Student Development Director

Cal Alumni Association | UC Berkeley; Berkeley (CA); On-site; USD 85,000 - 105,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Healthcare benefits

Retirement plan with company match

Paid time off—vacation and holidays

Employee discounts and campus programs

Job summary

The Cal Alumni Association (CAA) at UC Berkeley seeks a Student Development Director who will anchor the alumni HQ, advance student financial wellness, and oversee a team of front desk staff and interns within a complex university setting.

Reporting to the Senior Director - Facilities Operations, this role drives program architecture, campus collaboration, and space management to create a learning laboratory that empowers undergraduates to translate awards into early career paths.

Qualifications

• 4–6 years of experience in student affairs, higher education administration, or facilities operations.
• Deep understanding of the modern higher education environment across silos.
• Proven ability to scale small teams into high-impact workforces.
• Experience supervising complex business units and staff.
• Familiarity with spatial planning and flexible office layouts.
• Strong financial literacy and collaboration with finance leadership.
• Elite communication skills for mentoring students and briefing executives.

Responsibilities

• Architect and execute a growth strategy to scale intern units across CAA.
• Design and deliver career-readiness curricula for undergrad interns.
• Oversee stipends administration and budget alignment with campus requirements.
• Lead front desk staffing, facility operations, and SOPs to ensure excellent visitor experiences.
• Coordinate space planning and procurement of assets for the intern program.

Skills

Student affairs

Higher education administration

Facilities operations

Team leadership

Budgeting

Strategic planning

Stakeholder coordination

Job description

The Cal Alumni Association (CAA) provides all Cal graduates with rewarding connections to the university, to fellow alums, and to current students. Founded by the original graduates of the University of California in 1872, the Cal Alumni Association today represents more than half a million alums living throughout the world.

Student Development Director

The Student Development Director serves as the operational anchor of the alumni headquarters while championing the professional growth, and financial wellness of UC Berkeley students. Reporting directly to the Senior Director - Facilities Operations, this leader maintains multi-faceted oversight over a dedicated team of front desk staff and a separate, permanent cohort of undergraduate student interns. Operating within a matrixed and highly complex institutional landscape, the Director manages daily facility hospitality operations, implements strategic planning for student workplaces, and serves as the lead architect and strategist tasked with scaling a compact student intern unit into a dynamic, impactful workforce within CAA. This role transforms the headquarters in a strategically designed learning laboratory that requires navigation at various levels of the higher education environment to deliver critical experiential financial support to undergraduate students.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Program Architecture, Workforce Scaling & Student Financial Benefits (55%)

• Workforce Development Strategy: Architect and execute a growth strategy to scale a compact student intern unit into a highly visible, dynamic, and integrated workforce amongst all CAA departments.
• Project Management & Design: Design, implement, and facilitate a professional development and career-readiness curriculum for the undergraduate intern cohort, through real world organizational deliverables, in collaboration with CAA objectives.
• Financial Benefit Coordination: Oversee the administration, tracking, and compliance of student experiential stipends designed to directly offset individual costs of student attendance. Monitor, allocate and budget funds effectively, in collaboration with CAA senior leadership.
• Campus Financial Liaison: Partner directly with campus departments, external partners, and the UC Berkeley Financial Aid & Scholarships Office to coordinate student placement, stipend eligibility, and adherence to university financial aid packaging regulations.
• Mentorship & Feedback: Provide individual coaching and oversight, structured performance reviews, and career-readiness mentorship to help students leverage their financial awards into early career placement.

Front Desk Personnel Leadership & Facility Management (25%)

• Staff Supervision: Oversee the recruitment, training, daily duties, and performance evaluations of the front desk staff team.
• Facility Operations: Direct the daily visitor experience, security protocols, multi-line phone routing, mail/shipping distribution, and lobby logistics for the CAA headquarters.
• Scheduling Coordination: Manage a multi-faceted operation to ensure proper utilization and staffing of applicable CAA spaces.
• Service Standards: Establish and enforce standard operating procedures (SOPs) to maintain a exemplary hospitality environment for visiting alumni, faculty, and VIP guests, while enhancing organization-wide communication, efficiency and productivity.

Spatial Management & Learning Laboratory Optimization (10%)

• Spatial Design & Utilization: Strategically plan, configure, and manage the physical layout of the student workspace to maximize footprint utility and ensure an environment conducive to organizational needs and requirements.
• Compliance & Safety: Maintain physical workspace layouts that adhere to campus safety guidelines, resource efficiency, resource allocation and professional workstation standards.
• Resource Allocation: Oversee the procurement, setup, and maintenance of the physical assets, technology, and flexible furniture configurations necessary to support an evolving, high-occupancy student cohort within the facility.

