Vice President, Operations

Article Student Living; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 175,000 - 185,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance—PPO or equivalent

Flexible PTO and holidays

401(k) with match

Paid parental leave

Pay on demand

Annual performance review and bonus

Job summary

Article Student Living is seeking a Vice President, Operations to provide executive leadership for property operations and field support across its national student housing portfolio from the Chicago office.

This role establishes operating strategy, performance standards, systems, and development programs enabling site and regional teams to deliver consistent financial, leasing, resident-experience, and people results.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in student housing or multifamily operations.
• Experience leading regional, portfolio, or enterprise-level operations.
• Strong financial acumen including budgeting and forecasting.

Responsibilities

• Set vision, strategy, priorities for property operations and field support across the portfolio.
• Lead, coach, and develop operations leaders, building accountability and succession plans.
• Drive portfolio financial and operating performance including occupancy, renewals, and revenue opportunities.
• Partner with Accounting, Asset Management and other teams on budgets, forecasts, and ownership reporting.
• Create and maintain operating standards, policies, and playbooks for disciplined execution across markets.
• Oversee onboarding, takeovers, leasing, and stabilization plans across properties.

Skills

Executive leadership

Strategic planning

Property management

Entrata

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree

Advanced degree preferred

Tools

Entrata platform

Job description

Article Student Living is hiring a Vice President, Operations to provide executive leadership for property operations and field support across our national student housing portfolio. This role establishes the operating strategy, performance standards, systems, and development programs that enable site and regional teams to deliver consistent financial, leasing, resident-experience, and people results.

The Vice President, Operations leads the Director, Property Management, part of the Regional Manager team and at times a Regional Vice President, with responsibility for portfolio performance, leadership development, operational readiness, and scalable processes. This role partners closely with Sales & Leasing, Accounting, Asset Management, Facilities, Human Resources, Marketing, and Systems Support to align execution with company and ownership objectives.

This position reports to the Chief Operating Officer, may travel up to 35% as needed.

Location:

This position requires working onsite from our Chicago, IL office; remote work arrangements are not available for this role.

Compensation:

$175K - $185K

Key Responsibilities:

• Set the vision, strategy, annual priorities, and performance expectations for property operations and field support across the portfolio.
• Lead, coach, and develop the Director, Property Management and operations leaders, building accountability, succession plans, and a strong leadership pipeline.
• Drive portfolio financial and operating performance, including revenue growth, NOI, controllable expenses, occupancy, renewals, leasing velocity, collections, resident experience, and reputation results.
• Partner with Accounting and Asset Management on annual budgets, revenue assumptions, monthly forecasts, variance reviews, expense controls, capital planning, and ownership reporting.
• Create and maintain consistent operating standards, policies, procedures, playbooks, checklists, and performance-management tools that support disciplined execution across markets.
• Oversee new property onboarding, management transitions, takeovers, lease-ups, new development start-ups, and stabilization plans, ensuring operational, staffing, and leasing readiness.
• Oversee the Property Performance Snapshot (PPS) and other performance-management tools, ensuring reporting and accountability processes evolve with operational needs, systems, and company priorities.
• Partner with Sales & Leasing, Marketing, and property leadership on leasing strategy, revenue opportunities, renewal performance, and execution of portfolio-wide campaigns and initiatives.
• Partner with Systems Support to strengthen Entrata utilization, reporting, technology adoption, workflow consistency, and process improvement at the property and portfolio levels.
• Establish portfolio review rhythms, operating audits, site-visit standards, and action-planning processes to identify risk, reinforce accountability, and improve performance.
• Business Systems Management: serve as the hands‑on owner of Article’s core business systems including Entrata and at times other that integrate directly with Entrata. Oversee configuration, integrations, and daily system operations to ensure data accuracy, performance, and reliability. Manage system governance, workflows, permissions, and automation across departments. Lead onboarding, data migrations, and system transitions for new developments and acquisitions.
• Ensure compliance with fair housing, safety, company policies, and operational controls through audits, documentation, and corrective action.
• Serve as the executive operations liaison to ownership groups, joint‑venture partners, and internal stakeholders, representing performance, risks, recommendations, and action plans.
• Lead cross‑functional initiatives that improve efficiency, team capacity, resident experience, and scalability, and provide clear reporting and recommendations to executive leadership.
• Partner with Human Resources on organizational design, staffing plans, role clarity, performance expectations, succession planning, and talent development for field and support teams.
• Experience designing and scaling operational standards, onboarding processes, leadership development, policies, procedures, and performance‑management programs.
• Experience leading field‑based leaders and cross‑functional initiatives through influence, accountability, and change management.
• Experience with lease‑ups, takeovers, new developments, stabilized assets, and operational transitions.
• Advanced knowledge of property management systems, including Entrata or comparable platforms.
• Ability to travel up to 35% of the time.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree preferred
• 10+ years of student housing or multifamily property management experience, including 5+ years leading regional, portfolio, or enterprise-level operations
• Demonstrated success improving financial and operating performance across a geographically dispersed, multi-site portfolio
• Strong financial acumen, including revenue management, budgeting, forecasting, expense control, variance analysis, capital planning, and ownership reporting

Professional Demeanor & Work Style:

• Balances revenue growth, expense discipline, resident experience, and team development in decision-making
• Strategic, people-first executive who translates company goals into clear operating priorities and measurable results
• Builds scalable systems while remaining connected to property-level execution and field-team needs
• Develops leaders, strengthens accountability, and creates opportunities for growth and succession
• Collaborates effectively across departments, ownership groups, and levels of the organization
• Communicates with clarity, exercises sound judgment, and drives initiatives through completion
• Exhibits each of Article’s core values: authenticity, agility, accountability, and being all-in

Our Benefits:

• Health (PPO or HSA), dental, and vision
• Flexible PTO and 13 paid holidays
• 401(k) with 100% match up to 5%
• Paid parental leave
• Pay on demand
• Annual performance review and bonus program