Director, Media, Entertainment & Sports Career Pathway

Vanderbilt University•Nashville, TN

14h

About The Position

The Director, Media, Entertainment & Sports Career Pathway is a strategic leader on Vanderbilt University’s Career Advancement & Engagement (CAE) team. The Director develops and advances a pathway that integrates career advising, industry expertise, employer and alumni engagement, experiential learning, and student preparation across media, entertainment, sports, and adjacent creative industries. The pathway covers sectors including film and television, music, sports, streaming and digital media, gaming, content and creative industries, and entertainment technology. The Director works with CAE’s Employer Relations and Experiential Learning teams to build relationships with employers, alumni, parents, and industry leaders and translate those relationships into internships, projects, mentoring, industry immersion, recruiting opportunities, and full-time outcomes. The role leads the pathway and collaborates across Vanderbilt to connect students with academic programs, alumni networks, and industry relationships in Nashville, New York, Los Angeles, and other markets. The Director reports to the Vice Provost for Career Advancement & Engagement and serves on the Vice Provost’s leadership team, contributing to CAE’s broader strategy and Vanderbilt’s Career Ecosystem.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree required.
At least 10 years of relevant professional experience in media, entertainment, sports, creative industries, career development, employer relations, or a closely related field.
Deep understanding of the structure, culture, career paths, talent needs, and relationship-driven hiring practices of media, entertainment, and sports industries.
Demonstrated ability to develop relationships with senior industry leaders, employers, alumni, and other external stakeholders.
Experience developing industry partnerships, experiential learning opportunities, talent programs, or professional networks.
Demonstrated ability to translate industry knowledge into effective strategies for student or early-career talent development.
Leadership experience managing staff, complex programs, or cross-functional initiatives.
Strong strategic thinking, communication, collaboration, and relationship-building skills.
Ability to operate effectively across organizational boundaries and connect people, resources, and opportunities.
Willingness to travel regularly to key industry markets and engage extensively with employers, alumni, and industry leaders.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree or an equivalent combination of advanced education and relevant professional experience.
Significant professional experience in one or more media, entertainment, sports, or creative-industry sectors.

Responsibilities

Lead the Media, Entertainment & Sports career pathway strategy and establish priorities for student preparation, experiential learning, industry engagement, and career outcomes.
Define priority industry sectors, career opportunities, readiness milestones, and preparation models suited to MES industries’ recruiting and hiring practices.
Integrate advising, employer engagement, experiential learning, alumni engagement, and programming into a coherent pathway.
Monitor industry, technology, labor-market, and recruiting trends and use them to refine pathway strategy.
Build Vanderbilt’s visibility and reputation as a source of undergraduate talent across media, entertainment, sports, and creative industries.
Represent Vanderbilt with employers, executives, alumni, parents, and other industry leaders; cultivate relationships that benefit students.
Partner with Employer Relations leadership to identify priority organizations and develop multidimensional employer relationships.
Activate alumni and parents as mentors, connectors, speakers, advisers, employers, and champions.
Expand student access to internships, projects, industry professionals, networking opportunities, and full-time employment.
Use Vanderbilt’s presence and relationships in Nashville, New York, Los Angeles, and other industry centers to build a connected MES network.
Set experiential-learning and industry-exposure strategy in partnership with CAE’s Experiential Learning team.
Develop experiences such as Vandy in Hollywood, industry treks, employer-sponsored projects, shadowing, mentoring, internships, company visits, and other forms of industry immersion.
Create progressive opportunities for students to explore MES careers and develop more advanced experience as their interests and readiness grow.
Partner with academic programs, faculty, alumni, employers, and student organizations to connect classroom learning with industry practice.
Lead strategy for preparing students to navigate nonlinear, competitive, and relationship-driven MES careers.
Establish pathway-specific milestones and readiness expectations for industry knowledge, professional relationships, experiential learning, portfolios or creative work where relevant, and recruiting preparation.
Lead and develop staff responsible for pathway advising and student programming.
Provide selective high-level coaching and industry perspective to students navigating particularly competitive opportunities or complex career decisions.
Ensure students can access industry practitioners, alumni, mentors, and experiences that support their progress from exploration to opportunity.
Build partnerships with faculty, academic programs, Development and Alumni Relations, Athletics, student organizations, and other university partners.
Connect Vanderbilt’s academic strengths and alumni relationships with industry opportunities and career pathways.
Work with CAE leadership to steward employer, alumni, and experiential relationships as institutional assets and leverage them across Vanderbilt where appropriate.
Identify opportunities to connect the MES pathway with Vanderbilt’s presence in New York and other network locations.
Establish and monitor measures of pathway engagement, experiential-learning participation, employer activity, internship and placement outcomes, and student readiness.
Use student feedback, employer input, labor-market information, and outcomes data to evaluate and refine pathway strategy.
Identify gaps in access or outcomes and develop strategies to help students build industry relationships and experience regardless of their existing networks.
Coordinate the work of advisers, employer relations and experiential learning professionals, faculty, alumni, parents, student organizations, and other pathway partners.
Contribute to the broader strategy, priorities, and continued development of Career Advancement & Engagement and Vanderbilt’s Career Ecosystem.
Travel regularly to key industry markets and engage extensively with employers, alumni, and industry leaders.