About the Opportunity
One of India's top universities is looking to appoint a senior leader to head its Office of Alumni Relations. This is a high-impact leadership opportunity for a strategic, relationship-driven, and institution-building professional who can create a world-class alumni engagement ecosystem and strengthen lifelong connections with a distinguished global alumni base.
The role calls for a visionary leader who can build deep alumni affinity, drive engagement across geographies, create meaningful programs, and position alumni as ambassadors, mentors, collaborators, and philanthropic partners in the university's long-term growth journey. The underlying brief highlights a senior leadership role in alumni relations, based in New Delhi, requiring 15-20 years of relevant experience and responsibility for strategy, community building, partnerships, fundraising collaboration, global outreach, systems, and team leadership.
Key Responsibilities
• Develop and lead a multi-year alumni engagement strategy aligned with the university's broader institutional vision
• Build a future-ready alumni relations function with strong processes, programs, governance, and measurable outcomes
• Strengthen alumni engagement through reunions, chapters, councils, digital communities, mentorship programs, and signature events
• Design high-value alumni experiences including thematic meet-ups, leadership forums, alumni-in-residence formats, and international gatherings
• Partner closely with internal stakeholders across admissions, outreach, placements, communications, fundraising, and academics to integrate alumni into the university ecosystem
• Drive alumni participation in mentorship, guest lectures, placements, internships, career panels, and knowledge-sharing initiatives
• Work with fundraising and development teams to strengthen alumni giving, donor stewardship, giving campaigns, and long-term philanthropic engagement
• Expand the alumni footprint nationally and internationally through chapter development, partnerships, and global forums
• Build robust data, CRM, and analytics systems to track engagement, chapter activity, donor behavior, and program effectiveness
• Lead, mentor, and inspire a high-performing team while fostering a culture of innovation, accountability, empathy, and service
Ideal Candidate Profile
• Postgraduate qualification in any discipline; specialisation in communications, higher education, management, or related areas would be an advantage
• 15+ years of progressive experience in alumni relations, higher education advancement, community engagement, development, or similar stakeholder-facing leadership roles
• Proven track record of designing and scaling engagement programs with measurable impact
• Strong exposure to senior stakeholder management, including institutional leadership, donors, partners, and external communities
• Demonstrated success in leading teams and managing complex, relationship-led initiatives
• Strong strategic thinking, communication, storytelling, and execution capability
• Comfort with CRM platforms, data-led decision-making, and engagement analytics
• Willingness to travel in India and internationally, depending on role requirements
What Success Looks Like
In this role, you will help shape a powerful alumni movement that strengthens the university's reputation, expands its influence, deepens alumni loyalty, and creates long-term value for students, graduates, and the institution at large. The source brief frames the role as an opportunity to build legacy, mobilise networks globally, and transform alumni engagement into a strategic institutional asset.
Why This Role Stands Out
This is not just an alumni relations role. It is an opportunity to build one of the most impactful higher education engagement platforms in India, influence institutional legacy, and create a vibrant ecosystem of alumni partnership across mentorship, community, brand, and philanthropy. The original brief explicitly positions the role as a chance to shape legacy, amplify institutional reputation, and create measurable impact in higher education.
Read Less