Edtech.com's Summary

EAB is hiring a Director of Research Advisory Services (Advancement & Financial Sustainability). This role involves working closely with senior leaders at educational institutions to provide strategic research-based advice and support in areas like advancement, fundraising strategy, and donor engagement. The director will deliver high-impact presentations, facilitate strategy development, and collaborate with clients to drive financial and mission-critical progress.

Highlights

Build and maintain expertise in university advancement, fundraising strategy, campaign readiness, and donor engagement.
Engage with senior institutional leaders and advancement organizations to provide consultative support.
Deliver EAB insights through presentations, phone consultations, virtual meetings, and on-campus events.
Diagnose client challenges, guide decision-making, and recommend solutions aligned with institutional goals.
Collaborate with the customer success team to deliver scalable client interactions and support new client development.
Leverage terrain expertise to create original content such as blogs, reports, and presentations for executive audiences.
Required qualifications include a bachelor's degree, 6-8+ years of professional experience, strong verbal and presentation skills, and ability to engage senior executives.
Preferred qualifications include an advanced degree and deep understanding of higher education leadership and strategy.
Position requires 40-50% travel and may be based in Washington, D.C., Richmond, VA, or remotely within the continental U.S.
Compensation ranges from $76,500 to $115,000 annually, with eligibility for discretionary bonuses and a comprehensive benefits package including medical, PTO, retirement plan, and wellness programs.

Director, Research Advisory Services (Advancement & Financial Sustainability) Full Description

About EAB

At EAB, our mission is to make education smarter and our communities stronger. We work with more than 2,800 institutions to drive transformative change through data-driven insights and best-in-class capabilities. From kindergarten to college to career, EAB partners with leaders and practitioners to accelerate progress and drive results across enrollment, student success, institutional strategy, data analytics, and advancement. We work with each partner differently, tailoring our portfolio of research, technology, and marketing and enrollment solutions to meet the unique needs of every leadership team, as well as the students and employees they serve.

At EAB, we serve not only our partner institutions but each other—that's why we are always working to make sure our employees love their jobs and are invested in their communities. See how we've been recognized for this dedication to our employees by checking out our recent awards.

For more information, visit our Careers page.

The Role in Brief:

Director, Research Advisory Services (Advancement & Financial Sustainability)

EAB is the leading global provider of research and advice to higher education and K-12 institutions. Our research programs help executives at client organizations educate stakeholders, make research-informed decisions, and speed implementation of industry best practices.

EAB Research Advisory Services (RAS) is a division within our research business, providing consultative support and expert advice to our education clients. RAS staff work directly with boards, presidents, and other senior academic and business leaders to help them make meaningful and strategic progress toward their most pressing financial and mission-consequential issues. Through strong communication and storytelling, RAS provides high-impact, outcome-focused presentations, workshops, and unscripted conversations to help partners understand and implement EAB’s advice. We deliver our advice to clients through peer conferences, expert phone consultations, virtual meetings, and onsite at client institutions. In addition to working with current clients, our advisors also support sales efforts in new client development.

This position will spend about 80% of time in the market, working with partners both in-person and virtually. The position requires 40-50% travel. This hire may be based in Washington, D.C.; Richmond, VA; or is open to remote employment within the continental United States.

This position is also posted at the Associate Director level; candidates are being considered across both levels for the current opening. This opportunity is listed as “Director, Research Advisory Services (Advancement & Financial Sustainability)” for posting purposes; the official and internal title of this hire is expected to be “Director, Research Advisory Services” to align with business norms. Research Advisory Services team members bring specific subject matter expertise as well as an understanding of the broader higher education landscape to extend meaningful support to EAB’s partners and prospective partners both within and across terrains.

Primary Responsibilities:

Terrain Mastery: Build and maintain issue expertise across research terrains, with a special focus on those most important to members across the university executive cabinet at educational institutions and the teams they lead across the university each day: including the delivery of dynamic strategy to guide transformation; advancement and fundraising strategy; campaign readiness and execution; and donor and alumni engagement. Store & curate EAB’s perspective across the breadth of research terrains to give partners the most direct access to EAB’s advice.

The ideal candidate will bring experience working with senior institutional leaders and advancement organizations through practitioner, consulting, or advisory experience. Successful candidates will be able to engage effectively with advancement and cabinet leaders while maintaining the broad strategic and operational fluency required of the RAS model.

The candidate will leverage EAB’s insights, best practices, tools, and data to help partners make decisions and implement best practices and develop a deep understanding of assigned terrain, market trends, and evolving client needs.

