Director, Strategy & Special Projects

🔍 Graduate School of Business, Stanford, California, United States

📁: Administration

📅   : May 30, 2025 Post Date

📅   : 106559 Requisition #

Stanford Graduate School of Business

Stanford's Graduate School of Business (GSB) has built a global reputation based on its immersive and innovative management programs. We provide students a transformative leadership experience, pushing the boundaries of knowledge with faculty research, and offering a portfolio of entrepreneurial and non-degree programs that deliver global impact. We invite you to be part of our mission of developing innovative, principled, and insightful leaders who change lives, change organizations, and change the world.

The Admissions and Financial Aid department of the Stanford Graduate School of Business seeks a Strategy and Special Projects Director. The Director will lead important strategic and cross-functional projects to help define, prioritize and realize the future of GSB Admissions and Financial Aid. The Director will also lead the team in developing insights that help assess and improve program performance, optimize investments, and understand broader macro trends. This key role will be an important partner to a high-performing leadership team in Admissions, and will also work with other senior leaders across the GSB to drive innovation and unlock new opportunities for collaboration and improvement. This role reports into the Assistant Dean of the GSB Admissions and Financial Aid team.

In this role, you will have the opportunity to help define the future of world-class graduate school admissions, from strategy to execution, working across all aspects of our team to drive innovation forward. You will play a key role in how the Admissions and Financial Aid Team advances GSB’s mission of developing innovative, principled, and insightful leaders who change lives, change organizations and change the world.

Your primary responsibilities* include:

Lead key data analyses for GSB Admissions and Financial Aid to inform strategic priorities and provide critical insights into the effectiveness and areas of opportunity across several of our programs and in collaboration with other teams across campus.
Drive team-wide adoption of metrics and KPIs to assess operational health and impact of various team efforts and initiatives, including performance of each function within the team, seasonal trends, and relative outcomes; build automated dashboards and simplified tracking, and lead ongoing strategic conversations acting on the data-driven insights from this work.
Lead team-wide strategic projects from start to finish, acting as project manager, senior leader and advisor from scoping the project and setting goals, planning phases of work, getting stakeholder input and alignment, and working with others through to execution.
Advise and support staff in leading strategic and operational improvement projects that impact individual functions and/or the broader team, helping them with strategic framing, project management, and analytics.
Lead ongoing integration efforts across all aspects of the GSB Admission teams, with goal of improving operational excellence and consistency of standards as one GSB Admissions team (Marketing, Operations, Outreach, Evaluation, Enrollment, Alumni engagement, and Financial Aid).
Working closely with the Assistant Dean of Admissions, lead biannual team strategic prioritization exercises and develop team roadmap for innovation and special projects, aligning key stakeholders and driving consensus on priorities, overseeing work to be done across teams in partnership with individual project managers, and reporting on progress and key findings, in pursuit of achieving clearly defined goals.
Supporting Dean of Admissions on crafting strategic communications to drive clarity and alignment with stakeholders, including annual strategy development, budget asks, and special topic presentations to senior leadership.
Work with GSB stakeholders (MBA & MSx Programs, CMC, Executive Education and External Relations) to use analytics to assess and evaluate current processes and programs at the GSB to drive better alignment and coordination of Admission efforts with key constituents including prospective students, existing students, and alumni.
Manage team budget with a frequent reporting cadence, proactive management and guidance on team spend, and with an eye towards identifying and creating efficiencies.

To be successful in this position, you will bring:

Bachelor's degree and eight years relevant experience or a combination of education and experience.
Demonstrated leadership skills and ability to influence and motivate constituencies which could span multiple organizational boundaries.
Demonstrated excellent planning, organizational and analytical skills.
Demonstrated ability to structure complex problems into component parts, and frame and focus discussions with a wide variety of stakeholders to move forward to solutions.
Demonstrated ability to make sound business decisions using good business judgment and innovative and creative problem-solving.
Demonstrated ability to manage financial, organizational and staff resources.
Excellent interpersonal and communications skills with the ability to cultivate professional and business partnerships.
Relevant subject matter expertise.

In addition, preferred requirements include:

Advanced degree; MBA is preferred.
Functional experience in financial analysis, operations, general management, strategic or management consulting, and/or program management is desirable.
Experience in and/or a passion for higher education is also desirable.

The expected pay range for this position is $162,809 to $197,109 per year.

Stanford University provides pay ranges representing its good faith estimate of what the university reasonably expects to pay for a position. The pay offered to a selected candidate will be determined based on factors such as (but not limited to) the scope and responsibilities of the position, the qualifications of the selected candidate, departmental budget availability, internal equity, geographic location and external market pay for comparable jobs.

At Stanford University, base pay represents only one aspect of the comprehensive rewards package. The Cardinal at Work website (https://cardinalatwork.stanford.edu/benefits-rewards) provides detailed information on Stanford’s extensive range of benefits and rewards offered to employees. Specifics about the rewards package for this position may be discussed during the hiring process.

Why Stanford is for You

Stanford’s dedicated 16,000 staff come from a breadth of educational and career backgrounds. We are a collaborative environment that thrives on innovation and continuous improvement. At Stanford, we seek talent committed to excellence, driven to impact the future of our legacy, and improve lives on a global sphere. We provide competitive salaries, excellent health care and retirement plans, and a generous vacation policy, including additional time off during our winter closure. Our generous perks align with what matters to you:

Freedom to grow. Take advantage of career development programs, tuition reimbursement, or audit a course. Join a TedTalk, film screening, or listen to a renowned author or leader discuss global issues.
A caring culture. We understand the importance of your personal and family time and provide you access to wellness programs, child-care resources, parent education and consultation, elder care and caregiving support.
A healthier you. We make wellness a priority by providing access to world-class exercise facilities. Climb our rock wall, or participate in one of hundreds of health or fitness classes.
Discovery and fun. Visit campus gardens, trails, and museums.
Enviable resources. We offer free commuter programs and ridesharing incentives. Enjoy discounts for computers, cell phones, recreation, travel, entertainment, and more!

We pride ourselves in being a culture that encourages and empowers you.

How to Apply

We invite you to apply for this position by clicking on the “Apply for Job” button. To be considered, please submit a cover letter and résumé along with your online application.

*The job duties listed are typical examples of work performed by positions in this job classification and are not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, tasks, and responsibilities. Specific duties and responsibilities may vary depending on department or program needs without changing the general nature and scope of the job or level of responsibility. Employees may also perform other duties as assigned.

Consistent with its obligations under the law, the University will provide reasonable accommodations to applicants and employees with disabilities. Applicants requiring a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application or hiring process should contact Stanford University Human Resources by submitting a contact form.

Stanford is an equal employment opportunity and affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

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