Director, Educational Partnerships & Early-Career Talent

Sonic Automotive, Inc.; Charlotte (NC); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Sonic Automotive is seeking a Director of Educational Partnerships in Charlotte, NC to design and lead Sonic's enterprise strategy for building long-term talent pipelines through partnerships with colleges, universities, and technical schools.

This role will develop early-career pathways aligned to Sonic’s high-performance culture, collaborating with academic leadership, career services, and dealership leaders to attract, develop, and place top emerging talent across the network.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience in talent acquisition, workforce strategy, campus recruiting, or external partnerships.
• Strong business acumen with the ability to translate talent strategy into operational impact.
• Experience influencing senior leaders in a multi-location or decentralized environment.
• Willingness to travel 40–50% to campuses and dealership locations.

Responsibilities

• Develop a national partnership strategy aligning with Sonic’s footprint and growth markets.
• Build relationships with academic leadership, career services, and faculty to embed Sonic into curricula.
• Lead campus recruiting activities including events, classroom engagement, and branded initiatives.
• Define success metrics and optimize ROI of educational partnerships.
• Deliver insights to executive leadership on program performance.

Skills

Partnership development

Campus recruiting

Talent acquisition

Strategic planning

Job description

Sonic Automotive is seeking a Director of Educational Partnerships in Charlotte, NC to design and lead Sonic's enterprise strategy for building long-term talent pipelines through partnerships with colleges, universities, and technical schools.

This role will develop early-career pathways aligned to Sonic’s high-performance culture, collaborating with academic leadership, career services, and dealership leaders to attract, develop, and place top emerging talent across the network.