Administrative Management & Operational Strategy (10%)

• Budget Oversight: Formulate and manage the front desk operational budget, reception supplies, vendor contracts, and digital visitor-check-in systems.
• Impact Documentation: Compile programmatic data, track student retention metrics, and author progress reports detailing the career placement success, spatial efficiency, and financial benefit metrics of the internship program.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Experience: 4–6 years of experience in student affairs, higher education administration, hospitality management, facilities operations, or front-office leadership.
• Higher Education Acumen: Deep institutional understanding of the modern higher education environment, with proven success navigating and collaborating across multiple departmental silos, administrative tiers, and structural hierarchies.
• Strategic Maintenance & Growth: Proven success or demonstrated capability in program selective hiring, cross-departmental integration, or transforming small teams into high-impact workforces.
• Complex Leadership: Proven success maintaining oversight over complex business units, including the direct supervision of permanent operational staff.
• Spatial & Facilities Familiarity: Demonstrated capability or familiarity with spatial planning, workspace optimization, or managing flexible collaborative office layouts.
• Financial Literacy: Familiarity with higher education financial frameworks, collaboration with finance and senior leadership budgetary directives.
• Communication: Elite interpersonal skills; able to seamlessly transition between mentoring undergraduate students, managing daily operational staff, and briefing executive leadership.

Preferred Qualifications

• UC Ecosystem Navigation: Demonstrated capability working directly within the University of California (UC) ecosystem, showcasing the ability to effectively communicate and align strategies at various levels—from direct engagement with undergraduate students to collaboration with executive campus leadership and senior campus partners.
• Financial Aid Acumen: Demonstrated experience collaborating with UC Financial Aid departments.

Compensation

This position is classified as an at-will, full-time, exempt position. Pay range is $85,000 - $105,000 annualized. This position is eligible to participate in healthcare benefits, and a retirement plan with company match. We offer great work-life balance opportunities with generous vacation and holiday time-off benefits. CAA staff, while not University of California employees, are eligible for many UC Berkeley staff programs, professional development and networking opportunities, and discounts on campus. We have a friendly and professional environment, and we pride ourselves on our team approach.

Benefits

For Our Full-time Employees:

CAA offers an excellent health care and supplemental benefits packages, 403(b), a generous paid time-off benefit, and more. We have a friendly, relaxed but professional environment, and we pride ourselves on our team approach.

Health Care Benefits:

• CAA employees are required to contribute 10% of their total medical premium for the employee and 20% for any eligible dependents.
• CAA pays 100% of the premiums for Dental and Vision benefits for the employee and any eligible dependents.

Paid Time Off Benefits:

• Vacation: 16 days/year for first 2 years of service, 18 days/year after completing 2 years of service, 21 days/year after completing 5 years of service.
• Sick time: 12 days/year
• Holidays: 11 total per year
• Paid time off between Dec 26 and Dec 31
• Birthday Holiday: 1 Day off

Professional Development:

• As affiliates to UC Berkeley, CAA employees are eligible to participate in many of the on-campus professional development workshops, seminars and professional networks available to UCB employees. Please note that this does not include undergraduate or graduate courses offered to students.
• CAA has a partnership with UC Berkeley Extension that offers our employees a discount on enrollment fees.

Financial Benefits:

• 403(b) retirement savings plan with a company match
• Supplemental Insurance with 100% of premiums paid by CAA:
  • Life Insurance
  • AD&D Insurance
  • LTD Insurance
• Option to purchase supplemental insurance plans from AFLAC

Commuting and Parking:

• If you're a commuter, consider taking advantage our pre-tax public transit commuter benefit. You can load your Clipper Card or pay public transit fare with pre-tax dollars.
• Cal Bear Pass: Take advantage of UCB's partnership with AC Transit. The partnership offers a cost savings of up to 70% off the standard monthly bus pass rate! CAA employees are eligible to purchase an AC transit pass at the faculty/staff discount rate with pre-tax payroll deductions.
• UCB Campus Parking Permit: As affiliates to UCB, our CAA employees are eligible to purchase a campus parking permit at the faculty/staff discount rate with pre-tax payroll deductions.

Access to Campus Programs and Discounts:

• Eligible to join the Recreational Sports Facility (RSF) at the Faculty/Staff discount rate
• Special campus events
• Free admission to the University Art Museum
• Discount tickets for Cal Performances, Pacific Film Archive, and Hertz Hall
• AirBears: wireless internet access on campus