National Galleries of Scotland
Senior Development Officer – Research and Operations
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Senior Development Officer – Research and Operations
Full-time and Permanent
Salary £41,971 - £45,934 per annum
Plus generous benefits package
Hybrid / flexible working
About the role
This is an exciting opportunity to play a key role in shaping the future of philanthropy at National Galleries of Scotland.
We're looking for a strategic, insight-led fundraising professional with experience in prospect research, fundraising operations, data and CRM management who thrives on strengthening systems, turning data into action and enabling relationship-based fundraising to succeed. You will manage fundraising operations across the Development team and support the effective planning and delivery of philanthropic income. You'll bring the ability to combine strong analytical and operational expertise with an understanding of relationship-based fundraising. You'll help embed consistent ways of working, continuously improve fundraising operations and build the strong foundations that enable philanthropic support to grow and deliver lasting cultural impact.
You'll play a pivotal role across the organisation in ensuring our fundraising is underpinned by robust systems, high-quality insight and disciplined operational practice. Working closely with colleagues across philanthropy, grants and partnerships, and capital fundraising, you'll lead donor and funder research, due diligence, segmentation and pipeline management. You’ll enable proactive, relationship-based fundraising and effective prioritisation.
You'll also shape how the Development team plans, measures and delivers its work. From CRM processes and fundraising reporting, KPIs and performance measurement to forecasting and budget management, you'll ensure decision-making is informed by reliable data and clear insight. You'll play a key role in supporting the operational delivery of major capital campaigns, ensuring that research, reporting, forecasting and governance processes are aligned to campaign priorities and strategic decision-making.
This is a role with broad influence across the organisation. You must be confident working with senior stakeholders and operating in a complex institutional environment, with the ability to influence, enable and continuously improve practice across teams.
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The difference you’ll make
You will ensure that fundraising activity is supported by robust data, high-quality insight and efficient, well-governed systems. Reporting to the Head of Development, you will:
- Lead and maintain a consistent prospect research, segmentation and pipeline management framework, enabling the Development team to plan, prioritise and deliver effective relationship-based fundraising across income streams.
- Lead processes for donor and funder research, due diligence, wealth screening and risk assessment, ensuring activity is ethical, proportionate and aligned with organisational values.
- Work closely with the Head of Development and the Development team to support portfolio management, prospect prioritisation and long-term pipeline development at local, national and international levels.
- Provide leadership and operational oversight for the team’s CRM processes and usage, working with colleagues across the organisation to ensure consistency with existing processes, strong data quality, reporting standards and compliance.
- Work with colleagues to design and deliver regular insight, analysis and internal reporting, including dashboards, forecasts, KPIs and briefing papers for Senior Leadership and Trustees.
- Support income planning and performance management through income modelling, target setting, monitoring and variance analysis, working in partnership with the Development team, Finance and the Head of Development.
- Coordinate funder contracting and reporting requirements, working collaboratively with Audience and Development colleagues and across the organisation to ensure accurate, timely and high-quality outputs.
- Support budget management across our activity, working closely with Finance colleagues on forecasting, monitoring and reporting.
- Lead the development and embedding of core fundraising operational processes, including stewardship tracking, activity logging and workflow management.
- Develop and embed consistent processes and ways of working that support excellent donor experience and effective cross-team collaboration.
- Act as a trusted advisor to colleagues and senior leaders on data, insight, systems and best practice in fundraising operations.
- Monitor sector trends, regulatory requirements and emerging tools to ensure we continue to apply modern, effective and responsible fundraising practice.
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Who we are looking for
To succeed in this role, you’ll need the following knowledge, skills and experience:
- Significant experience in prospect research, insight, analytics or fundraising operations within a charitable, cultural or comparable complex organisation.
- Strong understanding of relationship-based fundraising, including major gifts, trusts and foundations and multi-year campaigns.
- Proven experience leading and improving CRM and fundraising data processes, including data governance, reporting and continuous improvement.
- Excellent analytical skills, with confidence translating complex data into clear insight and actionable recommendations.
- Experience developing segmentation models, pipelines and prospect strategies across multiple income streams.
- Strong project management skills, with experience designing and implementing new systems or processes.
- Understanding of charity governance, compliance and reporting principles, and how these apply to fundraising activity, performance reporting and external accountability.
- Confidence working with senior stakeholders, including Heads of Department, Directors and Trustees.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including preparation of reports, dashboards and senior-level briefings.
- High levels of integrity, discretion and sound judgement when handling confidential and sensitive information.
- A collaborative, enabling approach and the ability to operate effectively within a large or matrix-managed organisation.
It would also be great if you have:
- Experience supporting the operational delivery of capital fundraising programmes.
- Knowledge of fundraising in the arts, culture, heritage or education sectors.
- Experience using Spektrix.
- An understanding of legal, financial and operational considerations relating to international fundraising and donor engagement.
- Enthusiasm for the vision and work of the National Galleries of Scotland.
Please click apply to view our careers portal for more details.
The closing date for applications is 12 noon on Monday, 07 September 2026.
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