Director, School

About the role

GIA is seeking an experienced and visionary Director, School to provide strategic and operational leadership for a campus location. This role is responsible for ensuring academic excellence, student success, enrollment performance, financial results, workforce effectiveness, and compliance with institutional, regulatory, and accreditation standards.

What You'll Do

• Provide strategic direction and leadership to faculty and school staff to ensure academic quality and positive student outcomes.
• Lead campus-wide student success initiatives focused on improving retention, persistence, graduation, and career placement outcomes.
• Promote a student-centered culture that ensures equitable treatment, exceptional experiences, and adherence to institutional standards.
• Oversee admissions, student services, financial services, and instructional delivery to ensure effective campus operations.
• Sponsor and lead process improvement initiatives that enhance organizational effectiveness, student outcomes, and operational performance.
• Ensure campus practices, policies, and procedures align with GIA’s mission, ethics, and corporate standards.
• Build and lead high-performing teams through coaching, mentoring, performance management, and succession planning.
• Develop annual course schedules that optimize instructor utilization, classroom capacity, and student demand.
• Ensure curriculum updates, policy changes, and procedural improvements are implemented effectively across the campus.
• Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, continuous improvement, and employee engagement.
• Serve as the primary representative of the school within the business, educational, and gemological communities.
• Build and maintain relationships with industry partners, employers, and community organizations.
• Evaluate market trends and emerging opportunities to recommend program expansion, modification, launch, or teach-out decisions.

Required Qualifications

• Graduate Gemologist (GG) diploma or bachelor’s degree in education, Business Administration, Organizational Leadership, or a related field; equivalent combination of education and experience may be considered.
• 10+ years of progressive leadership experience, including at least 7 years of experience leading, developing, and managing teams.
• Experience leading educational operations, campus administration, academic programs, or similarly complex business operations.
• Demonstrated success translating strategic objectives into operational plans that drive measurable business and student outcomes.
• Proven experience managing budgets, resource planning, financial performance, and operational effectiveness.
• Experience leading organizational changes, talent development, and continuous improvement initiatives.

Work Location & Travel

• This is an onsite leadership role requiring regular campus presence five days per week in Carlsbad, California.
• Occasional hybrid flexibility may be available based on business needs.
• Ability to travel domestically and internationally for meetings, events, and organizational assignments as required.