Senior Alumni Manager INTERNAL ONLY

King's College London, United Kingdom

Updated: about 2 months ago
Location: Strand, ENGLAND
Deadline: 10 Mar 2024

Job Description

As Senior Alumni Manager you will support the team in delivery of projects across three strategic areas: 1) UK Programme Delivery (March – July), 2) International Programme Delivery (June – November), 3) working with the Head of Alumni Relations to implement consultancy GG&A strategy reccomendations. Incorporating a range of in person and digital initiatives, you will plan, deliver, and evaluate a comprehensive programme of events and volunteer opportunities including King’s Distinguished Alumni Awards, Alumni Graduation Speakers, International flagship tour events, and developing our worldwide alumni groups.

You will also provide strategic oversight of our UK alumni engagement programming from March – July, with line management for the Alumni Engagement Manager and Alumni Events & Volunteer Coordinator. From June – November, you will provide effective line management for the International Alumni Assistant. 

Fundraising & Supporter Development (F&SD)

In F&SD we want to build a diverse team, which represents the communities served by the organisations we support. We therefore particularly encourage applications from candidates who are likely to be underrepresented. These include people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, disabled people and LGBTQI+ people.  

F&SD has a hybrid working approach, with a minimum of 40% of time in the office.

We are open to discussing flexible working arrangements, including part-time, compressed hours and/or job shares, as appropriate. For more information on our work life balance approach, please visit: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/welcome-to-kings/staff-benefits/work-life-balance

This post will be offered on an a fixed-term contract to 1 December 2024.

This is a full-time post. F&SD has a hybrid working approach, with a minimum of 40% of time 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.


Key responsibilities

UK Programme Delivery (March – July)

  • Project manage the King’s Distinguished Alumni Awards, overseeing successful delivery of the selections, Awards cycle, data recording and creating a tailored engagement plan for each award winner.
  • Project manage Alumni Graduation Speaker engagement, overseeing the recruitment of volunteers with the Vice Chancelor’s office, briefing speakers and Presiding officers, and providing effective stewardship.
  • Manage and nurture the London Alumni Advisory Group and cultivate relationships with senior alumni volunteers.
  • Have strategic oversight of the UK team programme of digital alumni events, in person campus events, and alumni benefits & services.

    • International Programme Delivery (June – November)

  • Project manage international alumni engagement events including identifying and approaching event speakers, liaising with vendors, preparing briefings for delegation members including senior academic staff, and evaluating events.
  • Manage relationships with international alumni groups and volunteers, with direct responsibility for a portfolio of senior international volunteers, ensuring their activity is aligned to the strategic goals of King’s. This will include supporting activity of volunteers and managing associated mailings, events and email communications.

    • Strategy and Planning

  • Working with the Head of Alumni Relations, and consultancy GG&A to advance King’s Alumni Engagement strategy.
  • Participate in the annual planning process to develop King’s Alumni Engagement strategy for 2024-2025, ensuring a clear plan for leadership alumni engagement.

    • Line Management

  • March – May: leadership for the UK section of the Alumni Relations team and effective line management for the Alumni Engagement Manager, Alumni Events and Volunteering Coordinator, and skip report Alumni Events Assistant.  
  • June – November: provide effective line management for the International Alumni Assistant.  

    • Cross Team Working and Culture

  • Work with colleagues in the Fundraising team to ensure they are aware of recent developments that might impact on their pipeline development.
  • Work with Alumni Communications, and Project Development to identify tailored opportunities for alumni engagement.

    • The above list of responsibilities may not be exhaustive, and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks and responsibilities as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post.


    Skills, knowledge, and experience

    You will bring exceptional relationship building and communication skills, including a high level of cultural competency, combined with the ability to rigorously plan and deliver a diverse portfolio of activities within a changing landscape. You will have the ability to influence a range of internal and external stakeholders and strong people management skills to support and develop team members. Finally, you will be a strategic and creative thinker, and confident trialling new approaches to engage and inspire our most influential alumni.

    Essential criteria

  • Significant experience of successful event and project management.
  • Confidence and ability to communicate at a variety of levels and to bring together different stakeholders to achieve results.
  • Excellent relationship building skills, with knowledge of best practice in volunteer management.
  • Line management experience.
  • Understanding of the role of alumni relations within higher education.
  • Able to work on own initiative, make decisions independently, and think creatively and laterally.
  • Experience managing budgets and rigorously monitoring return on investment.
  • Able to set objectives, measure performance and achieve ambitious KPIs
  • Willingness to attend commitments outside office hours during event occasions.

