Senior Director of Student Success Operations and Systems

Reporting to the Vice Provost for Student Success (VPSS), the Senior Director manages the technical and operational workflows for the division, overseeing project management, data integration, and cross‑functional coordination of student‑facing units. The role ensures that Fordham students experience a seamless support journey from enrollment to graduation. The Senior Director serves as project manager for student‑success initiatives, ensuring deadlines are met and stakeholders informed, and provides the infrastructure to achieve the university’s retention and graduation goals.

Essential Functions

• Strategic Project Management
  • Direct daily operations of the VPSS office, translating strategic goals into daily work plans for supervised units.
  • Serve as the primary project manager for high‑priority initiatives.
  • Develop and maintain a master roadmap of all student‑success initiatives, ensuring cross‑departmental teams meet deadlines.
  • Design and execute communication plans to help faculty and staff transition to new technologies or policies.
• Data Integration & Performance Metrics
  • Lead the Student Success Council’s technical and data needs, ensuring deans have the specific metrics required to manage their schools.
  • Optimize the Ram Central platform and serve as functional lead for student‑success technology.
  • Partner with IT and Institutional Research to design dashboards tracking student persistence and equity gaps.
  • Synthesize complex data sets into actionable presentations or formats for VPSS and campus stakeholders.
  • Use data‑informed strategies to identify at‑risk students and deploy operational interventions to improve outcomes.
• Unit Coordination & Operational Excellence
  • Facilitate regular operational meetings among student‑success units to ensure policy alignment and shared goals.
  • Audit existing student pathways to identify and remove administrative barriers to success.
  • Oversee data collection strategies and frameworks to evaluate the impact and effectiveness of initiatives.
  • Manage the operational budget for the VPSS office and develop business cases for future staffing, investments, or technology needs.
  • Draft annual impact reports that quantify the value of student‑success initiatives for leadership and the Board of Trustees.

Required Qualifications:

• Education and Experience
  • Bachelor’s degree.
  • Minimum of 7 years of progressively responsible experience in higher education administration, operations, or project management.
• Knowledge and Skills
  • Expert‑level knowledge of information systems and CRM platforms, with a proven record of serving as a functional platform lead.
  • Deep understanding of data integration practices and business intelligence tools (e.g., Tableau, PowerBI) for dashboard design.
  • Ability to synthesize complex datasets and qualitative metrics into executive summaries, impact reports, and compelling presentations.
  • Proven ability to build deep collaborative networks across a diverse ecosystem.

Preferred Qualifications

• Specialized training in Project Management (PMP) or Lean Six Sigma.
• Strong foundational knowledge of contemporary student‑success frameworks, retention data models, and operational tactics for identifying and supporting at‑risk students.
• Deep resonance with Jesuit values, striving for excellence and continuous improvement in service of the student experience.

Compensation

• Minimum Salary: $120,000
• Maximum Salary: $140,000
• Salary commensurate with qualifications, experience, and skills.

EEO Statement

Fordham University is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, age, national origin, disability status, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.