Assistant Dean, Career Education and Advising

About the role

The Assistant Dean, Career Education and Advising provides strategic leadership for the career education and advising program at the Career Management Center (CMC), supporting all segments of Columbia Business School’s MBA and MS talent pool. This role is central to advancing the CMC’s ability to deliver high-impact career education, personalized advising, and employer engagement.

Responsibilities

• Provides strategic direction for the Career Education and Advising team, ensuring alignment with CMC vision and goals.
• Serves as a core member of the CMC Senior Leadership team, contributing to institution-wide planning and decision making.
• Cultivates a high-performing, collaborative team that includes both managers and professional staff, providing direction, performance oversight, and development support across all levels.
• Promotes employer and alumni engagement strategies, ensuring ongoing communication and alignment with School partners.
• Provides strategic guidance on professional development content and resources for graduate business students.
• Designs and delivers career education seminars, workshops, and panels with senior business leaders; oversees full career education curriculum to ensure alignment with market needs and CMC thought leadership.
• Advises graduate business students, both individually and in groups, on career self-assessment, targeting, networking strategy, resume and pitch development, interviewing skills and job offer management.
• Evaluates and continuously improves career resources to address the evolving needs of graduate business students. Ensures educational offerings and career frameworks are consistently communicated to internal and external audiences.
• Provides strategic guidance to staff managing the Columbia Coaching Program of 25+ alumni coaches and the Career Fellows Program of 70+ student leaders.
• Data Management: Collaborates with the Executive Director of Operations to determine advising, employment, and market data needs. Leverages data to inform curriculum development, service delivery, and strategic planning.
• Relationship Management: Liaises with senior faculty and academic centers to align career education offerings with market needs and facilitate programming collaborations. Partners with professional student clubs to support employer connections and professional development needs. Collaborates with internal and external stakeholders across the Dean’s Office, Development & Alumni Relations, Student Affairs, Admissions, Marketing and Communications, and Operations on career programming, school events, and related initiatives. Engages external stakeholders including public, private and nonprofit hiring organizations and executive search firms to promote MBA and EMCA students and support placement efforts.
• External Representation & Communications: Represents the CMC at select professional meetings, recruiter meetings, media/press interactions, and with peer schools, as appropriate. Participates in thought-leadership events at CBS and in partnership with key professional organizations. Liaises with faculty and school administrators to determine strategy for professional development.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required and minimum of 7-9 years of related experience including staff management, career advising, and professional development programming and delivery.
• Strategic and analytic mindset with strong knowledge of the business environment and industry landscape.
• Demonstrated experience leading and developing professional staff team in higher education, career services, or talent development environment.
• Proven ability to build and maintain relationships with a broad range of stakeholders, including students, faculty, employers, and senior administrators.
• Experience advising graduate or professional students on career management, with the ability to work effectively across diverse student populations.
• Demonstrated ability to leverage data to inform programming and strategic decisions.
• Excellent internal, written, and verbal communication skills, strong presentation skills required.
• Ability to work some evenings, Saturdays, and occasional early mornings; some travel required.