Senior Director of Strategic Enrollment Management

Position Summary: 

The Senior Director of Strategic Enrollment Management is a key leadership role within the Vanderbilt University School of Engineering. This position is responsible for developing and executing innovative, data-driven strategies for recruitment, admissions, and financial aid across the School’s professional and graduate programs. The Senior Director will have the primary responsibility in attracting and enrolling highly qualified students into the School’s professional master’s programs (M.S. and M.Eng) and a secondary responsibility in supporting recruitment efforts in the doctoral programs. The Senior Director will leverage analytics to model, interpret, and project enrollment trends that inform strategic decision-making across multiple professional programs. The Senior Director provides overall leadership and coordination for all enrollment management activities, including marketing, recruitment, admissions, and financial aid.

Reporting to the Associate Dean for Graduate and Postdoctoral Education in the School of Engineering, with an administrative reporting line to the Chief Business Officer, the Senior Director also maintains a dotted-line to the Vice Provost for University Enrollment Affairs and serves as a member of the University Enrollment Affairs Leadership team. This role works closely with key campus partners, including the Director of Analytics and Enrollment Strategy, Office of Student Financial Aid and Scholarships, Data and Strategic Analytics (DSA), Process and Solution Implementations (PSI), University Registrar’s Office (URO), and others as appropriate to ensure the accessibility and quality of the data supporting decision-making.

Key Responsibilities
The Senior Director serves as the School of Engineering’s expert in enrollment management for multiple professional master’s programs, with a strategic understanding of how enrollment analytics support student recruitment, success, retention, and tuition revenue. Key responsibilities include:

• Develop and implement data-driven strategies to manage and project enrollments across professional programs with an emphasis on enrollment growth.
• Support the development and launch of new professional master’s programs through detailed market analysis, price analysis, and marketing and recruiting strategic planning.
• Provide timely data and analysis to support School leadership in strategic decision-making and continuous process improvement. 

• Analyze enrollment trends, build forecasting models, and evaluate recruitment outcomes through regular and ad hoc reporting.
The Senior Director is charged with advancing the School of Engineering to the next level of strategic enrollment planning through data-informed analytics and strategic planning.

About the Work Unit

The School of Engineering Deans Office is committed to supporting the school mission to prepare students to become leaders and innovators in industry, government, and academia – dedicating their skills to solve complex and challenging problems and make deep and lasting societal impact. The unit as a whole is committed to the mission of both the University and the School of Engineering. We emphasize our shared values of:
1. Radical collaboration across One Vanderbilt and beyond.
2. Inclusive innovations for all.
3. Global impact.
4. Committing to our people.
5. Enabling a culture of excellence, access, and belonging.

The School includes five major departments, the Division of Engineering Science and Management, and an Interdisciplinary Materials Science Program:
• Biomedical Engineering
• Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
• Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Electrical and Computer Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering
• Division of Engineering Science and Management
• Interdisciplinary Materials Science Program

The School of Engineering’s professional and graduate programs emphasize innovative, rigorous multidisciplinary study and in-depth instruction. Be part of a world-class research institution with the intimacy and faculty contact of a small private university. Our faculty is committed to teaching and working with the next generation of engineering students and you can expect to enjoy the richness of collaboration and long-term relationships at Vanderbilt.

Key Functions and Expected Performance:
• With key partners, executes the development of strategic enrollment goals for academic profile, net revenue, retention and student success and approaches to student financial assistance, and creates and executes an enrollment plan to achieve those goals.
• Stays abreast of current marketing and recruitment trends, yield strategies, and general research related to admissions and financial aid. Translates this research into meaningful information for the School of Engineering.
• Actively builds new sources of potential students domestically and internationally and is responsible for increasing applications and enrollments.
• Actively recruits students while also taking full responsibility for overseeing and coordinating recruitment events and activities, both on and off campus.
• Regularly travel to represent the School of Engineering at recruitment fairs, academic conferences, and partner institutions, both domestically and internationally, to attract prospective students and build new institutional relationships.
• Creates enrollment models, using predictive analysis and descriptive statistics, and translates these into recommendations for action.
• Ensures that colleagues have relevant, structured, clean data to inform enrollment strategy. Serves as the lead for developing enrollment metrics.
• Understands how various financial aid strategies can be used to leverage enrollment.
• Understands how the Slate platform can be used to further the recruitment, marketing, selection, and yield goals of the School.
• Analyzes indicators of market conditions, understanding the factors affecting different
programs, levels, and types of students.
• Collaborates with faculty and department/program staff to establish and achieve enrollment goals.
• Collaborates with the Associate Dean for Graduate and Postdoctoral Education in the School of Engineering to develop recruitment strategies that meet faculty research area goals.
• Oversees and manages budget for the Admissions and Enrollment Office, inclusive of tuition, financial aid, and scholarships for the professional programs, in addition to operating expenses.
• Oversees communications, including the School and program websites and written materials, related to admissions and financial aid.
• Builds, executes, and updates a recruitment marketing plan in conjunction with School and Vanderbilt Communications leadership.
• Collaborates with Associate Dean for Graduate and Postdoctoral Education to maintain records necessary for accreditation.

Supervisory Relationships:
This position has supervisory responsibility over the recruiting team within the school, currently with one direct report and dotted-line relationship to the Assistant Dean for Global Engagement for international recruiting. This position reports functionally to the Associate Dean for Graduate and Postdoctoral Education and administratively to the Chief Business Officer.

Education and Certifications:
• A Master’s degree from an accredited institution of higher education is necessary.
• A Master’s degree from an accredited institution of higher education in business, public policy, higher education administration, or a related field is preferred.

Job responsibilities listed herein are intended to be a thorough representation of the duties, responsibilities, expectations, and qualifications for this specific
role at the time of hire but should not be considered all-encompassing as actual responsibilities may evolve to include additional duties as assigned based on
organizational and operational needs.

Experience and Skills:
• A minimum of eight years of higher education or enrollment management or admissions (any combination) experience is necessary.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills is necessary.
• Professional experience in recruiting and admissions of engineering students is preferred.
• Experience in higher education administration is necessary.
• Leadership experience in organizational and fiscal management including planning, developing, and evaluating programs and personnel is necessary.