Associate Director, Doctoral Affairs and Academic Initiatives

New York University; New York (NY); On-site; USD 110,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

New York University seeks an Associate Director to lead doctoral affairs initiatives, expand PhD alumni engagement, and build centralized data systems to support strategic planning.

You will collaborate with school leaders, manage programs like NYU PhD Live!, and develop dashboards and reports using Python/Tableau while guiding staff.

Hybrid work arrangement in NYC with emphasis on data-driven decision making and cross-campus collaboration, reporting to the Vice Provost.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in related field required.
• Master's degree preferred.
• 5+ years administering academic and/or research programs and events with data/publication experience.

Responsibilities

• Lead growth of doctoral affairs initiatives and alumni engagement.
• Build integrated data systems and interactive PhD dashboards.
• Collaborate with central Provost and school leaders across NYU.
• Mentor staff and oversee programs, events, and budgets.

Skills

Executive communication

Project management

Data-driven decision making

Cross-functional leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree

Master's degree

Tools

Python

SQL

R

Tableau

LLM APIs

Job description

Associate Director, Doctoral Affairs and Academic Initiatives

• Location : US-NY-New York
• Hybrid Remote Work Classification : Hybrid: 60% to 80% Onsite
• Department : Office of Academic Program Review and Assessment
• School/Division : Office of the Provost (WS1034)
• Compensation Grade : Band 53
• Union : N/A
• FT/PT : Full-Time
• Category : Academic Program Support

Position Summary

The Associate Director will drive the successful growth of University-wide doctoral affairs initiatives, increasing capacity for PhD alumni engagement, using data & integrated systems for strategic insights & planning, growing opportunities for cross-school and cross-campus PhD student engagement, and supporting other high-profile academic initiatives related to the Vice Provost's portfolio. Serving on the leadership team of the Doctoral Affairs Council, serves as the central NYU point-person for NYU school leaders overseeing PhD programs at NYU, providing guidance, addressing challenges and escalating sensitive issues to the Vice Provost. Responsible for successful leadership and delivery of existing initiatives including NYU PhD Live!, the University-wide Outstanding Dissertation Awards, NYU's PhD Alumni data projects and others. Conceptualize, deliver and maintain new high-impact doctoral affairs initiatives that align with the strategic priorities of the University (i.e., building a new centralized PhD Hub for current and prospective NYU PhD students; developing new University-wide professional development frameworks, increasing opportunities for cross-disciplinary PhD student engagement, expanding alumni networks, increasing institutional capacity to track PhD student accomplishments and outcomes, and others). Build integrated data systems and build and manage interactive PhD dashboards. Serves as a crucial liaison between central Provost leadership and school-based graduate leaders, providing data and policy insights and creative problem-solving to address emergent challenges in doctoral education. Mentors staff and oversees the flawless execution of all portfolio programs, events, digital communications, and budgets.

Qualifications

Required Education

• Bachelor's Degree in related field

Preferred Education

• Master's Degree in related field

Required Experience

• 5+ years Experience administering academic and/or research programs and events; Experience using programming (Python, SQL, R) and data visualization tools (Tableau) to transform complex data into navigable dashboards, research briefs, decks and reports; Experience simultaneously managing multiple projects with required deadlines and deliverables.

Preferred Experience

• 5+ years Hands-on experience with university web content management systems (CMS) for site architecture and digital publishing.

Required Skills, Knowledge and Abilities

• Exceptional written, verbal, and visual communication skills, with a proven ability to craft executive-level presentation decks, author strategic briefs, and translate complex information into clear narratives for senior leadership. Superior interpersonal diplomacy to lead committee meetings, mediate cross-departmental challenges with care, and serve as a trusted central point-person across decentralized school structures. Exceptional organizational skills with ability to simultaneously juggle multiple projects, initiatives and deliverables on time, re-prioritizing as needed. Ability to oversee and directly implement program logistics, manage operational budgets, and leverage modern productivity and Generative AI/LLM tools to optimize workflow efficiency, data management, and content generation within secure university guidelines. Strong collaborative skills to lead and participate in cross-unit initiatives. Must be willing to foster and maintain positive relationships with alumni, donors, and other external stakeholders. Advanced technical and data programming proficiency is required. Expertise in Python-based ML workflows, specifically including the fine-tuning, evaluation, and integration of Large Language Models (LLMs). Proven experience integrating LLM APIs and orchestration frameworks for automated analysis, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), and reporting tasks. Experience developing robust, automated data cleaning, preprocessing, and validation workflows using modern ML and data engineering tools. Experience building advanced text analysis models and crafting compelling data visualizations and interactive dashboards (using Tableau, Python visualization libraries, or similar tools). Experience using Python data science stacks (Pandas, NumPy, Scikit-Learn, PyTorch/TensorFlow).

Preferred Skills, Knowledge and Abilities

• Possess deep familiarity with the doctoral student lifecycle and higher education research ecosystems. Familiarity with central higher education enterprise database systems (e.g., PeopleSoft, Slate, Salesforce, Workday) to facilitate seamless data integration across administrative units.

Additional Information

In compliance with NYC's Pay Transparency Act, the annual base salary range for this position is USD $110,000.00 to USD $130,000.00. New York University considers factors such as (but not limited to) scope and responsibilities of the position, candidate's work experience, education/training, key skills, internal peer equity, as well as, market and organizational considerations when extending an offer. This pay range represents base pay only and excludes any additional items such as incentives, bonuses, clinical compensation, or other items.

NYU aims to be among the greenest urban campuses in the country and carbon neutral by 2040. Learn more at nyu.edu/nyugreen.

NYU is an Equal Opportunity Employer and is committed to a policy of equal treatment and opportunity in every aspect of its recruitment and hiring process without regard to age, alienage, caregiver status, childbirth, citizenship status, color, creed, disability, domestic violence victim status, ethnicity, familial status, gender and/or gender identity or expression, marital status, military status, national origin, parental status, partnership status, predisposing genetic characteristics, pregnancy, race, religion, reproductive health decision making, sex, sexual orientation, unemployment status, veteran status, or any other legally protected basis. All interested persons are encouraged to apply at all levels.