Our Mission

We in Boston University Development & Alumni Relations (DAR) harness the power of philanthropy to make an excellent education accessible and welcoming to all, and to advance BU’s global leadership in research, scholarship, artistic creation, and professional practice. To support our work, we have built—and are continuing to build—an outstanding team of dynamic, mission-driven advancement professionals who constantly strive to create an environment where everyone belongs. Where it’s not just about a job, but a career and a community.

Now, our Alumni Engagement team is looking for an Associate Director who will supports the strategic engagement and customer experience efforts for the BU Alumni Association

Alumni Engagement at Boston University

The Alumni Engagement team is dedicated to understanding alumni, strengthening pride and awareness, and facilitating ways to grow and sustain the base of alumni engaging with and supporting Boston University. The team has oversight of alumni digital strategy, alumni experience operations, and measuring engagement—through both attitudinal and behavioral dimensions—of more than 350,000 alumni across the globe. This team works in close collaboration with colleagues in the Office of Development & Alumni Relations, and across departments and schools at Boston University.

Associate Director of Alumni Engagement & Operations

An essential member of Alumni Relations, and reporting to the Executive Director of Strategic Alumni Engagement & Operations, the Associate Director of Alumni Engagement & Operations is primarily responsible for the management of alumni customer support services, alumni benefits, and marketing campaigns to deepen engagement with BU alumni, including alumni surveys, engagement scoring projects, and supporting innovative marketing efforts. They will collaborate closely with Alumni Relations, Annual Giving, and the campus community to strengthen relationships, increase pride and awareness, and grow the base of alumni engaging with and supporting Boston University.

Responsibilities:

Manage Alumni Customer Engagement Experiences

• Responsible for alumni customer acquisition to reengage alumni who are considered lost or who have unsubscribed from online and/or print marketing in partnership with campus partners.
• Develop and implement proactive marketing campaigns to celebrate alumni engagement, and could also include acknowledgement of both life and career milestones like reunion years, anniversaries, marriages, birthdays, promotions, etc.
• Analyze and report regularly on alumni engagement metrics, both behavior (activity) and attitudinal dimensions, of outbound reactions and inbound customer inquiries like alumni surveys, alumni support services, customer acquisition efforts, and others as defined.
• Serve as a project manager for various alumni survey/census/scoring projects which may include first-destination surveys, academic research studies, data appends, engagement scoring, alumni directory projects, and alumni attitude studies.

Oversee Alumni Support Services & Operations

• Track and analyze alumni customer interaction and provide regular management reports to senior leadership of Development & Alumni Relations.
• Lead effort to update and document best practices for customer support and stewardship; regularly update and communicate with campus partners
• Work in partnership with Information Services & Technology for alumni access and troubleshooting to engagement technologies including bu.edu alumni accounts and access to engagement technologies like BU Connects, BU libraries, FitRec, etc.
• Be a steward of university data privacy policies and maintain PCI compliance standards for processing financial transactions, including registration for paid events. This includes regularly transferring event revenue from online events into appropriate university budgets.
• Responsible to hire/fire, train, and supervise 5-10 student employees on all customer service interaction with alumni including in person visitors, telephone calls, and web inquiries.

Lead Alumni Benefits

• Manage alumni benefits and services for 350,000+ alumni around the world, including access to campus facilities, discounts and services in person and online, and travel opportunities.
  • This includes direct outreach to both campus and third-party vendors to source and assess benefits and special discounts on goods and services which may provide a source of revenue to benefit the university.
• Liaise with university departments providing and communicating alumni benefits, including but not limited to the BU Sourcing & Procurement, Library, Barnes & Noble, MET College, FitRec and BU performing arts programs to ensure that alumni are aware of and utilize these opportunities.
• Communicating through marketing campaigns (online, print, social media) and direct outreach to alumni to advertise and promote these benefits.

Managing Support Staff

• Responsible for supervising, training of office operations, disciplinary action and performance evaluation of 1 direct report, the Sr. Administrative Coordinator, and 8-10 student employees.

A cover letter is required for consideration.

• Bachelor’s degree
• Three to five years of relevant experience including two years of management experience
• Demonstrated ability to provide expert customer service to a large and diverse constituency
• Comfortable with data

But that’s not all we’re looking for; we want someone who embodies our values:

• Teamwork, transparency, and mutual respect, because we value every member’s contributions and know that leadership can come from anywhere.
• Diversity, equity, inclusion, and a commitment to ensuring that each of us knows we belong here.
• Integrity in how we work and how we treat one another.
• Strategic thinking and curiosity in the relentless pursuit of fresh approaches and measurable results.
• Continuous growth and improvement, both as individuals and as a team.
• Joy and shared appreciation for working hard toward goals that matter.

If this resonates with you and you want to help us in our ambitious next campaign—and maybe do some of your best work as an advancement professional— we encourage you to apply. If you are hesitant to apply because you have not previously performed every responsibility listed in the description, but you do possess transferable skills and the defined qualifications, we still want to hear from you and welcome your application as well.

To learn more about Development & Alumni Relations at Boston University, and other job opportunities, please stop by the DAR Talent website: https://www.bu.edu/dar-talent/.

Please note all newly hired staff and faculty will need to be in compliance with Boston University’s COVID-19 Vaccination and Booster Requirement within 30 days of date of hire. You must upload your vaccine documentation or request a medical or religious exemption (instructions). For further information on the University’s response to COVID-19, please visit the COVID-19 Resources site.

We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, military service, pregnancy or pregnancy-related condition, or because of marital, parental, or veteran status. We are a VEVRAA Federal Contractor.

If you require a reasonable accommodation in order to complete the employment application process, please contact the Equal Opportunity Office at 617-358-1796.