Director of Operations - Career Development Center

Suffolk University is a private, urban university located in the heart of downtown Boston. Our college green is the Boston Common and we are steps from dozens of historic sites including the Old State House, Faneuil Hall, City Hall and the Massachusetts State House. We have no real boundaries to our campus—Boston and Suffolk blend together.

Suffolk has been committed to creating an exceptional learning experience since 1906. Our vision is to be recognized as a dynamic institution that fosters engaged learning, rigorous scholarship, innovative thinking, and community collaboration across disciplines. We will ensure that Suffolk graduates are versatile and prepared for modern society and the new world market. We will provide rich curricula, experiential learning opportunities and professional mentoring through increased collaboration with alumni and community partners. We will recruit, mentor, and support a diverse faculty of teacher-scholars who are passionately committed to preparing our students to be leaders in the global community. We will inspire investment in a Suffolk community that is built on ethical, forward-thinking leadership, teamwork, and cooperation.

We compete for the best talent. We are an equal opportunity employer committed to a diverse community. We are actively seeking applicants from groups that might be under-represented because of race/color, gender, religion, real or perceived disability, national origin or LGBTQ status. As part of our commitment we encourage you to complete the demographic portion of the application in addition to submitting your cover letter and resume/CV as it will assist us in targeting our recruitment efforts.

Please note that Suffolk University conducts background checks as a condition of employment.

We are also committed to the well-being of our employees. Our terrific benefits package for benefits-eligible positions include, but are not limited to:

• Generous paid time-off programs and commitment to work-life balance
• Tuition free course benefits in the College of Arts and Sciences and in the Sawyer Business School for employees with additional tuition benefits for spouses, domestic partners, and children
• Top-notch well-being care available through Harvard Pilgrim Medical/Delta Dental and a Flexible Spending Account
• Pre-tax commuter benefit
• Employee Assistance Program that provides employees and their family members with initial assessment, referrals and short-term counseling for personal and work challenges
• Discounted home and auto insurance

Description

Suffolk University, a prominent private institution situated in the heart of downtown Boston, seeks a creative, intellectually curious, entrepreneurial and transformational leader for the position of Director of Operations in the Center for Career Education and Professional Development. The Suffolk 2025 strategic plan calls for a bold reimagining and significant expansion of the Career Center. Over the course of the 2020/2021 academic year the Center will grow to include a Career Exploration team focused on university-wide career education initiatives, a team overseeing industry-specific Career Communities, and a team dedicated to Center operations, data, technology, and communications. It is an exciting time to join the Suffolk Career Center and to shape these new units and job roles.

This individual will lead the Career Exploration strand of the Center for Career Exploration and Professional Development (CEPD). As the first person in this role and as part of a newly expanded team, the Director will be responsible for developing standard operations and protocols within the CEPD to ensure that consistent, efficient workflows are in place. They will supervise the Center Operations team, including an Associate Director of Ops and Technology and the Administrative Coordinators, and will manage the dotted-line supervision of staff on other teams responsible for the Center’s marketing/communications and data collection/analysis.

Primary/Principal Responsibilities:


• Supervises the operational staff of the Center for Career Education and Professional Development, including Administrative Coordinators and Associate Director of Ops and Technology. Responsible for developing and evaluating these staff members.
• Serves as a dotted-line supervisor for individuals within Institutional Research and the Office of Marketing and Communication whose efforts are tied to CEPD outcomes
• Provides guidance and leadership to staff, including training, staff evaluation (includes merit consideration), professional development, and related personnel matters.
• Proposes short- and long-range operating plans, including budgets, programs and services, personnel, technology/other equipment, and space.
• Defines, implements and revises operational policies and guidelines for the Center
• Develops and implements a project management system and protocol for the Center, to ensure that day-to-day and long-term projects are documented, resourced, and assessed. Structures the architecture of the project management system to indicate how all of the Center’s efforts support the strategic plan.
• Ensures consistent use across the CEPD team of internal communication channels, project management software, and data collection tools
• Works with the Associate Provost to design monthly, semesterly, and yearly strategy reporting sessions to inform relevant circles of stakeholders and
• Informs and advises the Associate Provost and Directors in the Center about the semesterly and yearly calendar of events, ensuring an relatively consistent stream of programming from the CEPD and an effective use of space and other resources
• Manages day-to-day budgeting and purchasing for the CEPD
• Reconciles budget monthly
• Confers with Associate Provost about resource allocation


Requirements/Qualifications:


• Bachelor’s degree and 5-8 years of experience in management or operations experience
• Excellent leadership and organizational abilities
• Working knowledge of customer relationship management (CRM) packages and project management software
• Proven knowledge of performance evaluation metrics in a business setting
• Excellent interpersonal, written and oral communication skills
• Demonstrated success innovating solutions to increase productivity

Suffolk University is an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer. The University is dedicated to the goal of building a diverse and inclusive faculty and staff that reflect the broad range of human experience who contribute to the robust exchange of ideas on campus, and who are committed to teaching and working in a diverse environment. We strongly encourage applications from groups historically marginalized or underrepresented because of race/color, gender, religious creed, disability, national origin, veteran status or LGBTQ status. Suffolk University is especially interested in candidates who, through their training, service and experience, will contribute to the diversity and excellence of the University community.