Director of Candidate Experience

Position Summary

The Director of Candidate Experience is a strategic senior leader within the Recruiting and Admissions division at Rice Business. Reporting directly to the Assistant Dean of Recruiting and Admissions, this role works alongside the Director(s) of Recruiting and Admissions and the Director of Operations to shape the overarching enrollment strategy for all Rice Business MBA modalities (Full‑Time MBA, Professional MBA, Deferred Enrollment, and Executive MBA). The primary responsibility is to nurture prospective students from their initial inquiry through matriculation, using design‑thinking principles, data‑driven strategy, and intentional user‑experience leadership. The Director oversees candidate engagement, high‑impact events (on‑campus, off‑campus, and virtual), strategic communication flows, candidate interviews, and key third‑party graduate business education partnerships, leading a dedicated team to create exceptional, memorable experiences.

Essential Functions

• Serve as a core member of the Assistant Dean's senior leadership team, contributing to divisional strategy and enrollment targets.
• Apply design‑thinking and customer‑journey‑mapping principles to design, refine, and elevate the candidate experience across all MBA modalities, from lead acquisition through matriculation.
• Leverage CRM data, candidate behavioral analytics, and yield metrics to develop, evaluate, and optimize communication and engagement strategies.
• Establish feedback loops, post‑event evaluations, and benchmarking surveys to measure candidate satisfaction and yield effectiveness.
• Curate interactive, high‑value on‑campus and off‑campus prospective‑student events that drive lead conversions.
• Directly lead, mentor, and empower a team dedicated to candidate experience and event execution, fostering a collaborative, service‑oriented, high‑performance culture.
• Oversee management and optimization of relationships with strategic third‑party partners, yield platforms, and vendor networks supporting recruitment and engagement.
• Lead the MBA admissions interview process, ensuring consistent, equitable, and high‑quality candidate experiences, evaluator training, and logistics.
• Collaborate with RAO and Rice Business marketing personnel to ensure tone, messaging, timing, and content effectively nurture leads through every funnel stage.
• Oversee targeted messaging campaigns, personalized outreach programs, and yield communication strategies across email, SMS, and digital platforms.
• Own the full lifecycle—from strategic ideation to seamless execution—for high‑stakes admitted‑student events, including Admit Days, Preview Days, and Yield Weekends.
• Partner with faculty, alumni, current student leaders, career pathways teams, and campus partners to curate rich, authentic programming for campus visitors and admitted students.
• Perform all other duties as assigned.

Additional Functions

• Supervise a small team of professionals supporting candidate‑experience needs of the Recruiting and Admissions Office and broader Rice Business community.
• Identify opportunities for synergy and integration across functions.
• Provide leadership for the creation, development, and execution of events.

Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree (no substitutions permitted).
• 3+ years of professional experience in user/customer experience and project management.
• In lieu of experience, additional related education may be substituted on an equivalent year‑for‑year basis.

Skills

• Excellent judgment, decisiveness, high integrity, enthusiasm, diplomacy, and tact.
• Strong interpersonal, management, and organizational skills; attention to detail; team‑oriented mindset.
• Superior verbal and written communication abilities.
• Proven ability to develop professional and support staff.
• Exceptional customer service skills with capacity to cultivate professional business partnerships.
• Ability to multitask, manage deadlines, and architect complex solutions with interactive mapping tools.
• Experience designing and implementing interfaces for database‑driven applications and CRM systems.

Workplace Requirements

Rice Business delivers residential classes and activities almost daily between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. The role requires a highly collaborative, community‑based culture with in‑person support and services. This position is exclusively on‑site, performed at McNair Hall on a five‑day, in‑office schedule (8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.). Remote work may be approved on an as‑needed basis after the probationary period. The role involves a high volume of professional events during evenings and weekends and extensive domestic and international travel. Business professional attire is often required, with flexibility to shift to business casual for non‑event interactions. Work arrangements are subject to change per Rice policy 440.

Application Instructions

All applicants should attach a resume and cover letter in PDF format in the Supporting Documents section. Applications without these documents will not be considered.