principal jobs

Classification & Regular Hours

Hours per Week: 35

Salary: $130,000 - $160,000, commensurate with experience

For more information about this opportunity, please contact Maggie Pareti at mpareti@uwo.ca. Applications will close at midnight on July 24, 2026.

Our Ideal Candidate

Western University is seeking an Executive Director, Principal Gifts to lead the design, implementation, and management of principal gift strategies, with a focus on seven-figure gifts and a particular emphasis on opportunities of $5M+ across the university. In addition to managing and soliciting a personal portfolio of principal gift prospects, the Executive Director will develop and manage an ecosystem that cultivates and strengthens fundraisers skills, expanding capacity and enabling excellence in performance, while fostering strong partnerships and service across university units.

As our ideal candidate you will have significant experience fundraising within a university or other complex nonprofit environment along with experience executing gifts at the $1 million dollar plus level, as well as gifts that are complex, multi-divisional, and/or pan-institutional. You will have significant leadership experience in a fundraising, or revenue-generating portfolio with multi-million-dollar targets, with accountability for leading staff, budgets, and projects associated to those targets.

This position will report to and work closely with the Associate Vice-President (Development), as well as providing support and partnership to the Vice President (Advancement) and the President of the University on cultivation and solicitation for their principal gift prospects. The Executive Director, Principal Gifts will also engage with and support university volunteers such as the Chancellor, members of the Board of Governors, campaign cabinet and advisory boards.

As a member of the Development Leadership Team, the Executive Director will jointly participate in setting, implementing, monitoring and evaluating long-term advancement strategies for Western University. The Executive Director will lead several university-wide projects and initiatives related to Advancement and will support the development of strategic planning for the division. In doing so, the Executive Director will collaborate closely with colleagues in Western Advancement, Western Communications, and various Faculties & Divisions. Another important aspect of this role is to provide coaching, mentoring and support in partnership with the AVP Development to colleagues and fundraisers to create and implement the best structure for principal gifts development across the university.

Western Values Diversity

The University invites applications from all qualified individuals. Western is committed to employment equity and diversity in the workplace and welcomes applications from women, members of racialized groups/visible minorities, Indigenous persons, persons with disabilities, persons of any sexual orientation, and persons of any gender identity or gender expression.

Accommodations are available for applicants with disabilities throughout the recruitment process. If you require accommodations for interviews or other meetings, please contact Human Resources or phone 519-661-2194.

This position is an existing vacancy. This is a permanent, full-time position and will be based in Westminster Hall at Western University at 361 Windermere Road, London, Ontario. We thank all applicants for their interest; however, only those chosen for an interview will be contacted.