Associate Director, Housing Assignments & Communications

The Chronicle Of Higher Education, Inc.; Washington (District of Columbia); Hybrid; USD 70,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

American University in Washington, DC, is seeking an Associate Director of Housing Assignments & Communications in a hybrid on-campus role. You will oversee housing assignments, billing, occupancy records, and all communications with residents and external stakeholders.

The role leads the HRL Office Assistant program, manages publications and web content, and drives KPI-based improvements across its systems.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required; 4-6 years of relevant experience.
• Master's degree preferred.
• Background check required.

Responsibilities

• Manages housing assignments for ~4,500 residents across 13 halls and off-campus housing.
• Oversees staff onboarding, supervision, coaching, and performance evaluations.
• Develops and maintains housing-related publications, web content, and communications.
• Produces occupancy reports and projections; informs policy and process improvements.
• Maintains off-campus housing resources and supports commuter students.
• Provides after-hours on-call response for resident needs and events.

Skills

Customer service

Leadership

Project management

Communication

Analytical thinking

Team coordination

Education

Bachelor's degree

Master's degree or equivalent

Job description

American University is a student-centered research institution located in Washington, DC, with highly-ranked schools and colleges, internationally-renowned faculty, and a reputation for creating meaningful change in the world. Learn more about American University.

Department

Housing

Time Type

Full time

Job Type

Regular

FLSA Status

Exempt

Work Modality

Hybrid 01 (On Campus 3-4 Days/Week)

Union

Excluded

Job Description

Summary

The Associate Director of Housing Assignments & Communications is responsible for managing the assignments, billing, and occupancy record-keeping functions for all student housing, all communications with campus residents and external stakeholders via print, web, and social media outlets, management of the Housing and Residence Life (HRL) Office Assistant program, and off-campus housing resources and programming. This position has management responsibility for all room assignments, room changes, and billing. In addition, this position manages record-keeping related to current and past occupancy figures and develops short and long-term projections for management review. The Associate Director also has responsibility for departmental functions, such as housing related publications and processes, web and social media, and all other methods of communications with student and external stakeholders.

The Associate Director of Housing Assignments and Communication will serve as a key stakeholder for other departments in relation to housing. This includes other departments such as Admissions, AUCentral, the ASAC, and academic areas such as University College, Honors, and Community Based Research Scholars.

The Associate Director of Housing Assignments and Communication has additional responsibilities to act as a central point to creating improvements through key performance indicator tracking and assessment driven management. This will allow Housing to fine tune the departmental website, Service Now, and StarRez end user experience.

Essential Functions

1. Housing Assignments
   • Manages housing application and booking process for approximately 4,500 residents each semester in 13 residence halls and off-campus apartment buildings, as needed. Oversees processing of resident room changes, ASAC accommodations, withdraws, and cancel requests. Serves as one of the department’s primary contacts for students, parents, faculty, and staff on housing policy and assignment issues. Ensures all housing accommodations are assigned, billed, monitored, and audited. Manages housing appeals process; review appeals and determines outcome of appeal. Alongside Assistant Director of Housing Assignments, coordinates housing assignments for students approved for ADA accommodations. Responsible for the development of annual publications and communication to constituencies on housing application, assignment, and billing processes. This position serves as the key stakeholder with responsibilities, to act as a central point to creating improvements through the Housing website, Service Now, and StarRez end user experience.
2. Staff Supervision
   • Responsible for hiring, onboarding, training, and managing staff on an ongoing basis. This includes providing regular feedback, coaching, mentoring, and evaluating performance. Also, identify and encourage participation in professional development opportunities. This position oversees the Marketing and Communications Coordinator and the Assistant Director of Housing Assignments, with oversight of additional assignments staff and a small team of student staff.
3. Stakeholder Communications
   • Creation and maintaining of website content and presence as well as our social media presence. Work to develop our content design web-based processes such as StarRez and Service Now and create presentations at events for off campus students, new admissions events, and recruitment events for housing.
   • This position would be responsible for overseeing all departmental communication and working to maintain a clear and concise overall message coming from HRL. With the tracking of tickets in key performance indicated areas this position will work to create areas of development within the communication sector ranging from room moves to construction notifications.
4. Business and Systems Production Support
   • Responsible for ensuring that departmental occupancy records are maintained; develops reports on both a regular and as-needed basis. Develops occupancy projections for review by the Director of Housing and the Assistant Vice President. Makes recommendations on changes to housing policies and procedures. Support applicable enterprise systems by troubleshooting and addressing issues affecting services provided to students, faculty, staff, and other university clients. Assist in the rapid and thorough resolution of systems anomalies (evaluate, document, and report issues to supervisor). Assist in the implementation of "workarounds" when system issues affect business needs or service delivery. Maintain in-depth knowledge of all business processes in one or multiple business areas. Perform integration testing and user acceptance testing for system changes and upgrades. Assist end users in understanding technology systems.
   • This position will oversee the assessment of our housing operations through surveys, focus groups, and data driven application data. Modifications to our processes and policies should be driven by data derived conclusions.
5. Off-Campus Housing Support Services
   • Supports and manages resources for students and other AU community members looking for off-campus accommodations, including our the off-campus resource portion of the departmental website. Promotes the engagement of off-campus students with the AU campus community when possible. Advocates for commuter students on issues such as housing, transportation, and safety.
6. On-Call Emergency Response/After Hours Responsibility
   • This position will serve as a part of the on-call rotation and provide on-call emergency coverage after hours for the resident population. Respond to a variety of student needs and coordinate a response network within the university as well as department. Provide assistance with after-hours and weekend operational needs as deemed appropriate. Support major division and university-wide programs, including but not limited to, Commencement, Family Weekend, Summer Send-Offs, Move-In, New Student Orientation, Family and Supporters Orientation, Student Achievement Awards, and Eagles at Night. As a member of the Division of Student Affairs, this position may advise recognized student organizations as needed. Serves as a member of the Division of Student Affairs Response Team assisting with campus activism management.

Supervisory Responsibility

• This position directly supervises 2 full-time staff, with oversight of housing assignments, customer service, and marketing and communication, as well as provides indirect supervision for the overall assignments and communication team and a small team of student front desk workers.

Competencies

• Serving Customers.
• Prioritizing and Organizing.
• Championing Customer Needs.
• Evaluating and Implementing Ideas.
• Developing Plans.
• Evaluating and Implementing Ideas.
• Building and Supporting Teams.
• Managing Performance.

Position Type/Expected Hours of Work

• Full-time position.
• 35 hours per week.
• May require non-traditional hours during peak operational periods.

Salary Range

• $70,000.00 - $80,000.00 annually.

Required Education and Experience

• Bachelor's degree.
• 4 - 6 years of relevant experience.

Preferred Education and Experience

• Master's degree or equivalent.
• 5 - 8 years of relevant experience.

Additional Eligibility Qualifications

• Successful completion of a background check.

Other Duties

• Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

Benefits

AU offers a competitive benefits package. Click here to learn about American University's unique benefitoptions.

Other Details

• Hiring offers for this position are contingent on successful completion of a background check.
• Employees in staff positions at American University must deliver their services to the university from either the District of Columbia, Maryland, or Virginia, or perform work on-site at the university.
• Please note this job announcement is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.
• American University is an E-Verify employer.

American University is an equal opportunity, affirmative action institution that operates in compliance with applicable laws and regulations. The university does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex (including pregnancy), age, sexual orientation, disability, marital status, personal appearance, gender identity and expression, family responsibilities, political affiliation, source of income, veteran status, an individual’s genetic information or any other bases under federal or local laws (collectively "Protected Bases") in its programs and activities.