Associate Vice President for Service Operations

The Chronicle Of Higher Education, Inc.; Statesboro (GA); On-site; USD 160,000 - 224,000; Full time

Job summary

Georgia Southern University, located in Statesboro, GA, seeks an Associate Vice President for Service Operations to lead the division's strategic direction and operational excellence across facilities, HR, IT, engagement, and more.

The AVP will establish metrics, scorecards, and service standards, drive continuous improvement, and foster a customer-first culture while partnering with campus leadership to align services with the university's mission. This is a senior, exempt, monthly-paid role.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree
• Minimum of five (5) years of related experience in the service industry

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership for service operations units aligned with the university's mission and goals.
• Oversee planning, management, and reporting for facilities, auxiliary services, procurement, campus safety, and other service units.
• Build a service culture: define standards, communicate expectations, recognize excellence, and hold units accountable for customer-first service.
• Establish key metrics, service level standards, and scorecards; publish results regularly and make performance transparent.
• Work with leadership to interpret scorecard results, identify gaps, and drive actions and resources to improve outcomes.
• Leverage AI, automation, and self-service to improve customer experience while ensuring data privacy and appropriate human touch.
• Cultivate a mindset of getting better at getting better through continuous learning and improvement.

Education

Bachelor's Degree

Job description

Associate Vice President for Service Operations

Job ID: 302465

Location: Statesboro, Georgia

Full/Part Time: Full Time

Regular/Temporary: Regular

Georgia Southern University is the state's largest and mostcomprehensive center of higher education south of Atlanta. Withnearly 150 degree programs at the bachelor's, master's and doctorallevels, Georgia Southern has been designated a Carnegie Doctoral/R2\"high research\" university and serves more than 29,500 studentsfrom all 50 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and more than100 countries.

With four vibrant campuses - the Statesboro Campus, theArmstrong Campus in Savannah, the Liberty Campus in Hinesville, andthe East Georgia Campus in Swainsboro - Georgia Southern offers adynamic environment that encourages learning, discovery andpersonal growth. The University is accredited by the SouthernAssociation of Colleges and Schools and has earned specializedaccreditation from numerous professional and academic associationsthat set standards in their respective fields.

Georgia Southern is an influencer and intellectual catalyst insoutheast Georgia, a rapidly expanding region that is home tointernational companies such as Hyundai, Gulfstream and JCB, aswell as the Port of Savannah and Georgia Ports Authority. With afocus on hands-on learning, Georgia Southern is supporting thedemand for highly skilled workers by providing academic excellenceand creative innovation in a supportive, student-centeredenvironment that empowers the next generation of leaders tosucceed.

Beyond an ideal location, there is a place for you to work in anexciting environment abounding with opportunities for personal andprofessional growth. Named one of the Best U.S. Colleges by TheWall Street Journal, Georgia Southern is nationally recognized forthe caliber of its academic programs and student experience.Georgia Southern University has also been recognized by Forbes asone of \"America's Best-In-State Employers\" for 2025.

Location

Statesboro Campus - Statesboro, GA

Department Information

Office of the VP of Finance & Operations

Job Summary

The Associate Vice President of Service Operations (AVP) serves as a key member of the Business and Finance leadership team, providing strategic direction and operational oversight for a broad portfolio of administrative and service functions that support the university's mission and daily operations. Reporting to the Vice President for Business and Finance, the AVP leads efforts to enhance efficiency, customer service, and operational excellence across multiple service areas including facilities, human resources, information technology, engagement and communications, finance, university police and auxiliary services.

Central to this role is building and sustaining a service culture across the division -- one in which every unit understandswho its customers are, what excellent service looks like, and howits performance is measured. The AVP establishes the metrics andscorecards that make service performance visible, partners withleadership to turn those results into action, and appliestechnology and artificial intelligence where it measurably improvesthe customer experience. Above all, the AVP models a mindset of"getting better at getting better" -- continuously improving howthe division learns, measures, and improves so that it gainscompound over time.

