Director of Development

We now seek our first Director of Development to work closely with the Master, Bursar, and Governing Body, to take the lead on all fundraising and alumni relations activities. You will have operational responsibility for College cultivation events, giving programmes, major gifts, international, legacy prospect management and alumni relations, as well as bid-writing and proposal writing. The post provides a unique opportunity within the collegiate university to work across a broad range of areas within a small but ambitious Development Office.

You are likely to have held a senior fundraising position in an organisation of similar complexity to St Cross College and be looking for a substantial leadership role to build on your track record of successful major gift fundraising. We need someone who can demonstrate strong strategic planning and vision-building, as well as excellent interpersonal skills in order to bring a range of diverse stakeholders including influential alumni, academics and students, with you.

St Cross College is a prestigious graduate college set in the heart of the beautiful City of Oxford. In 2025 we will celebrate our 60th anniversary. With around 600 students, our College is characterised by its international flavour, the diverse range of subjects studied and taught by students and Fellows and its friendly and egalitarian culture. A high proportion of students come from overseas to study on one-year Masters courses or to complete a multi-year PhD.

We have the ambition to raise an endowment fund and apply for a Royal Charter to give ourselves the independence enjoyed by most of the colleges within Oxford University. We currently have over 5,000 alumni based in 130 different countries, and there are a host of opportunities for us to build on our core mission to offer a nurturing and intellectually stimulating environment dedicated to the pursuit of excellence within the Collegiate University. We need to significantly increase our philanthropic income. To do this, we need to commit to fundraising strategically, building on our relationships with our Alumni and other supporters, growing an internal culture of philanthropy and a distinctive brand for St Cross College.