Executive Director of Career Development

When applying you will be required to attach the following electronic documents: 

1) A resume

2) A cover letter indicating how your qualifications and experience have prepared you for this position. 

Starting salary will be commensurate with skills, education, and experience. 

For additional information please contact:  

Bruce Douglas

[email protected]

The Career Development Center is seeking an Executive Director of Career Development. This is a full-time (1.00 FTE), 12-month, professional faculty position.

The Executive Director of Career Development provides university-wide leadership for career development at Oregon State University, advancing a comprehensive, coordinated and student-centered career ecosystem that serves undergraduate and graduate students across Corvallis, OSU-Cascades in Bend, and Ecampus. The Executive Director leads the strategy, programs, partnerships, operations and assessment efforts that help students explore purpose, build career readiness and advancement, connect academic learning to future pathways, engage with employers and alumni, and transition successfully to meaningful work, graduate education, service, entrepreneurship and other post-graduation opportunities.

This position is responsible for building upon Oregon State University’s ecosystem of career development and the vision of Beyond OSU: a university-wide commitment to integrating career development across the student experience so that every student has access to timely, relevant and inclusive career learning, experiences and connections. The Executive Director works collaboratively across the institution, including academic colleges, Student Affairs, Academic Affairs, OSU-Cascades, Ecampus, graduate education, advising, experiential learning, alumni engagement, employer relations, industry partnerships, student employment/University Human Resources, faculty and staff networks, and other university partners to strengthen career readiness as a shared institutional priority.

The Executive Director provides strategic leadership for the Career Development Center and related career development initiatives, including career education, career integration, employer and alumni engagement, experiential learning, technology, data, assessment, staff development, resource stewardship, and university-wide partnerships. This role develops and evaluates short- and long-range plans, sets standards for high-quality and equitable career development practices, and leads efforts to ensure that career development is intentionally embedded within curricular and co-curricular experiences for students across modalities, campuses and academic levels.

The Executive Director reports to the Associate Vice President of Student Affairs and serves as a member of the Associate Vice President’s leadership team. In this capacity, the Executive Director contributes to Student Affairs priorities, collaborates with peer leaders across the division, and helps align career development strategy with broader divisional and university goals for student success, engagement, belonging, well-being and post-graduation outcomes.

Key Responsibilities:

• Strategic Leadership, Vision and Management

• University Engagement, Career Integration and Student Experience

• External Relations, Employer Engagement and Workforce Partnerships

• Assessment, Data and Continuous Improvement

• Student Affairs and Institutional Leadership

Required Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in higher education, student affairs, counseling, education, business, human resources, organizational leadership, career development or a related field.
• Four years progressively responsible leadership experience in career development, student affairs, higher education administration, workforce development, employer relations, experiential learning, academic/student success programming or a related field.
• Experience leading strategic planning, program development, implementation and assessment for complex programs or services.
• Three years supervisory experience, including hiring, training, coaching, performance management and supporting professional development of staff.
• Demonstrated ability to build and sustain collaborative partnerships across a complex organization, including with faculty, staff, administrators, students and external stakeholders.
• A commitment to promoting and enhancing inclusive excellence.
• Excellent interpersonal, written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to communicate effectively with senior leaders, campus partners, employers, alumni, students and community stakeholders.
• Demonstrated experience in building partnerships and relationships with stakeholders, including ability to navigate conflict and find solutions to shared challenges.
• Demonstrated ability to use data, assessment and evidence-based practices to inform decision-making, evaluate outcomes and guide continuous improvement.
• Experience managing budgets, resources, projects, technology systems or operational processes.
• Ability to exercise independent judgment, diplomacy, discretion and confidentiality in a complex and highly collaborative environment.

This position is designated as a critical or security-sensitive position; therefore, the incumbent must successfully complete a criminal history check and be determined to be position qualified as per University Standard: 05-010 et seq. Incumbents are required to self-report convictions and those in youth programs may have additional criminal history checks every 24 months. 

Preferred Qualifications:

• Doctoral degree in higher education, student affairs, education, leadership, counseling, workforce development or a related field.
• Significant leadership experience in a college or university career center or in a role responsible for institution-wide career development strategy.
• Experience leading career development initiatives across multiple campuses, modalities or student populations, including undergraduate, graduate and online learners.
• Experience integrating career development into curricular and co-curricular learning environments in partnership with faculty, academic leadership, advisors and student success units.
• Experience developing or leading employer relations, alumni engagement, experiential learning, internship, mentoring or workforce partnership strategies.
• Knowledge of national trends, standards and best practices in career development, career readiness, inclusive career education, employer engagement and post-graduation outcomes.
• Experience working within a large, public, land-grant or research university environment.
• Experience with career development technologies, career management systems, data dashboards, survey processes or student success platforms.
• Demonstrated success leading organizational change, building shared vision and aligning diverse stakeholders around institutional priorities.
• Knowledge of Oregon State University’s student experience, academic structure, campuses, Ecampus, OSU-Cascades, Student Affairs, alumni networks, employer partnerships or workforce development landscape.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer, including disability, protected veteran, and other protected status.

OSU will conduct a review of the National Sex Offender Public website prior to hire.
OSU is a fair chance employer committed to inclusive hiring. We encourage applications from candidates who bring a wide range of lived experience including involvement with the justice system. If this position has “critical or security-sensitive” responsibilities and/or driving duties and you are selected as a finalist, your initial job offer will be contingent upon the results of a job-related pre-employment check (such as a background check, motor vehicle history check, sexual misconduct reference check, etc.). Background check results do not automatically disqualify a candidate. Take a look at our Background Checks website including the for candidates section for more details. If you have questions or concerns about the pre-employment check, please contact OSU’s Employee and Labor Relations team at [email protected].