What are the responsibilities and job description for the Director of Strategic Community Engagement, Higher Education (Career Services) position at Refer.io?
Ready to Architect the Next-Generation of Demand Generation?
If you are a seasoned professional who has mastered the art of high-value engagement and is now seeking a strategic role with true autonomy, this is your opportunity. We are looking for an expert to move beyond transactional sales cycles and architect a new, community-led growth model within the critical college and university career services sector.
AI4Teams is not a typical tech company. We are a high-growth firm built on the principle that the most powerful growth is relationship-driven. We blend cutting-edge AI tools with a high-touch, community-first strategy. We don't believe in chasing metrics; we believe in attracting momentum. We need your proven expertise to lead this strategic shift, applying your mastery to build a self-sustaining ecosystem of value that precedes any commercial conversation.
The Mandate: Strategic Leadership and Deep Contribution
This is a strategy-first, relationship-driven role designed for a professional who excels at the intersection of community architecture, executive-level conversation, and intellectual curiosity. You will be instrumental in building a niche ecosystem around AI transformation for career services departments-not by executing a pre-defined playbook, but by designing and facilitating meaningful, high-value experiences that establish market authority.
You will have the autonomy to set the agenda for and lead executive roundtables with career services directors, VPs, and staff. Your focus will be on cultivating long-term, strategic relationships and crafting a consistent, high-quality engagement rhythm that ensures our community returns because of the intrinsic value you provide.
In practice, your strategic contributions will include:
- Strategic Identification: Defining and inviting the most influential leaders into targeted, high-level roundtable events for the college career services sector.
- Executive Facilitation: Leading or co-hosting those events and guiding sophisticated group discussions around topics like AI for resume building, interview prep, and connecting students with employers.
- Ecosystem Development: Building and nurturing a high-value, niche community of career services professionals.
- Engagement Architecture: Designing the rhythm of follow-up touchpoints and long-term engagement workflows that convert engagement into momentum.
- Authentic Outreach: Crafting and executing thoughtful, personalized outreach that sparks genuine conversation, leveraging your professional network and experience.
- Thought Leadership: Occasionally running pre-calls, interviews, and podcast-style sessions to go deeper with standout voices in the career services space, positioning AI4Teams as a key strategic partner.
What This Role Is Not
This is not a tactical, entry-level sales position. You are not here to hard-close or manage a high-volume pipeline.
We do not engage in cold selling. Our success is built on the foundation of strategic relationships where partners have experienced our ecosystem and proactively seek deeper collaboration.
If you are seeking a transactional, numbers-only environment where your value is measured by activity volume, this role will not be a fit. We are focused on nurturing strategic momentum, not chasing volume.
What Makes You the Right Leader
You are a connector who operates at a high level of professional trust. You possess the gravitas to lead a room of executives and the intellectual curiosity to master the rapidly evolving AI landscape. When you encounter a new challenge like "AI transformation," your instinct is to dig in, understand its strategic implications, and lead others through the complexity.
You are strategic, highly autonomous, and unafraid to own the conversation. Above all, you are a master of follow-through-the professional who not only brings the right people together but ensures the strategic outcome is delivered.
You may not be an AI expert (yet), but you are intellectually hungry. You thrive on figuring out complex problems, experimenting with new models, and helping senior leaders see the big picture-especially when it involves disruptive technology.
A Snapshot of Your Impact
You might start your day defining the strategic focus for a niche roundtable we're hosting in two weeks, focused on the future of AI in career services. You will identify and personally invite a few key, high-impact leaders on LinkedIn, inviting them not to a "quick call," but to a genuine, peer-to-peer strategic discussion.
Next, you are co-hosting a roundtable you architected. Ten to fifteen leaders from the career services world are engaged in a high-level discussion, and you are guiding the dialogue, connecting strategic dots, and ensuring actionable insights emerge. After the session, you are refining the post-event flow: a mix of personalized, high-value resources and strategic invitations for deeper engagement.
Later that afternoon, you are collaborating with the executive team on a long-term engagement strategy for a new market segment or prepping for a thought-leadership interview with a key industry voice. Every piece of the process ladders up to strategic momentum-for our partners, for AI4Teams, and for the community you are building.
Your Background
We are not looking for a "perfect resume," but for a proven track record of strategic impact.
You likely come from a background in executive partnerships, strategic consulting, high-level client success, or a senior role within higher education administration. You have always sought roles where your success is measured by the depth of your contribution and the strategic influence you wield, not just by hitting arbitrary KPIs.
You are a seasoned professional ready for a high-autonomy role, excited by the opportunity to shape a new kind of market motion in the career services space. You are ready to apply your expertise to build something that doesn't just scale-it resonates and leads the industry.
Compensation and Benefits
- Executive Compensation: A competitive base salary plus commission-designed for high earners, with no hard caps, no punitive quotas, and no "dial-for-dollars" mindset.
- Full Remote Flexibility: Work from anywhere, with the autonomy to manage your own schedule.
- Advanced Exposure: Direct access to next-gen AI tools and the opportunity to lead a community-led demand generation model.
- Career Mastery: Opportunities to learn, grow, and evolve into other strategic parts of the business (content, partnerships, strategy, operations).
- Direct Mentorship: Direct access and strategic collaboration with experienced founders and strategic operators.
- High-Tech, High-Touch Culture: A chance to be part of a company that believes in leveraging technology to amplify human connection.
The Next Step
If you are looking for a role where your strategic vision is valued, your expertise is respected, and you can build a community that drives real, systemic change-we invite you to apply.
Let's discuss how your experience can help us architect the future of community-led growth in college career services.