Executive Director, Employer Engagement & Partnerships

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The Executive Director, Employer Engagement & Partnerships provides strategic leadership for building and growing employer relationships that drive talent acquisition and experiential learning for University of Miami students and alumni. This position serves as the University's lead strategist and thought leader on employer engagement, cultivating relationships with corporate, nonprofit, government, and healthcare organizations to generate full-time hiring pipelines, internships, co-ops, mentoring, industry projects, and other applied learning opportunities for students and faculty across the entire University. Reporting to the Associate Vice President, Career Services, the Executive Director creates, implements, and assesses a university-wide ("OneU") employer engagement strategy, partners with academic departments, key university offices and career services colleagues to align employer engagement activity with student career outcomes, and represents the University to employers as the primary point of contact for recruiting talent and building experiential learning partnerships. The Executive Director leads through influence, relationship management, coordination, and collaboration, making connections and facilitating warm handoffs to colleagues who own or oversee specific areas of engagement. The Executive Director serves all 12 schools and colleges and schools reaching more than 19,000 undergraduate and graduate students.

PRIMARY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Employer Partnership Development for Talent Acquisition and Experiential Learning

• Develops and implements a comprehensive employer partnership strategy focused on growing student hiring pipelines (full-time, part-time, and contract) and experiential learning opportunities (internships, co-ops, practicums, and applied projects).

• Identifies, cultivates, and manages relationships with regional, national, and global employers to secure recruiting commitments, on-campus and virtual recruiting activity, and experiential learning opportunities across all colleges and majors.

• Builds and maintains a robust pipeline of employer partners that expands the volume and quality of job, internship, and experiential learning opportunities available to students.

• Designs new models of employer engagement, such as sponsored projects, employer-in-residence programs, and career treks, that create additional pathways from the classroom to employment.

• Creates, implements, and assesses a University-wide employer engagement strategy, including a targeted and proactive multi-sector outreach approach and mechanisms for gathering employer input.

Relationship Management and Business Development

• Serves as a primary institutional contact for employers seeking to recruit and hire University of Miami students or to establish experiential learning partnerships.

• Manages a portfolio of high-impact employer relationships, tracking hiring activity, internship placements, and student outcomes generated by each partnership.

• Engages executive leaders, including corporate, nonprofit, healthcare, and government stakeholders, to expand recruiting commitments and experiential learning capacity.

• Represents the University at career fairs, professional conferences, industry meetings, and employer engagement events focused on talent acquisition and experiential learning.

• Cultivates strong relationships with employers, industry leaders, community partners, faculty, and University stakeholders to advance strategic objectives.

Collaboration with Academic and Career Services Partners

• Partners with schools and colleges, university partners (executive & continuing education; research; corporate/foundation relations) and career services colleagues to align employer engagement activity with curriculum, programs, initiatives and students' career goals.

• Coordinates with career services staff to ensure employer partnerships translate into job & internship opportunities, recruiting events, and experiential learning experiences accessible to students.

• Serves as a connector for employers whose interests extend beyond talent acquisition and experiential learning, ensuring a warm handoff to the appropriate University colleague while avoiding duplicative outreach.

Market Intelligence and Strategic Planning

• Leads implementation of workforce development strategies by analyzing labor market trends, assessing employer needs, and building talent pipeline and training initiatives.

• Evaluates partnership performance using metrics such as hires, internship placements, and student participation, and recommends strategies for continuous improvement.

• Establishes and monitors key performance indicators, ensuring accountability, measurable outcomes, and continuous improvement across all areas of responsibility.

• Utilizes CRM systems and partnership analytics to track employer engagement and support data-driven decision-making.

• Identifies emerging industries and employers that align with University programs and student career interests.

• Oversees assessment, outcomes, and data on employer engagement for reporting and tracking, and provides reports to University leadership.

Leadership and Administration

• Provides leadership and direction for employer engagement initiatives and assigned staff focused on talent acquisition and experiential learning.

• Directly supervises professional staff  (4-5) responsible for employer relations, talent acquisition partnerships, and experiential learning initiatives. Responsible for hiring, training, performance management, and professional development of assigned personnel.

• Serves as a senior leader and strategic advisor, providing expertise in workforce development, employer engagement, partnership management, and change leadership.

• Provides professional development and training for employer relations team members from across campus.

• Establishes goals, performance expectations, and operational priorities for the employer engagement function, centered on hiring and experiential learning outcomes for students.

• Advises University leadership on employer recruiting trends and strategies for expanding student hiring and experiential learning opportunities.

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KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, ABILITIES (KSA)

• Strong business development and relationship management skills, with a focus on converting employer relationships into hiring and experiential learning outcomes for students.

• Demonstrated commitment to valuing diversity and contributing to an inclusive working and learning environment

• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment

• Demonstrated ability to build and sustain executive-level partnerships with employers.

• Excellent communication, presentation, negotiation, and facilitation skills.

• Ability to work effectively with academic departments and career services colleagues to align employer engagement with student needs.

• Experience analyzing data and utilizing CRM systems to manage partnership and recruiting activity.

• Ability to develop and execute strategic initiatives that expand student hiring and experiential learning opportunities.

• Strong project management and organizational skills.

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EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS

• Bachelor's degree in business administration, Higher Education Administration, Public Administration, Communications, Marketing, Human Resources, or related field required.

• Master’s degree preferred in higher education, human resources/recruiting, communications or related area.

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WORK EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS

• Minimum of eight years of progressively responsible experience in business development, strategic partnerships, corporate rel