Assistant Director of Life Design, First Year Initiatives (Life Design Lab)

Johns Hopkins University; Baltimore (MD); Hybrid; USD 57,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

Johns Hopkins University seeks an Assistant Director of Life Design, First Year Initiatives to drive life design and career readiness for first-year students across Krieger and Whiting. This role reports to the Senior Director for the SOAR team and advances the Life Design Lab's vision with scalable programs and content.

Responsibilities include designing workshops, developing on-demand resources, and coaching students, while partnering across units to align with equity goals.

Qualifications

• Master's degree required; 3+ years in higher education, government, non-profit, or corporate setting.
• Experience designing and delivering scalable life design programs and workshops.
• Ability to engage diverse student populations and translate experiences into employment opportunities.
• Experience presenting or facilitating in-person and online formats.

Responsibilities

• Scale life design and professional development experiences for first-year students.
• Design workshops and content to deliver career readiness at scale.
• Develop asynchronous, on-demand content for career readiness.
• Manage first-year student communications and outreach.
• Collaborate with Life Design Educators to enhance initiatives and pathways.
• Provide individual and group coaching to students.
• Track key outcomes like internships and offers.

Skills

Equity-centered practice

Initiative & follow-through

Collaborative relationships

Inclusive communication

Adaptability

Multicultural competency

Education

Master's Degree

Tools

Handshake

Salesforce

PeopleGrove

Job description

We are seeking an Assistant Director of Life Design, First Year Initiatives who will report to the Senior Director for the SOAR team and will execute on the Life Design Lab's vision, strategy, and objectives to enhance and deliver the professional development, career advancement, and life design offerings for first-year students across the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences and the Whiting School of Engineering. As an equity-based office that believes all of our students have the same opportunity to pursue their life purpose regardless of background, field of study, or social capital, each Life Design Educator is expected to co-create, collaborate, and support all of our students; however, this position has a particular focus on first-year undergraduate students. The Life Design Educator will become familiar with the novel approach to career readiness and life design established at Johns Hopkins University and implement programs, scalable support systems, and create content to connect critical mindsets, frameworks, and approaches with their designated student population. There will be an emphasis on scalable solutions and applied experiences to support our student population.

Specific Duties & Responsibilities

Core Services & Outcomes

• Scale efforts for a positive life design and professional development experience for all students and alumni, with special attention to first-year undergraduate students within the Krieger School of Arts & Sciences and the Whiting School of Engineering.
• Design and implement workshops to support our first-year students' career readiness and life design needs at scale, grounded in current best practices and emerging trends.
• Develop scalable asynchronous and on-demand content to deliver career readiness best practices at scale to students pursuing undergraduate education.
• Strategically manage first-year student communication, ensuring they are informed about relevant services, opportunities, and events while proactively monitoring engagement and implementing targeted outreach to enhance participation and support.
• Engage in social media, digital outlets, and academic and professional journals and associations to establish an exciting brand, tell the story, and serve as a thought leader at Johns Hopkins University and higher education.
• Collaborate with fellow Life Design Educators and departmental leadership to enhance life design & career development initiatives and industry pathways, share best practices, and support team-wide efforts.
• Provide individual and group coaching to support students' life design exploration, career readiness, and professional development.
• Track and drive key student outcomes, including internship attainment, offer conversion, and participation in high-impact experiences.

Curriculum Development & Facilitation

• Using the mindsets and methodologies of life design and best practices from the Life Design Lab, deliver workshops, programs, content, and digital resources to help students and alumni achieve their life ambitions.
• Customize existing Life Design curriculum, offerings, and approaches given the unique needs of students and alumni based on identity and values, academic pursuits, and professional interests.
• Instruct the Life Design Summer Experience Practicum Course and additional credit-bearing classes when available.
• Integrate asynchronous learning material into tailored student outreach, cohort development, and programmatic efforts.

Project Management

• Adheres to project timelines, supporting the execution of life design programs and initiatives.
• Coordinates cohort-specific programs and services in partnership with key stakeholders.

Strategic Partnerships

• In partnership with Life Design Lab leadership, cultivate and strengthen relationships with colleagues across units, including, but not limited to, school leadership, academic advising, and Integrated Learning & Life Design partners.
• Collaborate with Hire Hopkins & alumni relations colleagues to build and maintain a network of employers and mentors across varied careers who can attend courses, programs, and networking events.
• Coordinate support for start-of-the-year programming, including but not limited to orientation and involvement fairs.
• Facilitate a seamless transition of support services to sophomore year experience at the end of the academic year.

Departmental Contribution

• Actively participates as a member of a Life Design Lab committee, contributing to strategic initiatives and collaborative decision-making.

Behavioral Competencies

• Inclusive Communication - Communicates clearly and empathetically across diverse student and stakeholder groups.
• Collaborative Relationships - Builds respectful and productive partnerships by valuing diverse experiences and perspectives.
• Initiative & Follow-Through - Demonstrates ownership of responsibilities and consistently delivers integrity and reliability.
• Adaptability: Responds flexibly to evolving priorities, student needs, and technological shifts in a dynamic setting.
• Equity-Centered Practice: Applies an equity lens to programming and decision-making, ensuring inclusive access and support.

Special Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• By way of experience, evidence of ability to develop and execute programs, courses, events, and content to scale impact across various constituent groups.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team to achieve individual and shared goals within a complex and decentralized institution.
• Strong multicultural competency and demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with diverse stakeholders to achieve equitable and inclusive results.
• Comfortable with technology and able to quickly learn and use a wide range of systems (Handshake, Salesforce, PeopleGrove), collaboration tools (Zoom, Teams, Monday), and instructional technologies (Canvas, etc.).
• Listen and communicate convincingly in written and verbal formats.
• Knowledge of highly selective college or university settings, and familiarity with operations of the world of work and university networks.
• Ability to translate student experiences to employment as evidenced by prior experience in either a government, non-profit, education, or private sector setting.

Minimum Qualifications

• Master's Degree required.
• Three (3) years of experience within a higher education, government, non-profit, or corporate setting.
• Additional education may substitute for required experience, and additional related experience may substitute for required education beyond a high school diploma/graduation equivalent, to the extent permitted by the JHU equivalency formula.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in presenting or facilitating in both in-person and online formats.
• Experience creating content (video, digital, written) and utilizing social media for the purposes of engaging and educating diverse audiences and influencing public opinion.
• Experience in developing and implementing effective assessment methods and articulating strategic priorities.

About working in the Imagine Center

Our educators work within multiple offices and spaces on campus. Rather than assigning office or desk spaces to our teams, we have modernized our approach and assigned laptops and cell phones and expect that our teams can work from anywhere to scale our impact across the institution. For this model to work, the ideal candidate must present excellent relationship development skills and engage audiences in groups and via social media and digital outlets.

• Classified Title: Life Design Educator Job Posting Title (Working Title): Assistant Director of Life Design, First Year Initiatives (Life Design Lab) Role/Level/Range: ACRP/04/MD Starting Salary Range: $57,195 - $100,040 Annually ($67,000 targeted; Commensurate w/exp.) Employee group: Full Time Schedule: Mon - Fri / 08:30am - 05:00pm (some nights and weekends) FLSA Status: Exempt Location: Hybrid/Homewood Campus Department name: Life Design Lab Personnel area: University Student Services