Job SummaryThe Division of Enrollment Management leads the University's work in undergraduate admissions and recruitment, financial aid, and marketing and communications. The division uses data, disciplined execution, effective communication, and cross-university collaboration to expand access, strengthen enrollment, improve student progression, and advance MGA's reputation and public mission.
The Director of Enrollment Strategy, Analytics & Special Projects is a strategy-and-execution partner to the Vice President for Enrollment Management. The position turns complex data, ambitious ideas, and executive priorities into clear decisions, coordinated action, and measurable results across admissions and recruitment, financial aid, enrollment partnerships, and marketing and communications.
This is an intentionally hybrid role for a professional who can move confidently between analysis and action. Duties will include building an Excel forecasting model, evaluating marketing return on investment, and preparing executive briefings on various institutional projects. Facilitate and coordinate recruitment initiatives, build an advance plan for existing and new major events, manage project budgets, resolve implementation barriers, and ensure that every owner meets the next deadline.
The successful candidate will be a builder and finisher: highly self-directed, relentlessly organized, comfortable establishing accountability, positive under pressure, and committed to excellent work. The role requires intellectual curiosity, sound judgment, discretion, energy, resilience, and the perspective and appropriate sense of humor needed to help teams do demanding work well.
Responsibilities Enrollment Analytics and Strategic Decision Support (30%) - Develop, maintain, and analyze enrollment financial aid, marketing, and student success data to support strategic planning, forecasting, and decision making.
Produce and maintain reports, dashboards, forecasts, scenario analyses, that integrate and analyze data from student information, customer relationship management, financial aid, marketing, and related systems.
Translate complex data into actionable insights for executive and operational audiences.
Establish clear definitions, quality checks, documentation, and version control for enrollment metrics; partner with Institutional Research, Information Technology, Finance, and functional offices to resolve discrepancies and improve data reliability.
Strategic Initiatives and Project Management (30%) - Serve as the Vice President's lead implementation partner for high-priority initiatives, converting goals into work plans with owners, milestones, decision points, dependencies, risks, budgets, and measurable outcomes.
Develop and maintain project plans, timelines, budgets, performance measures, and implementation strategies to ensure successful execution.
Prepare executive briefing books, talking points, decision memos, meeting agendas, presentations, project updates, and concise summaries of complex issues.
Facilitate project meetings that end with clear decisions, named owners, due dates, and documented next steps; respectfully hold participants accountable for execution.
Research, Innovation, and Development (15%) - Conduct research to identify enrollment opportunities, threats, emerging audiences, and potential areas for investment.
Develop and evaluate business cases and pilot proposals for new recruitment markets, academic partnerships, communication strategies, technologies, revenue opportunities, and student-support interventions.
Research grants, sponsorships, partnerships, and other funding or resource-development opportunities that support enrollment and institutional priorities; assist with proposal development and implementation planning as assigned.
Budget, Marketing, and Performance Management (20%) - Develop, monitor, reconcile, and forecast assigned budgets; track commitments and expenditures; identify risks and opportunities; and prepare clear budget and return-on-investment reports.
Partner with Marketing and Communications and Admissions to plan, monitor, and assess recruitment and brand campaigns across digital, email, text, print, event, and other channels.
Connect marketing activity to enrollment outcomes by analyzing audience, reach, engagement, conversion, cost per inquiry, cost per applicant, cost per enrolled student, yield, and other agreed-upon measures.
Support vendor research, scopes of work, procurement documentation, implementation, performance reviews, and contract-related planning in coordination with the appropriate university offices.
Other Duties (5%) - Represent the Vice President and the Division of Enrollment Management on committees, project teams, and at events as assigned.
Perform other related duties as assigned.
Required QualificationsEducational RequirementsBachelor's degree from an accredited college or university in business, analytics, information systems, economics, marketing, public administration, higher education, or a related field.
Other Required Qualifications Use of advanced Microsoft Excel capabilities, including PivotTables, Power Query, lookup and array functions, data validation, forecasting tools, charts, and financial models, to produce accurate and decision-ready analysis, as well as producing and maintaining SQL queries.
Ability to work occasional evenings and weekends and travel among MGA campuses and to university-related events as needed.
Required Experience Five years of progressively responsible professional experience involving data analysis, project or program management, strategy, operations, enrollment management, marketing, finance, consulting, or a closely related field.
Preferred QualificationsPreferred Educational Qualifications Master's Degree, Master of Business Administration (MBA) or related degree strongly preferred.
A master's degree in business analytics, data science, information systems, marketing, public administration, higher education administration, or a closely related field will also be considered.
Preferred Experience Experience with a student information system, customer relationship management platform, business-intelligence tool, and marketing analytics platform; experience with Banner, Salesforce/TargetX, Tableau, or Power BI is desirable.
Experience supporting an executive leader, campaign, public official, consulting team, or similarly fast-moving organization in which advance planning, rapid response, research, briefing preparation, and disciplined follow-through were essential.
Experience developing business cases, evaluating return on investment, managing vendors, conducting market research, or launching new programs or pilots.
Knowledge, Skills, & AbilitiesKnowledge of enrollment strategy, research design, descriptive and inferential analysis, forecasting, performance measurement, and data visualization.
Knowledge of budget development, financial analysis, purchasing, and responsible stewardship of university resources.
Knowledge of marketing strategy, audience segmentation, campaign measurement, conversion analysis, and return on investment.
Advanced skill in Microsoft Excel and working skill in SQL, with the ability to produce accurate, reproducible, and well-documented analysis.
Skill in project design and execution, including developing work plans, setting milestones, anticipating risks, coordinating logistics, and driving work to completion.
Skill in research, business writing, executive briefing, presentation development, and communicating complex information clearly to varied audiences.
Skill in decision-making, problem-solving, negotiation, and respectful accountability.
Skill in building productive relationships and coordinating work across organizational boundaries without relying solely on formal authority.
Ability to manage competing priorities, remain composed and constructive under pressure, and adjust quickly as conditions change.
Ability to combine high standards and urgency with optimism, collegiality, empathy, and an appropriate sense of humor.
Ability to ask incisive questions, challenge assumptions respectfully, recognize when additional evidence is needed, and recommend a clear course of action.
Other InformationThis is a full-time, 12-month, exempt (salaried) staff position and includes a comprehensive benefits package. Benefits include:
- Health insurance
- Dental
- Vision
- Flexible Spending Account (FSA)
- Health Savings Account (HSA)
- Life Insurance
- Sick Leave
- Vacation Leave
- Parental Leave
- Retirement
- Employee discounts
- Tuition reimbursement
