Director, Business Operations

ABOUT THE POSITION 

The Chicago School is seeking a Director, Business Operations to lead key operations processes, risk management, and operational effectiveness activities across the University. Reporting to the Associate Vice President Business Operations, this role works collaboratively with leaders across departments to strengthen organizational effectiveness, support informed decision-making, and help ensure institutional priorities are implemented successfully. 

The Director serves as an operational leader responsible for managing university-wide processes and priorities.  The role is responsible for ensuring critical operational activities are executed consistently, stakeholders remain accountable for assigned responsibilities, and University leaders receive timely information to support effective decision-making. Working collaboratively across departments, the Director helps translate institutional priorities into structured processes, measurable outcomes, and sustained operational improvements. 

This position is remote and may be based anywhere within the United States. Preference may be given to candidates located near one of The Chicago School's campuses. Occasional travel may be required to support meetings, planning activities, training, and University events. Travel is typically to one of the university’s campus locations and varies based on business needs. 

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES 

Operations Management  

• Develop, maintain, and administer the University’s operational calendar, ensuring process owners understand expectations, meet established deadlines, and complete required deliverables.  

• Maintain and oversee operational review and implementation processes, ensuring initiatives are appropriately documented, communicated, implemented, and evaluated in accordance with institutional requirements. 

• Develop and maintain implementation tracking tools, documentation, and reporting processes that support accountability, transparency, and informed decision-making. Identify implementation risks, barriers, and dependencies, coordinate resolution efforts, and escalate issues as appropriate. 

• Lead special projects and initiatives as assigned; support cross-functional efforts related to institutional priorities and emerging operational needs. Complete operational and financial analyses required to ensure priorities are supported by near-term budgets and longer-term financial planning.  

Risk, Compliance, and Continuity 

• Maintain and oversee the University’s cross-functional risk and compliance committee and related activities, including the compliance calendar, business continuity planning, and the enterprise risk management framework. Collaborate with leaders and teams to ensure inclusive planning and aligned implementation.  

• Manage the University’s policy and procedure administration process, including repository management, drafting and review requirements, and accountability for policy owners.  

• Ensure university-wide compliance obligations are tracked and completed in a timely manner (e.g., records retention and destruction activities). Produce recurring reports and recommendations regarding compliance obligations and areas of potential risk for University leadership. 

Operational Effectiveness Oversight  

• Develop and manage operational effectiveness review cycles for assigned departments, including timelines, reporting requirements, stakeholder communications, and final reporting. 

• Establish and maintain review criteria, performance measures, documentation standards, and reporting expectations that support meaningful assessment and continuous improvement. 

• Ensure findings, recommendations, and improvement plans are documented, communicated to relevant stakeholders, and translated into actionable follow-up activities that are completed on-time and to a high-quality standard. 

• Monitor progress on improvement plans and follow-up actions, holding stakeholders accountable for agreed-upon commitments and timelines. Produce recurring reports that identify trends, opportunities, operational challenges, and areas requiring leadership attention. Partner with leaders and departments to ensure review findings inform planning, resource allocation, operational priorities, and decision-making. 

Team Leadership and Development 

• Hire, supervise, develop, and evaluate assigned personnel. Support professional development and continuous learning opportunities that strengthen individual and team performance. 

• Establish goals, priorities, and performance expectations for team members and monitor progress toward established objectives. Ensure work products are delivered accurately, on time, and in alignment with departmental and institutional objectives. 

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS 

• Bachelor's degree or the equivalent in terms of formal education and training in a related field. 

• Five (5) years of progressively responsible experience in higher education, operations, compliance, assessment, project management, organizational effectiveness, or a related area. 

• Experience developing and managing cross-functional projects, initiatives, and/or institutional processes. 

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS 

• Higher education experience. 

• Experience driving financial modeling, institutional assessment, continuous improvement, compliance, risk management, and/or operational review processes. 

• Experience developing reports, dashboards, or performance measures to support organizational decision-making. 

• Technical capability with business intelligence and productivity tools (e.g., Power BI, Workday, Office 365) 

• Experience with process mapping, workflow design, process automation, or continuous improvement methodologies. 

• Experience analyzing operational, financial, or performance data to support organizational decision-making.