    • Desirable criteria

  • Substantial experience of working in higher education, a membership organization or charities.
  • Experience using Raiser’s Edge, Microsoft Dynamics or a similar relationship management database.
  • Willingness to travel internationally.
  • Experience delivering international programmes.

    • All F&SD appointments involve a standard skills-based interview, followed (for up to two appointable candidates) by a Core Values interview.

    About Fundraising & Supporter Development 

    Fundraising and Supporter Development (F&SD) is an integrated department that provides a single fundraising and supporter engagement function in support of King’s College London, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and for King’s Health Partners. In doing so, we work closely with and on behalf of the Guy’s and St Thomas’ Foundation, as well as the Maudsley Charity. Based at King’s College London, we work with colleagues across our partners to help them serve society through world-leading education, research and healthcare.

    We operate a unique and powerful model, which brings together fundraising for all our partners across major and principal gifts; trusts & foundations; legacies; corporate engagement and public fundraising. We also promote King’s College London’s engagement with its worldwide alumni community, as well as engaging more broadly with supporters of all our partners. Our work is underpinned and enhanced by a range of dedicated professionals in areas such as donor relations, communications and marketing, prospect research, finance, data, supporter services, governance and general administration.

    By pooling our passion and expertise, our potential and impact is maximised – to the benefit of our partners and their beneficiaries, supporters and donors. Our model also drives benefits for our staff, who get to work in a unique environment, engaging with several world-leading organisations and having opportunities to learn about and work across the many different component parts of our activity.

    We have an impressive, well-established track record of success in securing support that allows our partners to deliver on their missions. This includes our global, award-winning World Questions: King’s Answers campaign for King’s College London, 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 across the higher education and charity sectors, including a CASE Platinum Award for Fundraising and a CASE Gold Award for Donor Relations and Stewardship.

    We continue to set ourselves high standards and expectations in terms of supporting our partners, mapping out ambitious fundraising campaigns and appeals where we want to achieve ground-breaking milestones in areas such as children and young people’s mental health; sickle cell disease; cardiology; cancer; global women’s leadership; engineering; international relations and support for students who will go out and make a difference in the world. We are a strongly values-driven team, maximising the benefits of working across internationally-leading organisations and united in our ambition to support our partners in making a real and positive difference to their beneficiaries and the world we live in.

    Our Partners 

    King’s Health Partners 

    King’s Health Partners (KHP) is an Academic Health Sciences Centre and a partnership between King’s College London and three NHS Foundation Trusts – Guys and St Thomas’, King’s College Hospital and South London and Maudsley. We bring together 40,000 NHS Staff with 30,000 students and researchers to join up world class research, education and pioneering clinical practice. Our partnership sees 4.8 million patient contacts each year. Academic Health Sciences Centres are engine rooms of high impact and innovation discovering new insights into disease, transforming diagnostics and unlocking new therapies. We speed up the time it takes to translate research and high impact innovations in physical and mental health into outstanding patient care. We do this by working in dedicated clinical academic groups and institutes and by involving more and more people in clinical trials and research. For more information, visit: www.kingshealthpartners.org 

    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: 

    • Educating the next generation of change-makers;
    • Challenging ideas and driving change through research;
    • Giving back to society through meaningful service;
    • Working with our local communities in London;
    • Fostering global citizens with an international perspective.

    Guy’s and St Thomas’  Foundation and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust

    We work closely with and on behalf of Guy’s and St Thomas’s Foundation to secure income and engage stakeholders in support of Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust. The Trust is among the UK's busiest and most successful foundation trusts, with a long history of clinical excellence and high-quality care.  The Trust is made up of two of London's best known teaching hospitals – St Thomas' Hospital and Guy's Hospital. It also includes Evelina London Children’s Hospital and both adult and children’s community services in Lambeth and Southwark.

    Dedication to the communities it serves is at the heart of everything the Trust undertakes, providing high quality and personal care. The Trust is guided by its values: putting patients first, taking pride in what we do, respecting others, striving to be the best and acting with integrity. Royal Brompton and Harefield hospitals became part of Guy's and St Thomas' in February 2021, bringing together world-leading expertise and research in heart and lung disease.


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