Executive Director, Employer Relations and Experiential Learning

Strategic Employer Engagement

• Lead the university-wide strategy for employer engagement ensuring access to opportunities across industries roles and geographic markets.
• Build and maintain a national network of employer partners across the private public and nonprofit sectors with a focus on equity and opportunity.
• Expand Vanderbilts visibility as a top source of talent by developing programs that showcase student readiness and institutional strengths.
• Collaborate with the Alumni Relations and Development teams to identify alumni and donors who can help expand talent pipelines and internships.
  

Experiential Learning Integration

• Partner with academic deans and faculty to integrate for and not for-credit career-related experiential learning into the curriculum including internships research design projects community-based learning treks and innovation labs.
• Align experiential learning offerings with departmental goals and Immersion Vanderbilt requirements.
• Support academic units in designing high-quality scalable and equitable experiential learning opportunities tailored to disciplinary pathways.

Cross-Campus Collaboration

• Serve as a connector across departments helping translate employer and workforce needs into learning experiences aligned with students majors.
• Partner with Vanderbilts Immersion and Civic Engagement offices to ensure career relevant experiential learning is embedded in institutional initiatives.
• Align with advancement teams on fundraising priorities related to student support internship stipends and experiential program development.

Organizational Leadership and Operations

• Oversee the teams responsible for employer relations experiential learning and internship coordination.
• Ensure Vanderbilts systems and platforms (e.g. CRM job boards project portals) support streamlined employer engagement and student access.
• Develop outcome metrics and KPIs related to employer engagement experiential learning participation and student placement pipelines.
  

Innovation and Impact

• Stay abreast of future-of-work trends labor market shifts and technology platforms that support scalable industry partnerships.
• Pilot new models of employer engagement including micro-internships project-based learning and cross-institutional partnerships.
• Drive Vanderbilts aspiration to become the #1 university for employers to recruit talent across disciplines.

Qualifications

• Masters degree necessary; advanced degree in higher education business workforce development or related field preferred.
• Minimum 10 years of progressive leadership experience in employer engagement experiential learning corporate partnerships or university relations is necessary.
• Minimum three years of work experience in investment banking consulting or Fortune 500 company administration is necessary.
• Demonstrated success in designing and scaling cross-sector partnerships that produce measurable outcomes is necessary.
• Deep understanding of experiential learning models and their application in liberal arts STEM and professional education is necessary.
• Strong relationship-building communication and negotiation skills across diverse stakeholders (faculty alumni corporate executives staff students).
• Proven ability to lead teams manage budgets and implement data-informed strategies is necessary.
• Passion for the role of higher education in preparing students for purposeful work is preferred.
• Familiarity with advancement and fundraising strategies tied to student success is preferred.
• Experience working with or in large research universities or mission-driven institutions is preferred.
• Ability to think both strategically and operationally and to build new systems from the ground up is preferred.