Associate Director for Employer Development

The University of North Carolina; Charlotte, Northern (NC, KY); Hybrid; USD 73,000 - 79,000; Full time

Job summary

The University of North Carolina Charlotte Career Center seeks an Associate Director for Employer Development to lead employer engagement across industries. You will supervise staff, manage the Employer Development team budget, and own strategic targets with a campus-wide impact.

Key responsibilities include expanding major employer relationships, maintaining a live dashboard for leadership, and guiding employers on recruitment practices and salary expectations, in coordination with Experiential

Qualifications

• Master's degree in higher education administration, business, HR, or related field.
• Progressive experience in employer relations, career services, business development, or related field.
• Experience supervising and developing staff with performance management.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Employer Development team and supervise staff.
• Develop and maintain employer relationships and Top 50 relationships.
• Build near-live dashboards for leadership to track relationship health and targets.
• Manage Forge CRM and ensure accurate notes and history.
• Advise employers on recruitment, job descriptions, salary negotiations, and related guidance.
• Collaborate with campus partners to align strategy and initiatives.

Skills

Leadership

Strategic planning

Employer relations

CRM dashboards

Budget management

Team supervision

Education

Master's degree in higher education administration

Tools

Forge

Job description

Position Designation EHRA Non-Faculty

Employment Type Permanent - Full-time

Months per Year 12

Work Schedule Monday -Friday, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, some weekends and evenings as required.

Hours per week 40

FLSA Status Exempt

Division Academic Affairs

Department University College (Adm)

Work Location

Salary Range $73,000 - $79,434

Primary Purpose of Department The Career Center is committed to providing comprehensive, innovative services and resources for students, alumni, and employers that prepare UNC Charlotte graduates for the competitive global market. Through a focus on early, continuous career and professional preparation, we bridge academic knowledge and professional development. We seek campus and employer partnerships to connect students with meaningful, real-world experiences, leading to success for both UNC Charlotte alumni and the greater Charlotte community.

Primary Purpose of Position The Associate Director for Employer Development strategically manages and develops employer relationships across all industries, ensuring every campus constituent who interfaces with employers - Colleges, Advancement, Alumni Relations, and other institutional partners - moves in a coordinated, unified direction. This position leads the Employer Development team, directly supervising staff responsible for industry-specific employer relationships, part-time and event-based employer engagement, and the strategic growth of new employer partnerships. The Associate Director sets employer development direction and defines employer engagement metrics, owns employer engagement reporting for campus leadership, and serves as the primary point of contact for major employer initiatives arising from across campus - including the Corporate Relations Council, University Advancement, and University Leadership. This position works in close, ongoing coordination with the Associate Director for Experiential Learning - as a peer partner, not a supervisory relationship - to ensure a unified, one-university approach to employer and internship-related opportunities. This position supervises full-time staff and carries budgetary responsibility for the Employer Development team.

Summary of Position Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership of Employer Development

• Sets and manages the strategic direction for employer engagement, ensuring it addresses University College and UNC Charlotte's broader strategic initiatives and remains flexible and proactive as workplace and workforce trends change.
• Provides leadership and supervision for the Employer Development team, including staff managing Top 50 Employer relationships, the Employer Partners Program, industry-specific relationship development, and part-time/event-based employer engagement.
• Leads annual strategic planning, goal-setting, and performance management for the Employer Development team; proposes annual employer outreach and relationship targets for all center staff who manage employer relationships, which are finalized in agreement with the Associate Dean each year and factored into performance review.
• Manages strategy development, staffing, and budget for the Employer Development team, with full decision-making authority within the team’s own budget.
• Maintains a monthly coordination cadence with the Associate Director for Experiential Learning to align dashboards, targets, and strategy across both teams, and to resolve cross-cutting employer or opportunity needs.
• Researches and stays informed on hiring practices, employment trends, and labor-market issues; shares lessons learned across the Employer Development team and broader office staff.

