AFT Staff, Associate Director for Orca Central Operations

Whatcom Community College; Bellingham (WA); On-site; USD 67,000 - 78,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Dental insurance

Life insurance

Long-term disability

Retirement plan

Sick leave (8 hrs/mo)

Vacation leave (16 hrs/mo)

PSLF program

Tuition waiver

Job summary

Whatcom Community College is seeking an Associate Director for Orca Central Operations to lead the daily student services hub. You will supervise front-line staff, coach teams, and ensure smooth enrollment experiences for prospective and continuing students.

You will coordinate with Admissions, Advising, Registration, and Financial Aid, and you will manage placement data and campus communications using CRM and campus systems. A Bachelor's degree is required.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited institution.
• One year of experience in higher education, admissions, enrollment, registration or related experience.
• Preferred: bilingual skills and experience supervising staff in a customer service setting.

Responsibilities

• Supervises, trains, and evaluates front‑line staff in Orca Central operations.
• Guides students through enrollment processes and coordinates with Admissions, Advising, Registration, and Financial Aid.
• Manages staff scheduling, performance, and training to ensure high‑quality student‑centered service.
• Builds partnerships across enrollment services to improve communication and streamline workflows.
• Oversees Orca Central communications and use of CRM and SIS systems for timely information.

Skills

Supervisory skills

Customer service

Communication

Problem solving

Team leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree

Job description

About The College

Whatcom Community College (WCC) is a public associate and applied baccalaureate degree granting institution with an accomplished faculty and staff who serve 7,604 students annually on its beautiful 72-acre campus in Bellingham, Washington.

About The College

Whatcom Community College (WCC) is a public associate and applied baccalaureate degree granting institution with an accomplished faculty and staff who serve 7,604 students annually on its beautiful 72-acre campus in Bellingham, Washington.

Whatcom offers transfer degrees, applied baccalaureate degrees, professional and technical training programs, basic education, job skills, and community and continuing education classes. Programs and courses are offered through in-person, hybrid, and online modalities to promote access for a diverse student population.

The College is committed to equal opportunity and believes diversity of experiences and cultures enrich our campus community. The College is accredited by The Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. For more information about WCC, please visit www.whatcom.edu

About Our Community

Whatcom's campus is located in Bellingham (population 95,960). Bellingham showcases a strong commitment to education and is regularly rated on "best of the Northwest" lists. Bellingham is midway between Seattle, WA and Vancouver, B.C. Canada.

The city is surrounded by the rural landscape of Whatcom County (population 226,850), which is home to a thriving network of farms and scenic wilderness. As you explore our community, you'll discover historic neighborhoods, waterfront cities, farmlands and mountain towns all within a few dozen miles of each other. Bellingham and Whatcom County are known for their outdoor activities. Whether your idea of fun is visiting galleries, watching live theater, kayaking, hiking, snowboarding, or unwinding with a good book, you'll love Bellingham and Whatcom County. To learn more about Bellingham, please visit: http://www.bellingham.org

General Description Of Work

Position Title: Associate Director for Orca Central Operations

Classification: AFT Staff

FTE: 1.0

Schedule: 40 hours/week, Monday-Friday 8 AM-5 PM. Occasional evening work may be required and scheduled in advance.

FLSA Status: Overtime Eligible

Grant Funded: No

Job Summary

This position plays a critical role in supporting the daily operations of Orca Central, WCC's Student Support and Welcome Center. The role provides direct supervision, training, coaching, and troubleshooting support for front-line staff, ensuring high-quality, student-centered service for prospective, new, and continuing students throughout the enrollment process.

The position provides on-the-spot support to students, addressing immediate needs and provides referrals to admissions, advising, registration, financial aid, and other student services. This role responds to inquiries across multiple communication channels and collaborates with campus partners to resolve student issues.

Reporting Structure/Supervisory Relationship

• The Associate Director for Orca Central Operations reports to the Dean for Enrollment Management.
• This position provides direct leadership and supervision to the Program Coordinator, Program Specialist 2 and student positions.

