. As an office, we are committed to sustainability and value green working practices. The environment is an integral part of our campaign and we encourage eco-friendly ways of working in order to have a positive impact on our campus and global surroundings. Main Duties Stewardship programme delivery Manage, oversee and deliver key elements of the Birmingham in Action stewardship programme for regular donors, legacy pledgers, volunteers, charitable and corporate organisations and major donors including: Annual impact reports, donor communications and content. Regular thank you and recognition events. Duties to include: Working with the Regular Giving Team to develop and deliver activities that steward, retain and uplift regular giving donors and mid-value giving donors. Managing and delivering digital impact reports and other relevant stewardship activity associated with direct mailings, e-appeals, the student telethon and giving days. Managing the thank you letter and email templates for themes across the Birmingham in Action campaign. Working with the Volunteering Team to recognise and thank donors of time. Supporting the experience for senior volunteers and mentors. Managing and delivering the Volunteer of the Month programme. Working with the Legacy Giving team to recognise and thank legacy pledgers: Managing and delivering the annual Gifts in Wills impact report. Delivering the annual Rowbotham Reception alongside the Events team. Working with the Corporate Partnerships team to recognise and thank corporate philanthropy: Delivering impact reports. Managing and supporting with corporate recognition events. Managing and maintaining the donor landing page on the campaign website, in conjunction with the Communications and Regular Giving teams. Support the delivery of a programme of activity to steward, retain and uplift donors to the University of Birmingham, including supporting with the production of the Birmingham in Action campaign impact report and with stewardship events. Content generation Work with the Student and Recent Graduate Engagement Officer, scholars, colleagues in the Funding Graduation & Awards and Outreach Teams, to develop collateral that the Philanthropy team can use to steward student support donors, including: Impact reports Thank you letters and cards Scholar updates Films Images Work with the Head of Campaign Management and the relevant academic colleagues to develop collateral that the Philanthropy team can use to steward research donors as and when required, including cases for support and impact reports. Working with design and print agencies, including Creative Media, and project managing communications projects. Supporting major donor relationships Develop and deliver activity to support the Philanthropy and Charitable Funding teams in the management of donor relationships, including: Undertaking regular meetings with members of the Philanthropy and Charitable Partnerships teams to support them in account managing their donors. Producing and supporting with the creation of bespoke impact reports. Developing and delivering collateral to steward donors, including Christmas cards, thank you cards, letter templates, etc. and some bespoke donor recognition initiatives and “surprise and delight” collateral. Supporting the delivery of the weekly events SharePoint email, updating the wider office on upcoming events. Leading and supporting on events across our donor portfolio Lead and support on engagement and stewardship events across the donor portfolio: Lead on our annual event for thanking supporters, specifically regular and mid-value donors and volunteers with the second Donor Experience Officer. Lead and support on bespoke discovery days and major giving donor events. Support on annual events for six and seven figure donors such as the Recognition Circles Celebration. Support on other DARO and central events where required. Data management Work with the Data Team to manage the data segmentation for donor experience activity, identifying anomalies and implementing solutions. Other Promote equality and value diversity, acting as a role model and fostering an inclusive working culture. Support the University’s sustainability agenda through resource efficient working. Any other duties commensurate with the grade. Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience Communication skills Excellent communication skills, including demonstrating the ability to communicate information for maximum impact. Evidence of writing for different audiences across multiple channels (physical, digital, social media etc.) and a demonstrable awareness of identifying and responding to the needs of different audiences. High attention to detail in written work. Workload management Evidence of managing a complex workload with conflicting priorities and deadlines; and strong organisational skills. Evidence of working independently and with initiative. Demonstrable experience of balancing both creative and structured approaches to working, and to working both laterally and with imagination. Evidence of a resilient approach to work. Programme and content delivery Experience of donor stewardship, relationship management and/or account management. Event management experience. Demonstrable experience of creating, developing and delivering specific activities/outputs as part of a wider programme. Demonstrable experience of delivering digital content. Demonstrable experience of working with a budget, managing expenditure and ensuring value for money. Demonstrable experience of working to, and delivering against, key performance indicators. Working relationships Evidence of successful delivery through collaborative working. Demonstrable experience of delivering outputs through negotiation and persuasion. Sector awareness and understanding Demonstrable understanding of good practice in donor stewardship, relationship management and/or account management. Understanding of the funding context of the HE sector, including the important role of philanthropy in a creating a sustainable and diverse income base. Understanding of how stewardship and donor experience is critical to relationship building, and retained, uplifted and diversified giving. General Strong sense of professional integrity and ethics. Credible, sincere and honest. The ability to represent the University with confidence, diplomacy, and authority. The desire to support colleagues in the achievement of their individual and the collective goals, and to celebrate others’ success as positively as your own. Good all-round IT skills including competence with all aspects of MS Office (Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams, PowerPoint), Zoom, and the internet. The ability to work calmly and effectively in times of pressure. The flexibility to work unsociable hours (evenings and weekends) when required. Educated to Degree level (or equivalent qualifications) - where no equivalent qualification is held, significant practical relevant experience and expertise in a similar role will be required. Evidence of literacy and numeracy, with the ability to write clearly, and to analyse information and data. Knowledge of the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010, and how to actively ensure in day to day activity in own area that those with protected characteristics are treated equally and fairly. Informal enquiries to Melanie Adey, email m.adey@bham.ac.uk. View our staff values and behaviours here Use of AI in applications: We want to understand your genuine interest in the role and for the written elements of your application to accurately reflect your own communication style. Applications that rely too heavily on AI tools can appear generic and lack the detail we need to assess your skills and experience. Such applications will unlikely be progressed to interview. We believe there is no such thing as a 'typical' member of University of Birmingham staff and that diversity in its many forms is a strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation and debate at the heart of University life. We are committed to proactively addressing the barriers experienced by some groups in our community and are proud to hold Athena SWAN, Race Equality Charter and Disability Confident accreditations. We have an Equality Diversity and Inclusion Centre that focuses on continuously improving the University as a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. We are also committed to sustainability, which is a key part of our strategy. You can find out more about our work to create a fairer university for everyone on our website .