Director, Media, Entertainment & Sports Career Pathway

Vanderbilt University•Nashville, TN

About The Position

The Director, Media, Entertainment & Sports Career Pathway is a strategic leader within Vanderbilt University’s Career Advancement & Engagement team. The role develops and advances a career 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 Director builds strategy to help students explore and pursue careers in areas such as film and television, music, sports, streaming and digital media, gaming, content and creative industries, and entertainment technology. The Director applies a deep understanding of these industries and their nonlinear, relationship-driven career paths. Working with Employer Relations and Experiential Learning teams, the Director strengthens relationships with employers, alumni, parents, and industry leaders and translates those relationships into internships, projects, mentoring, industry immersion, recruiting opportunities, and full-time employment outcomes. The role leads the Media, Entertainment & Sports pathway and collaborates across Vanderbilt to connect students with academic programs, alumni networks, geographic assets, and industry relationships in Nashville, New York, Los Angeles, and other markets. The Director establishes pathway priorities, readiness milestones, and preparation models; builds Vanderbilt’s visibility as a source of undergraduate talent; and develops industry and alumni networks. The position sets strategy for experiential learning and industry exposure, develops opportunities such as industry treks, employer-sponsored projects, shadowing, mentoring, internships, and company visits, and connects classroom learning with industry practice. It leads student preparation strategy and pathway development, provides selective high-level coaching, builds cross-campus partnerships, and uses engagement, participation, placement, readiness, feedback, and labor-market data to refine the pathway and address gaps in access or outcomes. The Director reports to the Vice Provost for Career Advancement & Engagement and serves on the Vice Provost’s leadership team. The position does not initially have direct supervisory responsibility, but provides strategic direction for the pathway and coordinates the work of advisers, employer relations and experiential learning professionals, faculty, alumni, parents, student organizations, and other partners.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree required.
Minimum 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 Vanderbilt’s Media, Entertainment & Sports career pathway strategy and establish priorities for student preparation, experiential learning, industry engagement, and career outcomes.
Define priority sectors, career opportunities, readiness milestones, and preparation models suited to MES industry 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 insights 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 influential industry leaders.
Partner with Employer Relations leadership to identify priority organizations and build relationships that create student opportunities.
Activate alumni and parents as mentors, connectors, speakers, advisers, employers, and champions for students pursuing MES careers.
Expand student access to internships, projects, industry professionals, networking opportunities, and full-time employment.
Leverage Vanderbilt’s connections in Nashville, New York, Los Angeles, and other industry centers to develop a connected MES network.
Set pathway strategy for experiential learning and industry exposure 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 industry immersion opportunities.
Create progressive opportunities for students to explore MES careers and build more advanced experiences as their interests and readiness develop.
Partner with academic programs, faculty, alumni, employers, and student organizations to connect classroom learning with industry practice.
Lead the strategy for preparing students to navigate the nonlinear, competitive, and relationship-driven nature of MES careers.
Establish pathway-specific readiness expectations relating to 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 competitive opportunities or complex career decisions.
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 meaningful industry relationships and experiences regardless of existing networks.
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.