Senior Associate Director of Admissions Operations

Position Description

The Senior Associate Director of Admissions, Operations and Systems plays a pivotal role in the Admissions department, reporting directly to the Senior Director of Admissions. This position is integral to developing and overseeing admissions systems, application evaluations, transfer credit assessments, and the overall processing of undergraduate admissions applications.

This is a hands-on position that requires actively implementing new business processes, optimizing systems, and driving operational efficiencies to support the Admissions team’s goals. The Senior Associate Director plays a crucial part in achieving enrollment objectives through effective use and knowledge of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems.

The Senior Associate Director will demonstrate curiosity and a passion for continuous learning; be a relentless and resourceful problem solver; and a selfless and positive member of an admissions team that is focused on collaboration toward meeting our collective goals.

Oversight of Admissions Systems and Business Processes (45%)

• Serve as the primary contact for the admissions CRM (Slate), ERP (Colleague), and other systems related to Undergraduate Admissions.
• Provide leadership and training on key systems, such as the CRM, to Admissions staff and campus partners.
• Collaborate with the Senior Associate Director of Admissions Recruitment to maintain and improve the application reading workflow.
• Oversee daily operations, including admission application updates, record entry, duplicate resolution, and vendor integrations.
• Collaborate with IT for testing and auditing admission applications, scholarship assignments, and admissions decisions.
• Collaborate with the admissions leadership team to drive a continuous improvement mindset with admissions systems and processes.

Supervision of Staff (30%)

• Provide supervision and leadership to six full-time staff including the assistant director for admissions systems and five evaluators.
• Create and maintain a prioritization of daily work. Ensure that critical tasks that the operations team is responsible for are done in a timely and accurate manner in sync with the overall admissions calendar.
• Focus on building a culture that emphasizes belonging, job satisfaction, and long term employee retention.

Admissions Evaluation (15%)

• Provide leadership and development for the evaluations team including screening admissions applications and articulating transfer coursework.
• Provide guidance and training on complex evaluation and articulation issues.
• Stay updated on trends in transfer credit management and collaborate with academic programs and other campus units.

Collaboration with Campus Partners (10%)

• Provide timely and efficient support to campus partners that depend upon the work of the operations team.
• Be a positive and generative collaborator in continuous business process improvement that drives smooth enrollment processes with team members in Marketing, Orientation, Student Success, Financial Services, The Office of the Registrar, and others.

Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree; or a combination of education and experience to successfully perform the duties and responsibilities of the job.
• At least five years of progressive undergraduate admissions experience with at least one year’s experience in operations.
• Direct hands on experience with systems operations, database management, and process development related to ERP and CRM systems.
• Direct experience with and knowledge of admissions office practices, procedures, and activities.
• Demonstrated attention to detail.
• Demonstrated to be a creative and relentless problem solver.
• Ability to use initiative and resourcefulness in planning work assignments and implementing process improvements.
• Excellent organizational and leadership skills.
• Superior oral and written communication skills.
• Demonstrated commitment to diversity and the mission, vision, and values of Seattle University.

Preferred Qualifications

• At least one year of Operations leadership at the Assistant or Associate Director level.
• Experience with Technolutions Slate CRM.
• Served as a Slate Captain.
• Knowledge of admissions, international admissions, and financial aid trends and issues.
• Experience documenting, analyzing, and flowcharting business processes, ideally in recruitment and enrollment projects, within a project management environment.
• Experience with moving data between systems using SFPT and API.
• Proficiency with key data management languages including SQL, Python, and Java.