Associate Director - Employer & Industry Development (Engineering)

Vanderbilt University•Nashville, TN

About The Position

The Associate Director for Employer & Industry Development for Engineering & Technology is a senior business development and relationship-management professional responsible for expanding Vanderbilt University's corporate relationships across engineering, technology, computing, data science, manufacturing, aerospace, artificial intelligence, and other technical industries. In partnership with Career Advancement & Engagement and the School of Engineering, the role develops and stewards strategic employer relationships that create opportunities for Vanderbilt students and strengthen the university's visibility among technical organizations. The position takes an entrepreneurial, market-facing approach to employer development. It identifies organizations aligned with Vanderbilt's academic strengths and student interests, builds relationships with decision-makers, learns about companies' talent and innovation needs, and creates multiple points of engagement with Vanderbilt. A central priority is expanding experiential learning through internships, employer-sponsored projects, technical challenges, site visits, mentoring, job-shadowing, co-ops, and other work-based learning models, while also growing internship and full-time recruiting pipelines. The Associate Director develops broad institutional relationships connecting companies with Vanderbilt students, faculty, alumni, academic programs, and the wider career ecosystem. The role also manages a disciplined employer-development pipeline, uses market intelligence and data to guide activity, assesses partnership outcomes, and coordinates employer relationships across Vanderbilt. The position reports administratively and functionally to the Senior Director of Engineering & Technology Career Pathways and works closely with the Associate Director for Career & Experiential Learning and other university partners. Regular travel to meet employers, alumni, and industry partners is required.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree.
7–10+ years of progressively responsible experience in business development, corporate partnerships, employer relations, recruiting, sales, technology, engineering, workforce development, or a related field.
Demonstrated success developing and managing significant external relationships.
Experience building a pipeline of prospective partners and converting relationships into measurable opportunities or outcomes.
Strong understanding of engineering, technology, or technical talent markets.
Ability to engage credibly with senior executives, technical leaders, talent leaders, recruiters, faculty, alumni, and other stakeholders.
Strong consultative business-development skills, including understanding organizational needs and developing mutually valuable partnerships.
Exceptional communication, presentation, negotiation, relationship-management, and organizational skills.
Ability to work independently and entrepreneurially while operating effectively within a complex university environment.
Willingness to travel regularly to meet with employers, alumni, and industry partners.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree in business, engineering, technology, or a related field.
Professional experience in technology, engineering, technical recruiting, corporate business development, or a related industry.
Existing relationships within major technology, engineering, manufacturing, aerospace, AI, startup, or other relevant industry ecosystems.
Experience developing university-industry partnerships, early-talent programs, internships, co-ops, or other workforce-development initiatives.
Demonstrated success opening new markets or developing relationships with organizations that were not previously active partners.
Experience working with senior corporate executives and technical leaders.
Familiarity with experiential-learning models, including employer-sponsored projects and alternatives to traditional internships.
Experience leveraging alumni or professional networks for business development.
Familiarity with CRM systems such as Salesforce and recruiting platforms such as Handshake.
Understanding of artificial intelligence and its implications for engineering, technology, talent development, and the future of work.

Responsibilities

Develop and execute an employer-development strategy across priority engineering and technology industries.
Identify, cultivate, and steward relationships with leading companies, emerging firms, startups, and other organizations that employ engineering and technical talent.
Build relationships with senior executives, engineering and technology leaders, talent leaders, recruiters, Vanderbilt alumni, and other organizational decision-makers.
Expand Vanderbilt's employer portfolio beyond traditional campus recruiters and develop relationships with organizations that have not historically recruited Vanderbilt students.
Build and manage a prospect pipeline, moving organizations from initial contact to sustained institutional partnership.
Represent Vanderbilt at employer meetings, industry events, professional associations, conferences, and other external venues.
Develop experiential-learning opportunities, including internships, employer-sponsored projects, technical challenges, hackathons, job-shadowing, company visits, mentoring, co-ops, and other work-based learning models.
Create opportunities for companies to engage students earlier in their Vanderbilt experience.
Collaborate with School of Engineering faculty and Career Advancement & Engagement colleagues to align employer-sponsored experiences with student interests, academic strengths, and professional-development needs.
Develop scalable partnership models that create opportunities for multiple students and academic programs.
Increase the number and quality of engineering and technology internship and full-time opportunities available to Vanderbilt students.
Develop recruiting relationships across technology, AI, computing, aerospace, manufacturing, biomedical engineering, energy, robotics, advanced materials, applied science, and other priority sectors.
Understand employer talent strategies, recruiting cycles, skill requirements, and emerging workforce needs, and communicate Vanderbilt students' capabilities and strengths to employers.
Partner with recruiting colleagues to turn strategic employer relationships into internships, full-time positions, interviews, recruiting events, and other student opportunities.
Identify emerging organizations and sectors before they become established campus recruiting markets.
Develop engagement strategies for priority corporate partners and move relationships beyond individual recruiting transactions toward multidimensional institutional partnerships.
Identify opportunities for employers to engage through recruiting, experiential learning, faculty interaction, research, classroom engagement, mentoring, executive participation, and other activities.
Coordinate with Corporate and Foundation Relations, Development and Alumni Relations, School of Engineering leadership, and other university partners when employer relationships have broader institutional potential.
Coordinate and steward employer relationships across Vanderbilt as institutional assets.
Identify and activate Vanderbilt alumni at priority engineering and technology organizations as connectors to companies, hiring managers, executives, technical leaders, and opportunities.
Build relationships with industry associations, venture and startup communities, regional technology ecosystems, and other networks.
Connect alumni, employers, faculty, and students through targeted programs and relationship-building opportunities.
Provide current market intelligence on engineering and technology employment, emerging industries, workforce trends, skill requirements, and recruiting practices.
Communicate employer feedback and market developments to the Senior Director, School of Engineering partners, Career Advancement & Engagement colleagues, and the Associate Director for Career & Experiential Learning.
Identify gaps between employer demand and student preparation to inform programming, experiential learning, and academic partnerships.
Collaborate with the student-facing Associate Director so employer development and student preparation inform one another.
Maintain an employer-development pipeline in Vanderbilt's CRM and employer engagement systems, tracking prospects, relationship progression, experiential opportunities, recruiting activity, placements, and repeat engagement.
Develop measurable goals for employer acquisition, strategic account growth, experiential-learning creation, recruiting opportunities, and student outcomes.
Use data to prioritize business-development activity and assess the return on employer engagement efforts.
Report on employer pipeline health, market opportunities, partnership development, and student outcomes.