Senior Associate Director - Predegree Admissions Policy

The Chronicle Of Higher Education, Inc.; Cambridge (MA); Hybrid; USD 90,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Harvard University’s Division of Continuing Education seeks a Senior Associate Director to lead admissions operations and planning at Harvard’s Cambridge campus. You will guide applicant recruitment, evaluation, events, and data-informed policy development, while supervising predegree advising staff.

The role demands extensive experience in admissions, policy interpretation, and cross-functional collaboration, with a focus on risk management and continuous process improvement.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience required.
• Minimum of 7 years’ relevant work experience.
• Master's degree in higher education administration, business administration, or related field strongly preferred.
• Significant experience in admissions, advising, student services, higher education administration, or related field.
• Demonstrated success supervising, coaching, and developing professional staff.
• Experience interpreting, applying, and communicating complex policies and regulations.
• Experience managing sensitive or high-risk situations using sound judgment, discretion, and diplomacy.
• Advanced proficiency with Microsoft Office applications, particularly Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.
• Experience with enterprise student information systems, CRM platforms, and reporting tools (Banner, Salesforce, JIRA/Confluence, or comparable systems) preferred.

Responsibilities

• Oversee consistent interpretation and administration of predegree advising and admissions policies and processes; supervise the advising team.
• Provide leadership on complex student matters and institutional risk; manage key departmental operations.
• Use data to inform policy, planning, decision-making, and continuous improvement.
• Ensure compliance with School and University admissions and academic policies and applicable legal requirements.
• Identify, monitor, and mitigate potential risks arising from admissions-related policies and student matters.
• Maintain departmental procedural resources, records, and databases to support consistent practices.
• Train and guide the advising team to ensure policy understanding and proper application.
• Collaborate with OPA&A leadership on annual processes for degree program changes and reporting.

Skills

Advising leadership

Policy interpretation

Data analysis

Cross-functional leadership

Risk management

Education

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent

Tools

Banner

Salesforce

JIRA/Confluence

Job description

Harvard University’s Division of Continuing Education seeks a Senior Associate Director to lead admissions operations and planning at Harvard’s Cambridge campus. You will guide applicant recruitment, evaluation, events, and data-informed policy development, while supervising predegree advising staff.

The role demands extensive experience in admissions, policy interpretation, and cross-functional collaboration, with a focus on risk management and continuous process improvement.