Registrar

Sonoran Desert Institute; Tempe (AZ); On-site; USD 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Company-paid medical

401(k) with match

EAP

Pet Insurance

Life Insurance

PTO

14 holidays

Referral program

Career development

Job summary

Sonoran Desert Institute seeks a seasoned Registrar to lead the Office of the Registrar, ensuring integrity, security, and compliance of all student records. The role drives daily operations, policy implementation, and collaborations with faculty, IT, and Admissions.

The ideal candidate has 5+ years in a registrar role, strong leadership, and deep knowledge of FERPA and accreditation standards, with experience in SIS and reporting tools.

Qualifications

• Five years in a Registrar role in higher education
• Experience leading teams and managing workflows
• Strong knowledge of FERPA, Title IV, accreditation standards, and DEAC requirements
• Experience with student information systems (SIS) and reporting tools (Anthology, Power BI)

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage all aspects of the Registrar Office
• Ensure compliance with FERPA and federal/state regulations
• Oversee SAP monitoring, registration, degree audits, and transcript processing
• Collaborate with IT on records retention and business continuity
• Prepare budgets and manage departmental goals and SLAs
• Support student success through academic services

Skills

Leadership

Data analysis

FERPA compliance

Communication

Tools

Anthology

Power BI

Job description

About this position

Lead Academic Integrity. Support Student Success. Drive Excellence in the Registrar’s Office.

We’re Sonoran Desert Institute and we are seeking an experienced Registrar to join our amazing team

Our story:

Sonoran Desert Institute (SDI) has been changing lives since 2000. As a DEAC accredited school, our mission is to provide students with current, industry-driven, quality education, delivered through online distance education and practical applications. SDI is an employee-owned company creating a culture with an ownership mentality at the foundation. We believe in rewarding our employees through the success of the institution. We’re proud to be recognized by the Great Place to Work Institute as a Great Place to Work for four consecutive years 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026. Come be a part of our dynamic organization where you will have the ability to impact the lives of others as they pursue their educational journey with us.

What you will be doing:

The Registrar serves as a leader to assist students, staff, and faculty with a variety of academic services and is responsible for maintaining and contributing to the integrity, confidentiality, and security of all student records while ensuring compliance and adherence with all state, federal, and regulatory agencies. The Registrar is accountable to optimize the daily operations of the Office of the Registrar by effectively providing oversight for the maintenance and integrity of all academic records. The Registrar is expected to continuously improve efficiencies and functionality in the Office of the Registrar to meet strategic needs by monitoring reconciliation of attendance, grade posting, satisfactory academic progress (SAP) monitoring, registration, degree audits, student status changes, etc. within the student information system (SIS).

• Provides leadership and manages all aspects of the Office of the Registrar department
• Accountable for data collection and analysis of generated reports for decision making to develop and modify policies and procedures in accordance with state, federal, and privacy laws (including FERPA)
• Ability to handle high pressure situations and function in a changing and often busy environment to meet operational goals or organizational requirements
• Assists with the development and documentation of standard operating procedures and system processes
• Demonstrates clear understanding of academic program requirements to formulate, interpret, and enforce academic policies and procedures within specified workflows
• Coordinates updates and modifications to the student information system(s) and assists with the implementation of new academic programs including user acceptance testing
• Ensure student notifications of policy changes and relevant staff and management training for such changes are required
• Establishes and secures educational partnerships and articulation agreements with transfer institutions
• Establishes appropriate staffing levels to support internal service level agreements (SLAs) and achieve departmental and institutional goals in alignment with budgetary guidelines
• Coordinates with Faculty Services to establish best practices of efficient section building, course scheduling and load balance to achieve institutional ratios and limits
• Ensures accurate determination of students’ graduation eligibility and monitors the coordination of student eligibility for honor societies
• Monitors the conferral of degrees/certificates
• Oversee the distribution of graduation packages and official transcripts
• Oversees fulfillment of enrollment and degree verification requests, loan deferment certifications, and employment verification letters
• Manage and maintain submission of external reporting including U.S. Department of Education (ED) Enrollment Reporting
• Oversees the academic grade appeal and relevant grievance process, ensuring timely and consistent resolution in accordance with institutional policy
• In coordination with Information Technology, maintains a records retention and business continuity plan for academic records to ensure data integrity, security, and recoverability in the event of a system disruption
• Participates in leadership meetings and prepares budgets to appropriately support department functions and goals
• Collaborates with leadership teams and effectively manages working relationships with external vendors
• Participate in professional development opportunities and identifies training opportunities for the team
• Contributes to the overall success of the Institute by performing all other duties as assigned
• Comprehensive benefits package with 100% company-paid medical option for employee
• 401(k) with generous company match and no vesting
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Pet Insurance
• Company-paid Life insurance
• Paid Time Off (Vacation, Sick, and Volunteer time off!)
• 14 Paid holidays
• Referral program
• Career development opportunities with a growing company
• And perhaps most importantly, a team who is dedicated to your success!

Requirements

What we are looking for:

• Minimum five years experience in a Registrar role or related profession within higher education, ideally in a proprietary institution(s)
• Minimum five years of experience leading and managing successful teams
• Strong knowledge of FERPA, Title IV, accreditation standards, and federal/state higher education regulations, including DEAC requirements and student achievement, SAP, and academic catalog disclosures
• Working knowledge of state authorization requirements and NC-SARA for multi-state online enrollment
• Experience with student information systems and reporting/analytics tools, preferably Anthology and Power BI, with the ability to use data to support informed decision-making
• Strong understanding of registration, grading, degree audits, transcript processing, and student record management, with exceptional attention to accuracy and confidentiality
• Proven ability to lead, develop, and motivate teams, delegate responsibilities, prioritize competing demands, meet deadlines, and drive process improvements
• Excellent communication, analytical, problem-solving, and cross-functional collaboration skills, with the ability to explain policies and procedures and work effectively with faculty, IT, Admissions, and other institutional stakeholders

Sonoran Desert Institute is an Equal Opportunity Employer. It recruits and hires without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sex, national origin, age, veteran or disability status, sexual orientation, gender expression, or any factors prohibited by law and affirms in policy and practice to support equal opportunity in accordance with all applicable federal, state, and local laws.

*Unless specifically agreed upon, SDI does not provide relocation assistance

**Applicants must be authorized to work for any employer in the U.S. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment visa at this time.

***All benefits not available immediately upon hire. Some eligibility requirements may need to be met to be eligible for some benefits based on company policy