• Job Type: Officer of Administration
• Bargaining Unit:
• Regular/Temporary: Regular
• End Date if Temporary:
• Hours Per Week: 35
• Salary Range: $80,000 - $102,000

Position Summary

The Associate Director, Admissions Operations oversees the systems and tools for the Office of Admissions. This position works closely with the Director of Admission to uphold and strengthen the integrity of the admissions process flow from application through enrollment for the School of Professional Studies growing set of offerings. These offerings currently include cross-disciplinary Master’s Degree Programs, Pre-Graduate and Graduate Certificate Programs, Structured and Unstructured Certifications of Professional Achievement, take-a-class options for bachelor’s degree holders and visiting students enrolled at other institutions, High School Programs, and the American Language Programs. This position is a key decision-maker for the Office of Admissions and will involve long-term strategic thinking and planning as well as key oversight of the Slate CRM system. The Associate Director, Admissions Operations also assists with application reading as needed during peak admissions periods.

Responsibilities

Operational responsibilities

• Lead in establishing and implementing operational workflow improvements, and in the documentation of processes and workflows for the Admissions Operations Team
• Oversee the process to identify, build, and manage audit queries to reconcile student records throughout the applicant life cycle, providing guidance to team members where necessary
• Identify methods to streamline data collection on the application and develop strategies for data collection improvement
• Develop a strong understanding of the SPS academic portfolio and make recommendations for how to best leverage admissions systems and operations to achieve strategic academic program priorities
• Ensure data integrity across systems

Systems responsibilities

• Maintain awareness of system upgrades and enhancements; act as designated Slate super user for Admissions. Active participant in the Slate community of users to identify best practices, trends, and new opportunities for workflow and system enhancements to streamline processes and increase effectiveness of the tool
• Ensure that new users and new programs are added to the system as appropriate and provide baseline training to new users and ongoing training to all users
• Perform regular and ad hoc audits of the various systems, workflows, and applications to ensure data integrity is upheld and to make recommendations for improvements based on current needs and best practices
• In partnership with the Director of Admissions, responsible for overall Slate system maintenance
• Prepares the online application for each new enrollment cycle. Proactively test, audit and troubleshoot the online application, decision review module, payment gateway, and associated workflows to ensure problems are identified proactively and resolved quickly
• Build, test, and maintain communications and decision letters for assigned portfolio of programs
• Responsible for assigning and releasing admissions decisions
• Manages Zendesk ticketing for requested changes to applications and forms
• Responsible for setting up new programs in the online application, and partners with analytics team members to add new programs to data feeds and reporting
• Oversee the documentation and execution of relevant workflows reflecting current processes supporting admissions and operations
• Assist the Director with senior administration reporting, determining timelines and procedures to ensure deliverables

Other responsibilities

• Lead individual and group meetings to coordinate information between team members and across other teams
• Assist with fraud and compliance reviews during peak admissions cycle. identifying the completeness of applications and with reading applications in the peak admissions cycle
• Assist with school-wide events such as orientation and graduation
• Performs related duties & responsibilities as assigned/requested

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required
• 4 years related experience
• A resume and cover letter with salary requirements must be submitted to be considered for the position

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in higher education, specifically in an admissions role
• Master’s degree
• Familiarity with SQL 
• Experience handling a high volume of applications for multiple, diverse academic programs
• Experience reviewing transcripts from high school, undergraduate and graduate programs
• Familiarity with SPS program offerings

Other Requirements

• Demonstrated experience using a relational database, online application system and/or Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool, ideally in a higher education setting
• Familiarity with or willingness to learn SIS, Slate, and other systems, applications and software used by the University and the School
• Proven track record of identifying and implementing improvements to streamline and/or automate complex processes
• Demonstrated project management experience.
• Demonstrated experience providing high-quality administrative support for a CRM or online application for admission.
• Excellent interpersonal, oral, and written communication skills
• Exceptional attention to detail, strong organization and time management skills, and the ability to perform routine and non-routine work with changing priorities and aggressive deadlines
• Sound problem-solving and decision-making abilities, both as an independent entity and as part of a team
• Ability to handle confidential information in a mature, professional manner
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications including Word and Excel
• Experience working in a fast-paced environment
• Some evening work required

Equal Opportunity Employer / Disability / Veteran

Columbia University is committed to the hiring of qualified local residents.