Content Delivery and Facilitation: Work directly with partners to diagnose their problems, challenge their assumptions, guide decisions, and suggest solutions. Deliver EAB’s point of view and advice through phone consultations, virtual meetings, conferences, and on campus presentations to:

Make EAB insights and data accessible and impactful for our partners, bringing clarity and context to their understanding of their challenges;
Present partners with new ideas and potential solutions to those challenges and advocate for adoption;
Act as an expert outside voice, building consensus and educating committees and staff.

Combine functional knowledge, with an understanding of higher ed’s unique organizational dynamics, enabling partners to set strategy, lead their institutions, and manage their operations more effectively by:

Diagnosing and giving voice to dynamics that are often felt, but not addressed;
Supporting leaders as they align effort and teams around institutional priorities;
Pathing partners through ranges of viable solutions and their pros and cons;
recommending paths for improvement and serving as their guides and accountability Partners as they progress;
Connecting partner institutions and creating learning experiences.

Customer Success and Commercial Support: Collaborate with the research customer success team to execute on a scalable and impactful partner delivery model and deliver high-impact client interactions. Support sales in new partner development.

Research Collaboration: Leverage terrain expertise to generate original insight and content in assigned areas (e.g., blog posts, social media posts, briefings, presentations, etc.). Actively participate in ongoing research processes and share market insights with research colleagues to inform future EAB insights and deliverables.

Basic Qualifications:

Bachelor’s degree with an excellent academic record and 6 - 8+ years of post-graduate professional experience
Experience working with client executives, either at a college, university, district, or school or as a consultant or advisor
Superior verbal, written, facilitation, and presentation skills
Ability to create a compelling narrative through data visualization, graphics, and slides
Excellent relationship building and collaboration skills; ability to build relationships with and engage and challenge senior-level executives

Ideal Qualifications:

Advanced degree
In-depth understanding of education industry and the specific role that senior institutional leadership has in setting strategy and decision making
Demonstrated ability to distill market and terrain insights, drawing on client interactions
Experience producing written content and deliverables for an executive-level audience (e.g., blogs, social media feeds, reports, briefings)
Commitment to embracing a continual learning environment and contributing to a dynamic and welcoming culture of fairness, authenticity, and belonging in support of EAB’s mission, values, and aspiration

If you’ve reached this section of the job description and are unsure of whether to apply, please do! At EAB, we welcome new perspectives and learn from each other’s unique experiences. We would encourage you to submit an application if this is a role you would be passionate about doing every day.

Compensation:

The anticipated starting salary (base) range for this role is $76,500 - $115,000 per year. Actual salary varies due to factors that may include but not be limited to relevant experience, skills, and location. At EAB, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the starting salary range for their role.

This hire will additionally be eligible for discretionary bonus or incentive compensation. Variable compensation may depend on various factors, such as individual and organizational performance.

Benefits:

Consistent with our belief that our employees are our most valuable resource, EAB offers a competitive and inclusive benefits package. Our benefits currently include:

· Medical, dental, and vision insurance plans; dependents and domestic partners eligible

· 20+ days of PTO annually, in addition to paid firm and floating holidays

· Daytime leave policy for community service and flextime for fitness activities (up to 10 hours per month each)

· 401(k) retirement savings plan with annual discretionary company matching contribution

· Health savings account, healthcare and dependent care flexible spending account, and pre-tax commuter plans

· Employee assistance program with counseling services and resources available to all employees and immediate family

· Wellness programs including gym discounts, incentives to promote healthy living, and family access to the leading app for sleep, meditation, and relaxation

· Fertility treatment coverage and adoption or surrogacy assistance

· Paid parental leave with phase back to work program for birthing and non-birthing parents

· Access to milk shipping service to support nursing employees during business travel

· Discounted pet health insurance coverage for dog and cat family members

· Company-provided life, AD&D, and disability insurance

· Financial wellness resources and membership in a robust employee discount program

· Access to employee resource groups, merit-based advancement, and dynamic professional growth opportunities

Benefits kick in day one; learn more at eab.com/careers/benefits.

This opening is not eligible for visa sponsorship at this time; EAB will thus consider candidates who possess U.S. work authorization that does not require employment-based visa sponsorship now or in the future.

At EAB, we believe that to fulfill our mission to “make education smarter and our communities stronger” we need team members who bring a diversity of perspectives to the table and are committed to fostering a workplace where each team member is valued, respected and heard.

To that end, EAB is an Equal Opportunity Employer, and we make employment decisions on the basis of qualifications, merit and business need. We don’t discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, non-disqualifying physical or mental disability, national origin, veteran status or any other basis covered by appropriate law.

Original Job Description