Graduate Associate Jobs in California (NOW HIRING)

$33.94 - $40.74 / hour; Compensation will be based on education, experience, skills relevant to the role and internal equity.

The Associate Director of Graduate Business Student Services serves as a dynamic, working operational lead within Graduate Business Programs (GBP), balancing advanced individual student advising with the progressive development of departmental leadership capabilities. Operating with a high degree of autonomy and minimal supervision, this position manages an active student portfolio while driving the daily operational success of the Student Services team. Positioned strategically between the Assistant Director and Senior Director roles, the Associate Director translates high-level strategic vision into actionable daily workflows, provides direct work direction and mentorship to Assistant Directors, and partners closely with the Senior Director on programmatic design, enterprise technology implementation, and registration/enrollment forecasting.

• Academic Support Management: Lead the implementation and continuous improvement of the academic support strategy; lead the execution of academic record-keeping structures utilizing current platforms and future admissions/student lifecycle management systems.

• Advising Strategy & Active Caseload: Formulate and spearhead the comprehensive advising and academic counseling framework designed to optimize retention and satisfaction. Maintain an active, specialized graduate student advising caseload, providing expert guidance on complex degree requirements and academic planning.

• Systems & Data Integrity: Oversee and authorize critical data updates within the Workday platform for GBP, ensuring absolute data integrity regarding student academic histories.

• Academic Standing & Performance Analytics: Lead the evaluation, production, and escalation workflows for quarterly academic standing portfolios, managing formal processes for academic warnings, probations, and prestigious recognitions (e.g., Dean's List, Beta Gamma Sigma), preparing complex cases for Senior Director review.

• Enrollment Management & Registration Architecture: Architect and manage operational timelines for quarterly registration cycles; direct the generation of strategic enrollment intelligence reports, oversee complex waitlist logistics, and continuously analyze metrics to streamline registration workstreams.

• Cross-Functional Advocacy: Serve as an institutional champion and liaison to the Bursar's Office, navigating complex tuition, fee structure, and student account escalations.

• Degree Conferral & Graduation Logistics: Direct the end-to-end graduation and degree auditing lifecycle; provide executive-level consulting to students on degree path completion and orchestrate the strategic data data aggregation required for Commencement exercises.

• Programmatic & Operational Excellence: In collaboration with the Sr. Director, oversee the execution and logistical integration of all high-impact programming, managing multi-tier dependencies including off-site programming, catering, grading workflows, and course evaluation tracking.

• Student Engagement Operations: In collaboration with the Sr. Director, oversee the planning, coordination, and execution of student life programming, ensuring a cohesive and engaging student experience.

• Fiscal Management: Maintain budget expenditure tracking, and projections for all student engagement initiatives, facilitating data for the Senior Director's budget creation.

• Compliance Leadership: Partner with and lead departmental collaboration alongside the Title IX Office to guarantee total student compliance with federally mandated training guidelines.

• Brand Strategy & Vendor Management: Champion and cultivate external vendor networks to source and curate high-quality branded collateral that elevates GBP's institutional identity.

• Data-Driven Evaluation: In collaboration with the Sr. Director, conduct comprehensive quarterly analyses and data-driven projections of Student Life operations to evaluate program effectiveness, and optimize future event programming..

• Curricular Research & Planning: Research initiatives including "Faculty ASK" data modeling (analyzing unit trends, headcount capacity, and enrollment velocity) to provide the Senior Director with actionable insights for future Academic Year (AY) course offerings and capacity planning.

• Institutional Liaison: Act as a consultant and institutional liaison across core university pillars, including the Office of Student Life (OSL), Auxiliary Services (AOE), Office of the Registrar, One-Stop, the Bursar's Office, and the Office of the Dean.

• Continuous Process Improvement: Chair and lead continuous evaluation discussions to rigorously audit services, identify operational friction points, and maximize efficiency across all GBP segments.

• Program Communications: Oversee student messaging schedules, web content, surveys and newsletters in collaboration with Sr. Director.

• Information Dissemination & Strategic Partnerships: Co-lead signature GBP events in close partnership with the Senior Director of Graduate Business Programs; oversee the unified deployment of program communication channels including web infrastructure, newsletters, blogs, and targeted campaigns.

• Assistant Director: Provides daily operational tasking, mentorship, and delivers annual performance evaluations.

• Student workers

• Senior Director of Graduate Business Programs

• Assistant/Associate Dean of Graduate Business Programs

• Quality & Performance Optimization: Act as an internal consultant and champion for quality assurance initiatives, driving systemic changes that directly elevate departmental service delivery.