Responsibilities

Essential Functions

• Supervises, trains, and cross-trains front-line staff to provide accurate, consistent, and student-centered enrollment support in Orca Central.
• Ensures exceptional customer service by coaching staff and supporting positive interactions with prospective students, current students, community members, faculty, staff, and campus partners.
• Guides and supports students through each stage of the enrollment process, resolving complex issues and removing barriers to enrollment and student success.
• Oversees the flow of students within Orca Central, ensuring timely referrals and seamless coordination with Admissions, Advising, Registration, Financial Aid, Running Start, and other student service areas.
• Recruits, hires, trains, supervises, schedules, and evaluates student employees and other staff, fostering a collaborative, high-performing team environment.
• Builds and maintains collaborative partnerships across enrollment services to improve communication, streamline processes, and enhance the student experience.
• Provides oversight and direction to staff responsible for the Orca Central email and voicemail inboxes, ensuring timely, accurate handling of inquiries and appropriate routing for specialized assistance.
• Enter students' math and English placement information into ctcLink, ensuring accuracy, completeness, and timely processing.
• Manages and coordinates campus-wide student communications through CRM systems and other digital communication platforms to support timely delivery of tuition and registration reminders, advising updates, and critical College announcements and events.
• Supports the Executive Director for IDEA in planning and delivering innovative and interactive new student orientation programs.
• Evaluates, recommends, and implements improvements to enrollment workflows and service delivery to increase operational efficiency and provide a seamless student experience.
• Monitors, tracks, and reports student traffic in Orca Central to support operational planning and service improvements.
• Coordinates Heiner Center building operations with key campus stakeholders to ensure efficient facility operations.
• Utilizes Microsoft Office Suite, ctcLink, Navigate 360 and other college systems to manage student information, monitor service delivery, generate reports, and support daily operations.
• Performs other related work of a similar nature and level.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Knowledge of student services principles and higher education processes, including admissions, advising, registration, financial aid, records, and student accounts.
• Knowledge of supervisory principles and practices, including employee training, coaching, performance management, scheduling, and team development.
• Ability to provide exceptional customer service while effectively resolving complex student concerns and ensuring consistent, student-centered service delivery.
• Ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, with students, faculty, staff, and community members from diverse backgrounds.
• Ability to analyze problems, exercise sound judgment, and develop practical solutions in a fast-paced, customer-focused environment.
• Ability to establish and maintain collaborative working relationships with internal and external partners to support enrollment and student success initiatives.
• Ability to organize, prioritize, and coordinate multiple projects, events, and operational activities while meeting deadlines and adapting to changing priorities.
• Skill in utilizing Microsoft Office applications, customer relationship management (CRM) systems, student information systems, and other technology to support operations, reporting, and service delivery.
• The ability to actively contribute to a work and learning environment that treats everyone with respect and dignity, while engaging diverse perspectives, backgrounds and experiences to enhance the College's mission, vision, and promise.

Supervisory Responsibilities

• Provides leadership and supervision of assigned staff and student employees including hiring, staff development, performance management, workload oversight, and corrective action as needed.

Working Conditions/Environment

• Work is performed primarily in an office setting with extensive time spent at a computer workstation, either sitting or standing. The position requires frequent interaction with students, staff, and faculty in a high-volume, customer service environment characterized by frequent interruptions, competing priorities, and the need to respond to changing demands. Occasional travel to professional meetings, trainings, conferences, and student engagement events may be required.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited institution.
• One (1) year of experience in higher education, admissions, enrollment, registration or related experience.

OR

• Equivalent combination education and experience sufficient for the person to perform the duties.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bilingual skills (Spanish, Ukrainian, Punjabi, Russian, Mandarin, American Sign Language or Unified English Braille).
• Experience supervising or leading staff in a customer service, enrollment management, or student services setting.
• Experience supporting students through complex enrollment or student success processes.
• Experience using student information systems, customer relationship management (CRM) systems (e.g., Navigate 360), or comparable enterprise software.
• Demonstrated commitment to fostering an inclusive, equitable, and welcoming environment for students and colleagues from diverse backgrounds.
• The ability to take action to learn and grow.
• The ability to take action to meet the needs of others.

Licensure, Certification & Other Necessary Requirements

• Employment contingent upon passing a criminal background check and sexual misconduct review.
• Occasional travel to meetings, conferences and training sessions may be required.

Salary

• This is a 12-month, full-time AFT (American Federation of Teachers) Staff represented position with an annual salary range (Associate Director level) of $66,933.00- $77,622.00.

Benefit Package

• The position comes with a full benefit package, including health, dental, life, long-term disability insurance and a retirement plan.
• Accrues 8 hours per month of sick leave and 16 hours per month vacation leave.
• Additionally, as a Washington State, public higher education institution, WCC offers the following:
• Whatcom Community College is a qualified employer for the PSLF program. If you work for the College full time, have had Direct Loans and are on an eligible repayment plan, you are eligible to apply.
• Full-time employees are eligible to apply and participate in the Whatcom Community College Employee Tuition Program, which provides a tuition waiver for available and eligible WCC courses.

Start Date

• As soon as can be arranged with the successful candidate.

Application Due Date

• For guaranteed consideration, applications should be received by Tuesday, September 8th, 2026, at 5:00pm. Position open until filled.

Mission, Vision & Promise

Mission: Whatcom Community College contributes to the vitality of its communities by providing quality education in academic transfer, professional-technical, and lifelong learning, preparing students for active citizenship in a global society.

Vision: Whatcom is a supportive community, empowering lives through education.

Promise: We transform lives through education. We accomplish this by supporting student growth, respecting student investment, embracing diversity, promoting excellence and creating opportunities .

EEO Statement

Whatcom Community College does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability, honorably discharged veteran or military status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender presentation, ancestry, ethnicity, family status, immigration status, citizenship, socioeconomic status, genetic information or age in its programs and activities.

The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding the non-discrimination policies: Executive Director for Human Resources, by phone: [phone] or email: [e-mail] , 237 W. Kellogg Road, Bellingham, WA 98226.

For Title IX compliance: Title IX Coordinator, by phone: [phone] or email: [e-mail] , 237 W. Kellogg Road, Bellingham, WA 98226.

WCC publications are available in alternate formats upon request by contacting the Access & Disability Services office by phone: [phone], email: [e-mail] , or Washington Relay: 711