Associate Director

Position Summary
The Associate Director of Career & Experiential Learning for Media, Entertainment & Sports leads the strategy, coordination, and delivery of pathway-based career support for students pursuing careers in media, entertainment, sports, and adjacent creative industries. This role integrates advising, employer engagement, and experiential learning into a cohesive student experience that supports career exploration, milestone development, and placement outcomes.

The Associate Director serves as the primary pathway lead for this area, working across advising, experiential learning, and employer relations to build a more structured and visible set of opportunities for students. The role also helps students navigate a wide range of entry points, including internships, early career roles, creative portfolio development, and industry networking.

About Career Advancement & Engagement

Career Advancement & Engagement (CAE) at Vanderbilt University is building a pathway-based career ecosystem that aligns academic experience, experiential learning, and employer engagement to improve student outcomes at scale. Through advising, internships, industry partnerships, and AI-enabled tools, CAE helps students explore, prepare for, and launch into meaningful careers across a broad range of industries.

This model expands access to opportunities, strengthens employer relationships, and positions Vanderbilt as a leading source of talent in a rapidly evolving workforce.

Key Functions and Expected Performance:

• Pathway Strategy & Leadership
  • Lead the design and execution of the Media, Entertainment & Sports pathway strategy.
  • Define milestone expectations and readiness benchmarks aligned to industry recruiting patterns.
  • Serve as the subject matter expert for media, entertainment, and sports careers.
  • Partner with leadership to assess pathway demand, outcomes, and growth opportunities.
• Advising & Student Development
  • Oversee advising strategy for students pursuing media, entertainment, sports, and related careers.
  • Provide high-level coaching for students navigating nonlinear or highly competitive career paths.
  • Support students in building a strong career narrative, portfolio, and professional presence.
  • Ensure students progress intentionally from exploration through opportunity conversion.
• Experiential Learning Integration
  • Align internships, projects, student leadership, and other experiences with pathway expectations.
  • Support the development of experiential learning opportunities that reflect industry practices.
  • Partner with academic and co-curricular programs to increase early exposure to the field.
  • Help students translate experiences into compelling professional outcomes.
• Employer & Ecosystem Alignment
  • Collaborate with employer relations to expand and deepen employer partnerships.
  • Strengthen relationships with alumni, industry professionals, and student-facing organizations.
  • Support pathway-specific networking, panel, and recruiting opportunities.
  • Identify opportunities to build stronger connections between Vanderbilt and industry ecosystems.
• Outcomes & Assessment
  • Track student engagement, pathway participation, and placement outcomes.
  • Use data and feedback to refine strategy and improve student readiness.
  • Contribute to reporting on pathway performance and student success.
  • Monitor emerging trends in media, entertainment, and sports recruiting.

Supervisory Relationships
This position does not have supervisory responsibility and reports administratively and functionally to the Senior Director, Finance and Investment Banking Pathways.

Education and Certifications
Bachelor’s degree is necessary.
 

Experience and Skills

• 4-8+ years of experience in higher education, career services, employer relations, student development, media/entertainment/sports industries, or related fields is necessary.
• Demonstrated experience advising students, early-career talent, or professionals in a competitive or fast-moving field is necessary.
• Strong understanding of career development, experiential learning, or recruiting pathways is necessary.
• Ability to build relationships across students, faculty, employers, and alumni is necessary.
• Excellent communication, facilitation, and program leadership skills is necessary.