Bowdoin College is one of the nation’s oldest and most highly regarded liberal arts colleges, founded in 1794 on the principle that higher education should serve “the common good.” Located in Brunswick, Maine, Bowdoin enrolls approximately 2,000 undergraduate students and combines rigorous academics with a close-knit residential community and a culture that values intellectual curiosity, collaboration, civic engagement, and leadership.
Under President Safa R. Zaki, Bowdoin is building on these longstanding strengths while investing in academic excellence, interdisciplinary collaboration, environmental sustainability, and emerging areas such as artificial intelligence.
Philanthropy is central to that work. Bowdoin’s Development and Alumni Relations team recently completed the $542.8 million From Here: The Campaign for Bowdoin, exceeding its $500 million goal, and has since secured a historic $50 million gift to establish the Hastings Initiative for AI and Humanity. The team is now strengthening organizational capacity, developing its donor pipeline, and building the case for support for Bowdoin’s next comprehensive campaign.
The Opportunity
Bowdoin College is seeking a Development Chief of Staff and Executive Director of Campaigns for Development and Alumni Relations (DAR), a newly created senior leadership position that will serve as a strategic partner to the Senior Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations and an operational leader for a division of nearly 60 professionals.
With the SVP serving as Bowdoin’s chief fundraiser and maintaining a highly external schedule, this leader will provide the structure, coordination, and judgment necessary to keep the division aligned and moving forward.
A central responsibility will be serving as operational lead for Bowdoin’s upcoming comprehensive campaign, coordinating planning, timelines, volunteer engagement, case development, metrics, and cross-functional execution from the silent phase through public launch. The Development Chief of Staff and Executive Director will also oversee day-to-day divisional coordination, strengthen procedures and workflows, support principal and leadership gift activity, prepare the SVP for Board and leadership committee meetings, and help foster a culture of collaboration and accountability.
Bowdoin seeks a trusted relationship builder with strong judgment, emotional intelligence, communication skills, and the ability to lead through complexity and competing priorities.
The salary range for this position is $240,000–$260,000.
