What are the responsibilities and job description for the Executive Director, Employer Relations and Experiential Learning position at Vanderbilt University?
Vanderbilt University seeks a strategic, visionary, and results-oriented leader to serve as the Executive Director for Employer Relations and Experiential Learning. This role will lead the university’s efforts to build a national model for industry engagement and scale high-impact experiential learning opportunities for students across all disciplines.
Reporting to the Vice Provost for Career Advancement and Engagement, this position will be responsible for designing and implementing a comprehensive employer strategy that deepens Vanderbilt’s connections with leading organizations, expands internship and job opportunities, and integrates real world experiences into the undergraduate and graduate academic journey.
The Executive Director for Employer Relations and Experiential Learning will work across academic departments, advancement teams, and external industry partners to ensure students are prepared for — and connected to — meaningful work in a rapidly evolving global economy.
Reporting to this position are the Employer Relations team, the Internship Placement Program, and all Experiential Learning initiatives.
Career Advancement & Engagement at Vanderbilt University is building a pathway-based career ecosystem that aligns academic experience, experiential learning, and employer engagement to improve student outcomes at scale. Through advising, internships, industry partnerships, and AI-enabled tools, CAE helps students explore, prepare for, and launch into meaningful careers across a broad range of industries.
This model expands access to opportunities, strengthens employer relationships, and positions Vanderbilt as a leading source of talent in a rapidly evolving workforce.
Strategic Employer Engagement
- Lead the university-wide strategy for employer engagement, ensuring access to opportunities across industries, roles, and geographic markets.
- Build and maintain a national network of employer partners across the private, public, and nonprofit sectors, with a focus on equity and opportunity.
- Expand Vanderbilt’s visibility as a top source of talent by developing programs that showcase student readiness and institutional strengths.
- Collaborate with the Alumni Relations and Development teams to identify alumni and donors who can help expand talent pipelines and internships.
Experiential Learning Integration
- Partner with academic deans and faculty to integrate for and not for-credit, career-related experiential learning into the curriculum — including internships, research, design projects, community-based learning, treks, and innovation labs.
- Align experiential learning offerings with departmental goals and Immersion Vanderbilt requirements.
- Support academic units in designing high-quality, scalable, and equitable experiential learning opportunities tailored to disciplinary pathways.
Cross-Campus Collaboration
- Serve as a connector across departments, helping translate employer and workforce needs into learning experiences aligned with students’ majors.
- Partner with Vanderbilt’s Immersion and Civic Engagement offices to ensure career relevant experiential learning is embedded in institutional initiatives.
- Align with advancement teams on fundraising priorities related to student support, internship stipends, and experiential program development.
Organizational Leadership and Operations
- Oversee the teams responsible for employer relations, experiential learning, and internship coordination.
- Ensure Vanderbilt’s systems and platforms (e.g., CRM, job boards, project portals) support streamlined employer engagement and student access.
- Develop outcome metrics and KPIs related to employer engagement, experiential learning participation, and student placement pipelines.
Innovation and Impact
- Stay abreast of future-of-work trends, labor market shifts, and technology platforms that support scalable industry partnerships.
- Pilot new models of employer engagement including micro-internships, project-based learning, and cross-institutional partnerships.
- Drive Vanderbilt’s aspiration to become the #1 university for employers to recruit talent across disciplines.
Qualifications
- Master’s degree necessary; advanced degree in higher education, business, workforce development, or related field preferred.
- Minimum 10 years of progressive leadership experience in employer engagement, experiential learning, corporate partnerships, or university relations is necessary.
- Minimum three years of work experience in investment banking, consulting, or Fortune 500 company administration is necessary.
- Demonstrated success in designing and scaling cross-sector partnerships that produce measurable outcomes is necessary.
- Deep understanding of experiential learning models and their application in liberal arts, STEM, and professional education is necessary.
- Strong relationship-building, communication, and negotiation skills across diverse stakeholders (faculty, alumni, corporate executives, staff, students).
- Proven ability to lead teams, manage budgets, and implement data-informed strategies is necessary.
- Passion for the role of higher education in preparing students for purposeful work is preferred.
- Familiarity with advancement and fundraising strategies tied to student success is preferred.
- Experience working with or in large research universities or mission-driven institutions is preferred.
- Ability to think both strategically and operationally, and to build new systems from the ground up is preferred.