Employer Relationship & Metrics Management

• Sets annual employer outreach targets for those who are responsible for employer development and drives new relationship development; success is measured by meeting or exceeding target lists, with at least two documented touchpoints per target relationship.
• Owns the health and maintenance of existing major employer relationships, ensuring semesterly contact - at minimum, a check-in - with every relationship at "High" or "Medium-High" status in Forge.
• Builds and maintains a near-live, trackable dashboard for university leadership to view relationship health and progress against targets; solely responsible for building and maintaining this system.
• Manages the employer relationship management system (Forge) used across the team, ensuring employer notes, contact history, and relationship status remain accurate and current.
• Routes new and incoming employer contacts to the appropriate team member based on industry focus and relationship ownership; handles overflow and as-needed employer relationships directly.
• Advises existing employers on marketing strategies, appropriateness of employer expectations, recruiting processes, job descriptions, salary negotiations, and related employer-facing guidance.

Major Employer Initiatives & Campus Partnerships

• Serves as the primary point of contact for the Corporate Relations Council, fielding tasks and information needs arising from Council meetings, Chancellor- or Provost-sponsored initiatives, new sub-industries to pursue, and cross-campus collaboration or strategic communications needs.
• Serves as the default point of contact for campus partner inquiries not specifically tied to Experiential Learning, including Advancement and Alumni Relations.
• Ensures career educational opportunities (Panels in Residence, Meet Ups, and similar events) are filled with employers and alumni from the relevant fields.
• Represents the Employer Development team on university and community committees, workgroups, and events related to employer partnerships and workforce development, including Chamber meetings, Workforce Development meetings, and evening networking events.
• Manages high-visibility or strategic employer relationships, including those tied to corporate sponsorships or major donors, in coordination with Advancement and other campus stakeholders; escalates unusual or sensitive situations - such as legal/contract terms or major donor relationships - to the Associate Dean.
• Publishes the semesterly Industry Report - bundling industry engagement levels, new employer development against targets, and the Top 50 Companies Report (the latter developed with input from the Associate Director for Experiential Learning) - for internal leadership and key campus constituents. All reports route to the Associate Dean for final review before publishing.
• Directly supervises staff managing Top 50 Employer relationships, the Employer Partners Program, the JLD Program, part-time job development, and industry-specific relationship management.
• Maintains direct relationship-building responsibility for at least one industry focus area, modeling the relationship-management standard expected across the team.
• Shares responsibility with the Experiential Learning team for ensuring all career education opportunities are staffed by relevant employers and alumni.

Specialized Projects/Other Responsibilities

• Represents the Employer Development team in university, community, and networking events, employer site visits, and on-campus hosting for employer cultivation purposes.
• Develops and maintains employer-facing guidelines for recruitment.
• Makes independent decisions on employer partnerships at the Career Center level; anything representing the university as a whole is elevated to the Associate Dean.
• Assists office leadership in preparing and managing the departmental budget.
• Other duties as necessary to support office function and operations.
• Master's degree in higher education administration, business, human resources, or a related field with commensurate experience.
• Progressive professional experience in employer relations, career services, business development, account/relationship management, or a comparable relationship-driven field.
• Experience directly supervising and developing staff, including performance management and goal-setting.

Preferred Education, Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Experience operating with significant decision-making autonomy - able to exercise sound judgment on partnership and relationship decisions without needing frequent sign-off, while knowing when an issue genuinely warrants escalation.
• Comfort with CRM or relationship-tracking systems and building reporting dashboards; this role is expected to build and maintain its own tracking.
• Experience in a role requiring peer-level cross-functional coordination - working alongside another leader with a related but distinct mandate, without a direct reporting relationship between them.
• Familiarity working with or presenting to senior institutional leadership (e.g., cabinet-level administrators, boards, or executive councils).
• Business development instincts - comfortable proactively pursuing new relationships against a target list, not just maintaining existing ones.
• Experience operating across multiple industries or client verticals simultaneously, given the breadth of employer sectors this role touches.
• Demonstrated experience owning a major initiative with clearly defined metrics and milestones - not just contributing to one, but having accountability for setting the targets, tracking progress, and reporting outcomes to leadership.
• Proven ability to set goals, track progress against them, and move a team or group of stakeholders toward measurable results.

Special Notes to Applicants

• The finalist will be subject to a Criminal Background Check and/or a Motor Vehicle Report
• The Search Committee will not contact references without first verifying permission with the finalist.
• Please ensure your resume reflects the knowledge, skills, abilities, and experiences to support your answers to the supplemental questions.

Contact Information

9201 University City Blvd Charlotte, NC 28223