Senior development manager, major gifts

Closing date for applications: 5th November 2025

Salary: £59,471 per annum

Help shape the future of the National Gallery by securing major gifts and building meaningful donor relationships that support its exhibitions, programmes, and conservation work.

The National Gallery has a vacancy for a senior development manager, major gifts. Following the National Gallery's Bicentenary and alongside our future extension plans, the Gallery has a renewed focus on fundraising for our exciting core activities, including our curatorial, conservation and learning programmes. This new senior fundraising position will play a central role, working closely with the head of major gifts and legacies and other senior colleagues across the organisation. This post will require an ambitious and resilient fundraiser, who will proactively grow the National Gallery’s network of prospective supporters. They will initiate and develop high value, long-lasting relationships with new individual major donors and prospects, to secure significant support for all areas of the organisation’s core work.

If you have a passion for the arts and a track record of securing major gifts, we’d love to hear from you!


Responsibilities

• Be proactive in identifying, soliciting and securing major six- and seven-figure gifts from individual donors and private trusts, developing a strong donor pool and moving new prospects along the pipeline
• Contribute to the major gifts strategy and take responsibility for implementing aspects of it in collaboration with the head of major gifts and legacies, identifying emerging opportunities to increase support
• Devise and implement new strategies (as well as appropriate cultivation events) for cultivating and stewarding major donors
• Create compelling cases for support, both in writing and in person
• Collaborate with the research manager, wider Gallery staff, trustees and voluntary leadership, to identify prospective donors and devise tailored and effective solicitation plans
• Contribute to the annual planning and reporting process, providing regular reports of progress against objectives
• Represent the Gallery at cultivation events and meetings individually and/or with senior Gallery staff to existing and potential funders
• Contribute to the development department’s efficiency and effectiveness: manage the processing and acknowledgement of individual donations; ensure donor information is maintained in compliance with data protection legislation; provide a complete and accurate record of the history of each donor’s relationship with the Gallery

Knowledge, skills & experience

• Substantial proven ability in major gifts fundraising, including proven success in personally identifying and securing major (six-figure plus) gifts from new prospects
• Ability to evaluate different fundraising priorities, think strategically and creatively to identify and define broad, fundraising opportunities and develop relevant engagement strategies
• Ability to communicate effectively and persuasively, both in person and in writing, in order to manage complex, nuanced relationships with high-net-worth individuals and senior volunteers
• Proven experience of developing strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders and working with senior volunteers e.g. Trustees and board members
• Ability to work to demanding fundraising targets in a resilient and resourceful manner, using own initiative in order to achieve objectives copywriting creative and meticulous digital copywriter with ability to tailor messages to specific audiences
• Results driven, resilient and determined: thrives on having responsibility for meeting ambitious fundraising targets
• Works with accountability by taking responsibility for their own actions
• Ability to communicate effectively, both in writing and in person
• Proactive and organised, with the ability to manage multiple relationships and projects at the same time
• Personable and professional, with the ability to deal with complex situations and represent the Gallery at all levels
• A team player who works positively with colleagues to develop and enhance the team, department and organisational working
• Substantial proven ability in major gift fundraising, including proven success in personally identifying and securing major (six-figure) donors

We welcome and encourage applications from candidates who are under-represented in the creative industries.

Please state in your application that you found this role through Creative Access.