Job Description

Description

Overview

Located in Canada's most enterprising city, the University of Calgary (UCalgary) is a global intellectual hub for teaching and learning, research and scholarship, and deep engagement with the community.


UCalgary is one of Canada's top comprehensive research universities, with more than 7,500 graduate students and 30,500 undergraduate students, 1,800 academic staff, and over 4,000 non-academic staff in 14 faculties, across five campuses. As one of Canada's leading research-intensive universities, UCalgary is home to 146 research chairs (75 Canada Research Chairs), and more than 50 research institutes and centres. The university is bolstered by the incredible philanthropic support of the community, including more than $1.4B Billion raised during Energize: The Campaign for Eyes High (the third largest completed fundraising campaign in Canadian history). UCalgary has the fastest growth rate in attracting research funding among the 10 largest universities in Canada and for three years in a row was ranked the #1 start-up creator among Canadian research universities.


Through its strategic plan, Ahead of Tomorrow, UCalgary continues on its remarkable growth trajectory, striving for inimitable excellence through innovative teaching and learning, cutting-edge exploration, and community linkage, through 2030. The strategy is a bold vision that reflects our ambition to increase access to future-focused education, to maximize the impact of our research and innovation, to put the community at the center of all that we do, and to make our operational processes clearer, simpler and better than any other university.


The Development and Alumni team serves as a bridge between the University of Calgary and its champions, including donors, alumni and community members. Supporting engagement, volunteerism and partnerships, it creates opportunities for impact in Calgary and beyond. The Development team is responsible for all private philanthropic fundraising, and alignment of investment to advance the strategic priorities of the University of Calgary and the communities it serves.


To learn more, visit https://www.ucalgary.ca


The

Associate Vice-President, Advancement Services

reports directly to the Vice-President, Development and Alumni, and is part of the Senior Leadership Team (SLT).


As the leader of a team of over 55 high performing advancement professionals, the Associate Vice-President, Advancement Services is accountable and responsible to support the Vice-President, Development and Alumni) in realizing the portfolio's strategic vision by providing direction, structure, priorities, policies and procedures for advancement services, including providing centralized and integrated support systems for the vision and mission. This position has extensive line responsibilities to recruit, hire, motivate, manage and provide resources to a large and diversified staff. The Associate Vice-President, Advancement Services manages the strategic objectives of direct reports, including annual goal setting and regular performance reviews. Currently, the advancement services areas consist of Advancement Data, Prospect Research and Pipeline Development, Gift Processing and Compliance and Stewardship.


The Associate Vice-President, Advancement Services is an important part of the Development and Alumni Leadership Team, which establishes collaborative and strategic initiatives to maximize internal efficiencies and sets the strategic direction for the Development and Alumni team. In direct support of the Vice-President, Development and Alumni and in collaboration with other team members, the Associate Vice-President, Advancement Services is responsible to plan and report regularly on the initiatives and programs within the portfolio and actively participate in and support achieving overall development and alumni goals by ongoing collaboration and co-ordination of integrated, campus-wide programs.


The Associate Vice-President, Advancement Services is responsible for ensuring proactive and effective levels of interactive capacity with other key university areas and institutional partners and is a key point of contact with the Legal, Finance, Facilities and Information Technology departments. In particular, the Associate Vice-President, Advancement Services guides and oversees the development of integrated business analytics and reporting in order to make the best use of functionality and university resources.


The Associate Vice-President, Advancement Services is responsible for making complex discretionary decisions which guide and impact advancement services across campus as they support, interact with, and evolve university operations. This position provides strategic insight and collaborates on complex gift structures in a donor-centric fashion while ensuring such structures are in alignment with university governance practices. The Associate Vic-President, Advancement Services has access to highly sensitive and confidential information and the role requires a high volume of work. This position is one of guiding continuous improvement to systems, processes, and managing multiple situations with often frequently changing, and complex and competing demands.

Qualifications/Expertise:

A post-secondary degree is required in a relevant discipline; A master's degree or professional accounting designation is also desirable; Minimum of 10 years of experience at a senior level of management, including managing diverse programs and projects; Experience in a post-secondary education environment or a large, complex organization preferred; Substantial exposure to the non-profit sector required, including a high-level understanding of CRA compliance; Knowledge of fundraising best practices is an asset; Demonstrated success in supporting a high-impact customer-focused service environment; Confident, thoughtful, respectful and decisive; Proven leadership skills including the ability to formulate and implement long-term strategic plans and goals; demonstrated success leading change in large/complex organizations; Excellent verbal and written communication skills required: Verbal skills to meet and negotiate project goals and objectives with the clients; Writing skills to support the authoring of business proposals, documents and technical specifications; Presentation skills to support the creation of internal and external product presentations and proposals; Capacity to analyse, translate and report financial and statistical data; High level of knowledge about management information systems and technology applications to enhance business workflow and scalability; knowledge of CRM-related systems is an asset Direct, articulate, pragmatic and trustworthy; socially and politically astute; Excellent organizational skills; excellent planning, project and resource management skills; Superior problem-solving and critical thinking skills; Proven effectiveness working collaboratively at all levels of an organization; Ethically uncompromising; exhibits the highest level of integrity.

Application Deadline:

July 18, 2025


The University of Calgary has launched an institution-wide Indigenous Strategy committing to creating a rich, vibrant, and culturally competent campus that welcomes and supports Indigenous Peoples, encourages Indigenous community partnerships, is inclusive of Indigenous perspectives in all that we do.

As an equitable and inclusive employer, the University of Calgary recognizes that a diverse staff/faculty benefits and enriches the work, learning and research experiences of the entire campus and greater community. We are committed to removing barriers that have been historically encountered by some people in our society. We strive to recruit individuals who will further enhance our diversity and will support their academic and professional success while they are here. In particular, we encourage members of the designated groups (women, Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, members of visible/racialized minorities, and diverse sexual orientation and gender identities) to apply. To ensure a fair and equitable assessment, we offer accommodation at any stage during the recruitment process to applicants with disabilities. Questions regarding [diversity] EDI at UCalgary can be sent to the Office of Institutional Commitments

(

equity@ucalgary.ca

) and requests for accommodations can be sent to Human Resources (

hrhire@ucalgary.ca).

All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority.

About Calgary, Alberta

Calgary is one of the world's cleanest cities and has been named one of the world's most livable cities for years. Calgary is a city of leaders - in business, community, philanthropy and volunteerism. Calgarians benefit from a growing number of world-class dining and cultural events and enjoy more days of sunshine per year than any other major Canadian city. Calgary is less than an hour's drive from the majestic Rocky Mountains and boasts the most extensive urban pathway and bikeway network in North America.