• Root-Cause Analysis & Consultation: Conduct comprehensive diagnoses of operational bottlenecks and systemic issues; formulate and deliver formal executive recommendations to senior leadership to optimize established workflows.

• Productivity & Workforce Enablement: Maximize departmental output by troubleshooting legacy processes and establishing high-efficiency workstreams via the deployment of advanced software tools, structured staff training, and performance metrics.

• Operational Reporting: Evaluate workflows and provide enrollment/program data to the Senior Director. Synthesize complex operational metrics into executive summaries and progress reports, delivering critical strategic counsel to the Senior Director and the Assistant Dean of GBP to steer long-term institutional goals.

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The items below are representative of the knowledge, skills, abilities, education, and experience required or preferred. This position requires the ability to effectively establish and maintain cooperative working relationships within a diverse multicultural environment.

• Understanding and support of the Jesuit tradition of education and a commitment to the fundamental values of service to others, community, and diversity.

• Advanced, structural knowledge of student records management, student life models, and academic advising architectures in a graduate business setting.

• Hybrid Team Management: Strong management, administrative, and coaching skills with a proven track record of providing direct work direction and evaluations to professional staff while managing an active individual workload.

• Technical Aptitude: Experience with or quick aptitude for enterprise student systems (Workday, PeopleSoft, Slate) and data-driven reporting tools.

• Student-Centric Communication: Exceptional interpersonal skills tailored for cross-functional collaboration, crisis management, and empathetic student advising.

• Ability to work independently, set own priorities, and make sound operational decisions with minimal supervision.

• Ability to act as a collaborative "bridge" leader-comfortably shifting between frontline student advising and administrative leadership meetings.

• Ability to effectively motivate, supervise, and communicate persuasively with faculty, staff, students, and executive leadership.

• Bachelor's degree required; Advanced degree (MBA or Master's in Higher Education/Leadership) preferred.

• 1-3 years of progressively responsible experience in higher education administration, student services, or program management, demonstrating clear readiness to assume personnel management and strategic design tasks.

The physical demands described below are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this Job. In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, as amended, the California Fair Employment & Housing Act, and all other applicable laws, SCU provides reasonable accommodations for qualified persons with disabilities. A qualified individual is a person who meets skill, experience, education, or other requirements of the position, and who can perform the essential functions of the position with or without reasonable accommodation.

• Considerable time is spent at a desk using a computer terminal.

• May be required to travel to other buildings on the campus.

• May be required to attend conference and training sessions within Bay Area or In- or out-of-state locations.

• May be required to occasionally travel to outside customers, vendors, event locations, or suppliers.

The work environment characteristics described below are representative of those an employee

encounters while performing the essential functions of this job.

Examples:

• Indoor office environment with windows

• Cubicle Office space with no celling

• Private conference rooms available for confidential meetings with students, staff, and faculty for both scheduled appointments and drop in meetings

Telecommute

Santa Clara University is registered to do business in the following states: California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, and Illinois. Employees approved to telecommute are required to perform their work within one of these states.

EEO Statement

Equal Opportunity/Notice of Nondiscrimination

Santa Clara University is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply and will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, ethnicity, national origin, citizenship, ancestry, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender expression, gender identity, marital status, parental status, veteran or military status, physical or mental disability, medical conditions, pregnancy or related conditions, reproductive health decision making, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws. For a complete copy of Santa Clara University's equal opportunity and nondiscrimination policies, please visit the Office of Equal Opportunity and Title IX website athttps://www.scu.edu/title-ix/.

Clery Notice of Availability

Santa Clara University annually collects information about campus crimes and other reportable incidents in accordance with the federal Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act. To view the Santa Clara University report, please visit the Campus Safety Serviceswebsite. To request a paper copy please call Campus Safety at (408) 554-4441. The report includes the type of crime, venue, and number of occurrences.

Americans with Disabilities Act

Consistent with its obligations under the law, Santa Clara University will provide reasonable accommodations to applicants and employees with disabilities. Applicants who wish to request a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application or hiring process should contact the Department of Human Resources ADA Team athraccommodations@scu.eduor by phone at (408)554-4392. Please note: This contact information is intended for accommodation requests only. Resumes or inquiries about application status sent to this inbox will not be reviewed or forwarded. For resumes or questions regarding application status, please contact hrservicedesk@scu.edu.