Assistant Director, Strategic Engagement

Assistant Director, Strategic Engagement

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By working at Harvard University, you join a vibrant community that advances Harvard’s world‑changing mission in meaningful ways, inspires innovation and collaboration, and builds skills and expertise. We are dedicated to creating a diverse and welcoming environment where everyone can thrive.

The Wyss Institute’s mission is to transform healthcare and the environment by emulating the way nature builds. We harness the imagination of academia and the focus of industry to translate ground‑breaking technologies into commercial products that solve big problems. We support research that universities, companies, and venture capital firms don’t fund because they view it as too risky. We prefer to use the word “challenging,” and we love challenges.

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About You:
You are a collaborative, impact‑focused problem solver who wants to be part of a dynamic team dedicated to creating and commercializing novel approaches to global challenges in healthcare and sustainability. You want the opportunity to innovate and apply your knowledge to tackle projects in a fast past‑paced, entrepreneurial environment. You enjoy working with highly motivated, diverse teams and leveraging your expertise to create innovations that can change the world.

About the role:
We are looking for an Assistant Director of Strategic Engagement to oversee donor identification and stewardship activities, enhance communication with stakeholders, organize events, and address inquiries. In this role, you will be a key contributor to expanding the donor base and strengthening stewardship practices that align with the Institutes’ strategic goals. You will serve integral member of the Strategic Engagement Team and also interact with a wide range of world‑renowned academic innovators and scientists or engineers, as well as with industry experienced research and development professionals.

You will also be working closely with internal grants teams, communications and business development professionals, as well as with development specialists at Harvard University’s Development Office (UDO).

• Identify and engage new prospects to include into the Wyss community of partners, prospects and donors.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with community partners, prospects, donors, staff, faculty and other key stakeholders to expand the Institute network or supporters;
• Represent the Institute at events, meetings and other engagement opportunities as needed.
• Provide strategic leadership in identifying gaps in data analysis, reporting, and workflows, and develop actionable recommendations to strengthen insight‑driven decision‑making, donor strategy, and operational efficiency across stewardship functions.
• Partner in the development and implementation of new systems and tools that enable efficient, accurate, and timely proposal development, supporting major, principal, and institutional philanthropic initiatives of the Institute.

• Identify and shape compelling engagement programs and narratives that align target audience’ passions with institutional philanthropic priorities and campaign objectives.
• Direct data‑informed program strategy, leveraging constituent research, engagement analytics, and philanthropic intelligence to assess current and prospective supporters’ interests, affinities, and capacity informing audience segmentation, cultivation pathways, and program evolution.
• Lead cross‑functional execution of high‑impact engagement strategies in collaboration with internal Wyss teams, overseeing engagement during Faculty Forums, Instrumentation, and other programs to cultivate, steward, and advance relationships with current and prospective supporters.
• Gui…