Duke University

Manager, Engagement

Duke University$62K — $97K *
Business Services
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree in communications, analytical, or organizational fields.
  • 4+ years of relevant experience in program planning and direction.
  • Proven experience in employee engagement and culture building.
  • Strong skills in facilitation, communication, and relationship-building.
  • Familiarity with creating feedback systems and career development pathways.

Responsibilities

  • Lead the design and implementation of engagement strategies across the Supply Chain.
  • Travel to various locations for employee connection and to understand local needs.
  • Create and manage recognition programs and celebration events for employees.
  • Develop career pathways and support team members in growth planning.
  • Facilitate feedback channels to enhance two-way communication within the organization.

Benefits

  • Comprehensive medical and dental care programs.
  • Generous retirement benefits.
  • Access to family-friendly and cultural programs.
  • Opportunities for career advancement and professional development.
Full Job Description
Lead the engagement function for Enterprise Supply Chain by building connection, belonging, recognition, career awareness, and two-way feedback across the organization. This energetic and creative manager travels to hospitals, centrally managed SCM work centers, and University SCM teams to strengthen the employee experience, socialize job openings, support career growth, coordinate leadership development content, and help team members navigate questions or times of need. The role makes Supply Chain feel like one connected enterprise team while creating practical engagement routines that help employees feel seen, supported, informed, and able to grow. What You'll Do Engagement and Belonging Leadership • Create and sustain a broad engagement model that strengthens belonging, connection, recognition, career awareness, and shared identity across Enterprise Supply Chain. • Travel to all hospitals, centrally managed SCM work centers, and University SCM teams to maintain visible presence, understand local needs, and connect employees to the larger SCM mission. • Design engagement routines that help leaders, managers, frontline teams, and matrixed partners feel informed, included, valued, and connected across locations and work environments. Field Presence and Team Connection • Maintain a regular presence with hospital teams, sourcing, purchasing, ERP, operations, shared services, and University SCM teams to understand morale, communication gaps, staffing needs, and barriers to engagement. • Serve as a trusted connector between frontline teams and leadership by surfacing themes, sharing recognition opportunities, and helping leaders understand what employees are experiencing. • Support team members in times of need by helping them find direction, connect to the right resources, understand available pathways, and feel supported by the organization. Career Pathways, Job Awareness and Development Planning • Help socialize SCM job openings across the enterprise so employees understand career opportunities, role expectations, and pathways to grow within Supply Chain. • Create and maintain career ladders for SCM job series, including role progression, competency expectations, experience requirements, and practical development steps. • Assist team members in creating individual growth and development plans that prepare them for expanded responsibility, future opportunities, and progression into SCM leadership roles. Leadership Development and Training Coordination • Coordinate leadership training events, learning content, development forums, and manager enablement activities that build a stronger pipeline of future Supply Chain leaders. • Partner with SCM leaders, HR, communications, and business operations to align training content with organizational priorities, role expectations, and employee development needs. • Support onboarding, team launch moments, leadership forums, and development touchpoints that help employees understand the SCM operating model and their role in it. Events, Celebrations and Recognition • Organize SCM celebration events, recognition moments, team gatherings, milestone acknowledgments, appreciation activities, and employee-focused engagement programs across locations. • Build and manage employee recognition processes that are fair, visible, easy to use, and aligned to the behaviors and contributions Supply Chain wants to reinforce. • Partner with leaders and managers to identify recognition opportunities, plan events, coordinate logistics, and ensure follow-through after engagement activities. Gratitude Messaging, Video Boards and Storytelling • Run the network gratitude video boards and related messaging routines that highlight employee contributions, team accomplishments, customer impact, and service excellence. • Create content workflows for gratitude messages, leader shout-outs, employee spotlights, celebration boards, career pathway messaging, and other visible recognition channels. • Ensure recognition messaging is timely, inclusive, authentic, and representative of the full range of Supply Chain teams, roles, locations, and work environments. Feedback Pathways and Two-Way Communication • Create feedback paths up and down the organization so employees have practical ways to share ideas, barriers, concerns, recognition, and improvement opportunities. • Support listening routines, pulse feedback, leadership roundtables, employee forums, suggestion pathways, and follow-up mechanisms that show feedback is heard and acted upon. • Help leaders understand recurring engagement themes, employee sentiment, operational barriers, development needs, and opportunities to improve trust and communication. Engagement Operating Rhythm and Measurement • Maintain engagement calendars, field visit schedules, event plans, recognition schedules, feedback logs, development activities, participation tracking, and follow-up actions for engagement programs. • Use practical measures such as participation, feedback themes, recognition volume, career pathway engagement, leader follow-through, and employee sentiment indicators to improve engagement work over time. • Create standard work for planning, approving, communicating, running, and documenting events, field engagement, recognition routines, and employee development activities. The above statements describe the general nature and level of work being performed by individuals assigned to this classification. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities and duties required of personnel so classified. What You'll Bring Required Qualifications Education • Work requires communications, analytical and organizational skills generally acquired through completion of a bachelor's degree program. Experience • Work requires the ability to plan and administer programs and direct program activities within a specific functional area, generally acquired through four years of related experience OR ANY OTHER EQUIVALENT COMBINATION OF RELEVANT EDUCATION AND/OR EXPERIENCE. Preferred Qualifications • Culture builder: creates visible routines that make employees feel connected, appreciated, included, informed, and supported. • Visible field connector: spends time where the work happens and builds trust across hospitals, central work centers, and University SCM teams. • Career advocate: helps employees understand job openings, career ladders, development plans, and pathways into future SCM leadership roles. • Trusted listener: builds feedback paths that help employees share ideas and concerns and helps leaders close the loop. • Creative organizer: brings energy and practical execution to events, recognition, gratitude messaging, leadership training, and team-building activities. • Experience planning employee engagement, recognition, career development, events, culture programs, communications, or stakeholder engagement activities. • Ability to operate across diverse teams, sites, shifts, and work centers while creating a sense of one shared Supply Chain identity. • Strong facilitation, event planning, relationship-building, communication, coaching, and follow-through skills. • Comfort creating feedback systems, career ladders, development routines, recognition channels, celebration routines, and employee-centered engagement products. • Organized employee events, recognition programs, appreciation activities, team-building efforts, career development efforts, or feedback routines. • Created messaging, boards, videos, recognition content, career pathway tools, development resources, or engagement materials that increased visibility to employee contributions and growth opportunities. • Demonstrated ability to coordinate logistics, engage leaders, listen to employees, travel to work sites, and follow through on action items. • Experience supporting healthcare, university, operations, supply chain, HR, communications, learning and development, or similarly complex enterprise functions is preferred. Anticipated Pay Range: Duke University provides an annual base salary range for this position as USD $62,766.00 to USD $97,798.00. Duke University considers factors such as (but not limited to) scope and responsibilities of the position; candidate's work experience, education/training, and key skills; internal peer equity; as well as market and organizational considerations when extending an offer. Your total compensation goes beyond the dollars on your paycheck. Duke provides comprehensive and competitive medical and dental care programs, generous retirement benefits, and a wide array of family-friendly and cultural programs to eligible team members. Learn more at: https://hr.duke.edu/benefits/

About Duke University

Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. Duke's campus spans over 8,600 acres on three contiguous campuses in Durham as well as a marine lab in Beaufort. Duke University is consistently ranked among the top 20 universities in the United States and is a member of the prestigious Ivy League. Duke is also known for its highly ranked medical, law, and business schools. Duke University has a diverse student body, with students from all 50 states and over 100 countries. Duke University was founded in 1838 and is located in Durham, North Carolina.
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