Executive Director, Workforce Engagement

Duties And Responsibilities

• Strategic Leadership and Department Vision
• Lead the implementation and ongoing refinement of the Career Readiness and Workforce Launch model, ensuring alignment with IWU National and Global's enrollment, retention, and student success goals
• Develop and execute a 24-month implementation roadmap, managing phase transitions from foundation to full-scale operation with clear milestone accountability
• Establish and maintain the department's key performance indicator framework, including placement rates, employer satisfaction scores, Human Capital Package completion rates, and 90-day graduate retention metrics
• Produce a termly Student Success Intelligence Brief that synthesizes workforce outcomes data for VP-level and Board-level audiences, translating complex placement and retention data into actionable institutional intelligence
• Represent the department in cross-divisional governance structures, including the Digital Credential Wallet steering committee and the Partnership-to-Placement integration with the Enrollment Division
• Manage the department budget within approved parameters, applying data-validated expansion triggers to authorize FTE growth from 4.0 to 7.0 as enrollment and caseload thresholds are reached
• Employer Partnership Development and Market Advocacy
• Cultivate and manage high-value employer partnerships at the C-suite and senior HR level, positioning IWU graduates as verified talent assets through the Human Capital Package framework
• Oversee the Regional Career Agent team's employer account portfolio, ensuring consistent relationship management across 15 to 30 active accounts per FTE
• Coordinate weekly with the Enrollment Division's Partnership Executive team to align on shared employer account management, relationship ownership protocols, and market intelligence sharing through Salesforce
• Lead the institution's participation in regional employer engagement events, workforce development convenings, and industry partnership initiatives across the Indianapolis, Chicago, and Cleveland hub markets
• Team Leadership and Pillar Oversight
• Provide direct supervision, coaching, and professional development for all three pillar roles — Career Clarity Specialists, Professional Development Specialists, and Regional Career Agents
• Establish and maintain standardized intervention protocols, caseload management practices, and documentation standards across all three pillars
• Monitor pillar-level KPIs on a monthly basis, identifying performance gaps and implementing corrective action plans as needed
• Facilitate weekly team coordination meetings and bi-weekly one-on-one supervision sessions with each direct report
• Onboard and train all new department hires, ensuring alignment with the Human-First AI philosophy and the Intervention Science framework that underpins the department's operating model
• Technology Infrastructure and AI Augmentation
• Oversee the department's AI-augmented technology stack, including the Student Insights Agent, EdSights early alert integration, and Salesforce CRM workflows, ensuring tools are deployed to maximize human capacity for high-stakes student interventions
• Lead the department's participation in the Digital Credential Wallet initiative, coordinating with Talent Studio, Academics, and Academic Records to deploy the Comprehensive Learner Record platform and iQ4 trial
• Ensure accurate and timely documentation of student interactions, employer engagements, placement outcomes, and intervention records within Salesforce to support institutional reporting and continuous improvement
• Collaborate with IT and Data Services on Salesforce configuration, API maintenance, and the joint employer pipeline dashboard shared with the Enrollment Division
• Cross-Divisional Collaboration and Institutional Integration
• Maintain bi-weekly coordination with Academic Advising to ensure program selection alignment, student handoffs, and career-academic integration across the student lifecycle
• Collaborate with the Student Engagement and Success team on wraparound support coordination, Spiritcare referrals, and at-risk student case management
• Partner with Institutional Advancement on employer cultivation strategy, alumni engagement in the talent pipeline, and the development of the Salary Subsidy Fund pilot
• Provide quarterly academic briefings to Faculty and Program Directors, sharing market intelligence on employer workforce needs, graduate performance data, and industry credential alignment
• Collaborate with Marketing and Communications on employer-facing materials, student success stories, and institutional brand positioning as a Human Capital Partner

Qualifications

• Education
• A Master's degree in higher education, organizational leadership, human resources, business administration, or a closely related field required
• A Doctoral degree (PhD or EdD) in higher education, organizational leadership, or a related field preferred
• Experience
• Minimum seven (7) years of progressive experience in career services, workforce development, talent acquisition, or a related field, with at least three (3) years in a supervisory or leadership capacity
• Demonstrated experience developing and managing employer partnerships, including negotiating employment agreements and presenting talent profiles to C-suite or senior HR audiences
• Required Skills
• Proficiency in Salesforce CRM or a comparable enterprise relationship management platform
• Demonstrated ability to translate complex data into executive-level intelligence briefs and institutional reports
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to represent the institution credibly in external employer and community settings
• Demonstrated ability to lead and develop a team in a fully remote or hybrid environment
• Strong Christian commitment and adherence to the IWU Community Lifestyle Statement
• Familiarity with competency-based education frameworks and T-Shaped Professional development models
• Experience serving adult learners in an online or hybrid higher education environment
• Background in executive recruiting, talent brokerage, or business development with demonstrated commission or placement performance
• Experience with AI-augmented student success platforms, early alert systems, or predictive analytics tools
• Familiarity with the Prosci ADKAR change management framework or comparable change management methodology
• Regional market knowledge across the Indianapolis, Chicago, or Cleveland metropolitan areas