• Provide strategic leadership and direction for serviceoperations units, ensuring alignment with the university¿s missionand strategic goals
• Oversee the planning, management, and reporting performance ofkey operational areas such as facilities, auxiliary services,procurement, campus safety, and other designated service units
• Build a service culture within the divisions: define andcommunicate shared service standards, expectations, and behaviors;recognize and reward service excellence; and hold units accountablefor delivering a consistent, customer-first experience
• Establish key metrics, service level standards, and scorecardsto measure the performance of service operations; publish resultson a regular cadence and make performance transparent to units,customers, and university leadership
• Work with leadership to interpret scorecard results, identifygaps between current and target performance, and drive specificactions, resourcing decisions, and follow-through that improveoutcomes
• Leverage artificial intelligence, automation, and emergingtechnology where it makes the customer experience better ¿ fasterresponse times, meaningful self-service, fewer handoffs, and moretime for staff to spend on high-value work ¿ while exercising soundjudgment on data privacy, accuracy, accessibility, and theappropriate human touch
• Cultivate a mindset of ¿getting better at getting better¿:continuously strengthen the division¿s capacity to learn,experiment, measure results, and improve, so that improvementitself compounds year over time
• Develop and implement operational strategies, policies, andservice standards to promote efficiency, sustainability, andcustomer satisfaction
• Partner with and lead initiatives focused on processimprovement, organizational effectiveness, and data-informeddecision-making across service operations
• Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, andcontinuous improvement within all service units
• Partner with campus leadership, academic units, andadministrative divisions to enhance cross-functional collaborationand service delivery
• Communicate effectively with stakeholder groups, ensuringtransparency, responsiveness, and shared understanding ofoperational priorities
• Solicit, analyze, and act on customer feedback ¿ surveys,service requests, and direct engagement ¿ to close the loop withthe campus community and improve service delivery

Required Qualifications

Educational Requirements

• Bachelor's Degree

Required Experience

• Minimum of five (5) years of related experience in the serviceindustry

Preferred Qualifications

Additional Preferred Qualifications

• Customer relationship management in a higher educationenvironment

Preferred Educational Qualifications

• Master's degree in Business Administration or other relatedfield

Preferred Experience

• Seven (7) or more years of leadership and managementexperience
• Experience building or leading a service culture change effortin a large, decentralized organization
• Experience designing performance metrics, scorecards, orservice level agreements and using them to drive measurableimprovement
• Experience applying artificial intelligence, automation, orself-service technology to improve customer experience
• Experience in vendor relationship, resource and projectmanagement, and financial and budget planning

Proposed Salary

$160,103 - $224,165

This is an exempt position paid on a monthlybasis.

Required Documents to Attach

• Resume
• Cover Letter
• Two (2) Professional References

Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities

ABILITIES

• Consistently exhibit engaging customer service
• Ability to support various constituencies served by theUniversity
• Proven proficiency with computers including Microsoft Office,Google, and/or applications as required for specificposition
• Ability to build and sustain a service culture -- settingstandards, modeling the behaviors, and bringing large teamsalong
• Data fluency: able to define meaningful metrics, build clearscorecards, and translate results into specific actions
• Commitment to continuous improvement -- a \"getting better atgetting better\" mindset that treats improvement as a discipline,not an initiative
• Ability to lead a large team, fostering growth and focus onservice
• Able to lead large projects that require strong partnershipsand close coordination with stakeholders and businessleaders
• Able to anticipate problems and proactively develop appropriatesolutions
• Able to diagnose and resolve complex problems
• Able to develop and execute service strategy
• Able to maximize value by balancing risks against potentialorganizational gain

KNOWLEDGE

• Adhere to University policies and procedures to meetInstitutional goals and support University's mission for studentsuccess
• Working knowledge of artificial intelligence and automation,and sound judgment about where they improve the customer experienceand where they do not
• Must be well versed in current and emerging trends in serviceand the higher education landscape

SKILLS

• Effective communication (verbal and written), organizationaland human relations skills
• Strong leadership skills, attention to detail, and follow-upskills

Apply Before Date

August 20, 2026

Application review may begin as early as August 20,2026.

Contact Information

For more information or questions about a job posting, please contact the Department of Human Resources by phone at [phone] or by email at [e-mail].

For technical support, please call the USG Service Desk at [phone], or email [e-mail].

USG Core Values

The University System of Georgia is comprised of our 25institutions of higher education and learning as well as the SystemOffice. Our USG Statement of Core Values are Integrity, Excellence,Accountability, and Respect.These values serve as thefoundation for all that we do as an organization, and each USGcommunity member is responsible for demonstrating and upholdingthese standards.More details on the USG Statement of CoreValues and Code of Conduct are available in USG Board Policy8.2.18.1.2 and can be found on-line at https://www.usg.edu/policymanual/section8/C224/#p8.2.18_personnel_conduct.

Additionally, USG supports Freedom of Expression as stated inBoard Policy 6.5 Freedom of Expression and Academic Freedom found on-line at https://www.usg.edu/policymanual/section6/C2653.

Conditions of Employment

Offers of employment are contingent upon completion ofbackground investigation including a criminal background checkdemonstrating your eligibility for employment with Georgia SouthernUniversity, as determined by Georgia Southern University in itssole discretion, confirmation of the credentials and employmenthistory reflected in your application materials and, if applicable,a satisfactory credit check. Applicants may be subject to apre-employment drug test.

Offers are made expressly subject to the applicable federal andstate laws