Assistant Dean, Academic Administration

Abundance Network; United States; Hybrid; USD 220,000 - 287,000; Full time

Job summary

Stanford Graduate School of Business seeks an Assistant Dean of Academic Administration, a key role in faculty life and institutional governance. The successful candidate will be a trusted guide through policy, with a focus on transparency, data-informed operations, and service orientation.

The role spans faculty lifecycle administration, governance, and academic leadership support, partnering with senior leadership to sustain excellence and build a distributed, accountable organization.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required.
• Seven years of relevant administrative/financial management experience.
• Strong leadership and communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Direct staff and provide leadership to achieve goals and vision of the organization.
• May independently or with HR managers interpret and implement HR policies and programs.
• Initiate strategic plans for the organization or programs and manage resources.
• Manage internal policy development for programs and administrative operations.
• Oversee finances across all sources for the annual budget cycle.
• Coordinate grants and contracts and ensure compliance with requirements.
• Advise senior management on programmatic and policy development.

Skills

Leadership

Faculty governance

Budget management

Strategic planning

Communication

Change management

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Job description

Introduction

Stanford’s Graduate School of Business (GSB) has built a global reputation for its immersive and innovative management programs, groundbreaking research, and commitment to developing leaders who create positive impact. We bring together students, alumni, staff, faculty, and a global community to generate new knowledge, transform how business is taught and practiced, and prepare innovative, principled, and insightful leaders who change lives, change organizations, and change the world.

Success at the GSB is defined by The GSB Way, our commitment to shared purpose, community, and excellence in all that we do. We seek individuals who elevate themselves and those around them through academic candor, generous collaboration, and curiosity and rigor in solving meaningful problems. At the GSB, impact means taking ownership, contributing to our community, and advancing the school’s mission.

Job Summary

The Stanford Graduate School of Business seeks an Assistant Dean of Academic Administration, a role at the center of faculty life at one of the world’s leading business schools. What distinguishes this position is not formal authority, but the trust, judgment, and relational credibility to be the person faculty and academic leaders turn to first: a reliable guide through institutional policy and a consistent source of truth across a complex, research-intensive university.

The work spans the full scope of faculty and academic affairs, from faculty lifecycle administration and faculty governance to academic leadership support, in a decentralized environment where influence matters as much as position. The incoming leader will inherit a stable, experienced team with deep institutional knowledge; their charge is to sustain that excellence while building a more distributed, transparent, and data-informed operation.

At its core, the role is anchored in two areas:

• Steward the full faculty experience. Serve as the primary institutional resource for faculty across the entire lifecycle (appointments, teaching assignments, leaves, sabbaticals, promotions, tenure, compensation, and benefits) while ensuring that workflows, information, and policy guidance remain consistent and transparent across the organization.




• Sustain the operational core of academic leadership. Serve as the primary administrative partner to the Senior Associate Deans, overseeing faculty governance processes including the Faculty Advisory Board, Academic Area Reviews, and Senior Faculty Meetings, while administering the associated budgets and representing the school with the Provost’s Office and peer institutions.

The ideal candidate brings deep fluency in faculty culture and academic personnel administration, earned in a research-intensive or decentralized academic environment. They show up as a facilitator and service partner: curious about finding solutions, skilled at navigating complexity without friction, and trusted to handle highly confidential faculty and institutional matters with professionalism and discretion.

They are equally strong as a team leader: building distributed accountability, developing staff self-sufficiency, and creating the conditions for a capable department to operate without depending on any single person. They bring financial and data acumen, and a genuine curiosity about how emerging tools and better information can surface sharper insights for senior leaders and expand what a high-performing team can accomplish together.

Additional Details

Budgeted Salary: The expected pay range for this positions is $220,156 - $287,216.

Work Schedule: Hybrid workweek typically at least 4 days onsite.

Positions in this job series have managerial responsibility for the administrative and operational effectiveness of University school departments or programs, or for an entire school; multiple functions and associated staff managed may include business planning, finance, facilities, human resources, information technology, student services, research administration and health and safety. Individual contributor positions should be assigned to the Administrative Services Administrator series.

Core Duties:

• Direct staff and provide leadership to achieve goals and vision of the organization. Responsible for hiring and retaining staff, career coaching, personal development for direct reports and accountable for the performance of employees.




• May independently or in collaboration with human resources managers, direct faculty supervisors and managers in the interpretation and implementation of human resources policies, procedures and programs.




• Independently initiate and create strategic plans for organization or program(s) managed. Make recommendations that may impact the unit's academic and research capabilities. Identify and resolve strategic issues of substantial significance that affect the overall functioning beyond the immediate unit, consult and advise senior leadership. Oversee allocation of all resources.




• Manage the direction of internal academic and administrative policy development for programs and administrative operations.




• Oversee and/or manage the finances across all sources for the annual budget cycle, including developing, monitoring, analyzing forecasting and reporting to ensure the financial success of the organization.




• Manage and coordinate grants and contracts for the department. Ensure compliance with institutional and external requirements.




• Advise senior management on programmatic and policy development. May provide input to university leadership on institutional academic and administrative policies and guidelines.

Minimum Education:

Bachelor’s degree

Minimum Experience:

seven years of relevant experience in administrative and financial management, or combination of education and relevant experience.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Demonstrated leadership and supervisory, planning and change management skills.




• Excellent planning and organizational skills.




• Excellent communication skills. Able to influence people, solve problems, troubleshoot, think creatively and resolve conflicts.




• Advanced financial expertise in accounting budget planning, and financial forecasting.




• Advanced expertise in grants and contract administration.




• Advanced analytical and problem solving skills Strong knowledge of industry standards and/or regulatory requirements.




• Strong negotiation and effective interpersonal skills.




• Attention to detail and accuracy.




• Advanced expertise in business and management computer applications and databases.




• Subject matter expertise for area(s) of responsibility.




• Ability to multi-task and manage deadlines.