Director of Emergency Management

About the role

Reporting to the Associate Vice President of Public Safety, the Director of Emergency Management provides University-wide leadership for emergency management, fire safety coordination, and operational readiness. The Director will oversee the University’s emergency management program and maintain a comprehensive and compliant framework that supports the safety of staff, students, faculty, and visitors. The Director serves as a senior emergency management leader during critical incidents and coordinates strategic and operational responses across all campuses. This position is required to travel to all University campuses and locations and is on call 24/7 for emergencies.

Responsibilities

• Leads, develops, implements, and continuously improves the University’s comprehensive emergency management program, including emergency preparedness, response, recovery, continuity planning, mitigation, training, and fire safety.
• Maintains, updates, and operationalizes the University’s Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan and related campus-specific emergency plans, protocols, annexes, checklists, response guides, and emergency communication procedures.
• Provides leadership and coordination for emergency activations, critical incidents, planned events, severe weather, campus disruptions, and fire safety planning, serving in senior incident management roles and supporting the Associate Vice President for Public Safety.
• Coordinates campus-wide emergency preparedness initiatives, including active threat preparedness, evacuation planning, shelter-in-place planning, continuity of operations, fire and life safety, hazardous materials, public health emergencies, utility disruptions, demonstrations, and large campus events.
• Ensures that emergency management and fire safety programs align with applicable federal, state, and local requirements, including relevant standards and best practices for higher-education emergency preparedness.
• Partners with University leadership, Information Technology, University Marketing and Communications, Facilities, Residential Life, Public Safety, and external agencies to ensure effective emergency preparedness, emergency notification systems, fire safety compliance, and coordinated response.
• Establishes and maintains relationships with external emergency response and public safety partners, including NYPD, FDNY, NYC Emergency Management, local law enforcement, local fire officials, EMS providers, and other local, state, and federal agencies.
• Ensures compliance with applicable federal, state, and local emergency management and fire safety requirements, while maintaining emergency management records, training documentation, exercise records, fire safety documentation, plans, reports, and other materials needed for compliance and institutional learning.
• Advises University leadership on emergency preparedness risks, gaps, priorities, and resource needs while leading continuous improvement efforts through after-action reporting and tracking corrective actions.
• Operates University vehicles in compliance with federal, state, and local regulations and insurance requirements.
• Serves as Emergency Operations Center Manager or in another leadership role within the University’s incident management structure.
• Represents the University at emergency management, fire safety, higher education safety, and public safety meetings, trainings, conferences, and professional development programs.
• Participates in campus planning efforts related to safety, emergency preparedness, major events, construction impacts, and business continuity.
• Supports the development of emergency preparedness communications, videos, guides, website content, and instructional materials.
• Coordinates with campus partners on preparedness programs for students, employees, visitors, and special populations.
• Supports other Public Safety initiatives and programs as assigned by the Associate Vice President for Public Safety.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree.
• Minimum of seven years of progressively responsible experience in emergency management, public safety, fire safety, law enforcement, emergency services, higher education administration, or a closely related field.
• Minimum of three years of supervisory or team leadership experience.
• Demonstrated experience developing, implementing, and evaluating emergency management plans, training, exercises, or preparedness programs.
• Experience coordinating emergency response activities in a complex organization.
• Valid driver’s license.

Qualifications

• Advanced knowledge of emergency management principles, including preparedness, response, recovery, mitigation, and continuity planning.
• Working knowledge of the National Incident Management System and Incident Command System, preferably in a higher education, campus, municipal, or similarly complex setting.
• Demonstrated ability to lead teams, manage staff, set priorities, and coordinate work across multiple departments or campuses.
• Ability to direct or support an incident management team in a high-tempo environment for multiple hours or days at a time.
• Strong understanding of fire safety, life safety, evacuation planning, drills, and related compliance expectations.
• Demonstrated ability to develop and conduct training, tabletop exercises, drills, instructional materials, and after-action reports.
• Strong written, verbal, interpersonal, and presentation skills.
• Proven ability to manage multiple projects independently and effectively.
• High level of judgment, discretion, professionalism, and attention to detail.
• Ability to work collaboratively with senior leaders, campus partners, students, faculty, staff, external agencies, and first responders.
• Ability to respond to emergencies outside of normal business hours and travel among University campuses and locations as needed.
• Knowledge of chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, explosive, severe weather, active threat, fire, and other emergency hazards, as well as related response and mitigation protocols.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree in emergency management, public administration, homeland security, fire science, criminal justice, higher education administration, or a related field.
• Possession of a professional credential, such as the Certified Emergency Manager (CEM) or Associate Emergency Manager (AEM) designation from the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM), is highly preferred.
• Experience in higher education emergency management or campus public safety.
• Experience supervising emergency management, fire safety, public safety, or emergency services personnel.
• Completion of relevant FEMA, NIMS, CISA, emergency management, fire safety, or continuity planning training.
• Certification or membership in a recognized emergency management, fire safety, public safety, or higher education safety organization.
• Experience working with emergency notification systems, emergency operations centers, business continuity planning, crisis communications, and after-action improvement planning.

Pay

Minimum Starting Salary: $122,000
Maximum Starting Salary: $135,000
Salary is commensurate with qualifications, experience, and skills.