Director, Strategic Business Analysis & PM

William James College, Inc.•Newton, MA

About The Position

The Office of Business Development serves as the College’s strategic business analysis and project management function. Reporting to the Vice President of Finance and Operations and working in close partnership with senior leadership, the Office evaluates opportunities, informs institutional decision-making, and drives high-priority initiatives that advance the College’s mission, long-term sustainability, strategic position, and impact. Through business analysis, market research, strategic planning, program development, and disciplined project management, the Office translates institutional priorities and emerging opportunities into actionable recommendations and successful implementation. The Office also serves as an internal strategic consulting resource, bringing analytical rigor, structure, accountability, and a results-oriented approach to complex, cross-functional work across the College. The Director, Strategic Business Analysis & Project Management is a senior individual contributor responsible for leading the College’s business analysis and strategic project management functions. The Director works across academic and administrative areas to evaluate opportunities and challenges, develop business cases and recommendations, and drive complex institutional initiatives from analysis and planning through implementation and evaluation. Operating primarily through influence rather than direct authority, the Director works closely with senior leaders, faculty, administrators, and cross-functional teams to establish clear objectives, decision-making processes, roles, timelines, deliverables, and measures of success. The Director is responsible for creating the structure and accountability necessary to move institutional priorities forward, including proactively securing information and decisions, monitoring commitments, surfacing risks and delays, and ensuring appropriate follow-through. Success in this role requires exceptional judgment, credibility, persistence, and interpersonal effectiveness. The Director must be comfortable working with senior leaders, constructively challenging assumptions, navigating competing priorities, facilitating difficult conversations, and holding stakeholders accountable to agreed-upon processes and commitments while maintaining strong collaborative relationships.

Requirements

Master’s degree and a minimum of five years of progressively responsible experience in business analysis, project management, strategy, consulting, business planning, operations, higher education administration, or a related field.
Demonstrated success serving as a senior individual contributor responsible for leading complex work across organizational or functional boundaries.
Demonstrated ability to influence, persuade, and drive action among senior leaders and other stakeholders without relying on formal reporting authority.
Proven ability to establish accountability, secure commitments, follow up persistently, and move complex initiatives forward while maintaining effective working relationships.
Demonstrated experience leading complex, cross-functional projects from initial analysis and planning through implementation and evaluation.
Strong business analysis and problem-solving skills, including the ability to structure ambiguous problems, evaluate alternatives, identify risks and opportunities, and develop evidence-based recommendations.
Experience conducting market research, competitive analysis, business planning, financial analysis, feasibility assessment, and/or program evaluation.
Strong project management capabilities, including project scoping, work planning, stakeholder management, risk management, implementation planning, performance measurement, and executive reporting.
Exceptional executive communication skills, including the judgment and confidence necessary to present recommendations, facilitate decisions, challenge assumptions, communicate difficult information, and escalate issues appropriately.
Strong facilitation skills and demonstrated ability to lead productive meetings involving stakeholders with differing perspectives, priorities, and levels of authority.
Demonstrated ability to navigate organizational dynamics, competing priorities, ambiguity, and resistance to change.
High degree of initiative, follow-through, organization, and attention to detail.
Ability to distinguish between situations requiring collaboration and consensus and those requiring escalation or executive decision-making.
Exceptional written and presentation skills, including the ability to synthesize complex information for senior-level audiences.
Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and related business and project management applications.
Commitment to the mission and values of William James College.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree in business administration, public administration, organizational leadership, higher education administration, or a related field.
Experience in management consulting, strategy consulting, corporate strategy, business analysis, project/program management, or a comparable internal consulting role.
Experience operating in a matrixed environment where successful outcomes depend on influence and collaboration rather than direct authority.
Experience working directly with executive or senior leadership teams on high-priority organizational initiatives.
Experience working within higher education, healthcare, behavioral health, nonprofit, government, or another mission-driven organization.
Experience developing business cases and evaluating new programs, services, investments, partnerships, or other strategic opportunities.
Experience supporting institutional or strategic planning, academic program development, organizational transformation, or change management.
Experience establishing project management, business analysis, planning, or performance management processes within an organization.
Demonstrated ability to introduce and sustain new processes, tools, protocols, and accountability mechanisms across an organization.
Project management, business analysis, or related professional certification is a plus.

Responsibilities

Lead the College’s business analysis and market research activities, identifying opportunities and risks related to academic programming, enrollment, workforce needs, institutional growth, and long-term sustainability.
Structure complex or ambiguous business questions, identify the information required to evaluate them, and translate quantitative and qualitative findings into actionable recommendations.
Design and conduct market research, including competitor and peer benchmarking, employer and stakeholder engagement, labor market analysis, environmental scanning, and assessment of emerging trends in higher education and behavioral health.
Develop business cases, feasibility assessments, options analyses, and recommendations to support decisions regarding new programs, investments, partnerships, and other strategic opportunities.
Partner with Finance and other stakeholders to incorporate financial, operational, market, and organizational considerations into institutional decision-making.
Develop clear, concise executive-level presentations and recommendations that synthesize complex information, articulate tradeoffs, and facilitate timely decisions.
Establish analytical frameworks, tools, dashboards, and performance indicators that strengthen evidence-based decision-making across the College.
Proactively identify gaps in information, assumptions, or analysis and work with stakeholders to resolve them before significant decisions are made.
Provide business analysis and project management leadership for the development, evaluation, approval, implementation, and periodic review of the College’s academic program portfolio.
Partner with the President, Vice President of Finance and Operations, Vice President of Academic Affairs, faculty leaders, and other stakeholders to identify and evaluate new program opportunities aligned with institutional priorities, market demand, workforce needs, and financial sustainability.
Lead market, competitive, financial, and operational analyses supporting new program proposals and significant changes to existing programs.
Establish and manage project plans that move program opportunities from initial concept through analysis, institutional review, decision, and implementation.
Oversee institutional processes related to program proposals, affiliation agreements, centers, and other strategic program initiatives.
Lead the operations and administration of the Program Development and Approval Committee (PDAC), ensuring stakeholders understand and adhere to established processes, requirements, timelines, and decision points.
Coordinate with academic and administrative leaders to secure required information, analyses, approvals, and deliverables and proactively address delays or gaps that could impede progress.
Maintain systems and reporting mechanisms that provide transparency into the status, decisions, responsibilities, and next steps associated with the College’s program portfolio.
Support the design, implementation, and ongoing evaluation of the College’s strategic planning process.
Translate institutional priorities into actionable initiatives with clear objectives, responsibilities, milestones, performance measures, and accountability.
Facilitate cross-functional planning efforts involving senior leaders and other stakeholders to align goals, resources, responsibilities, timelines, and measures of success.
Establish regular reporting and review processes and work with initiative leaders to obtain timely, accurate updates on progress, performance, risks, and next steps.
Monitor commitments and follow up with project and initiative owners to ensure agreed-upon actions and deliverables are completed.
Identify stalled initiatives, missed milestones, unresolved decisions, or other barriers to progress and work with responsible leaders to develop corrective actions.
Escalate significant risks, delays, resource constraints, or unresolved issues appropriately to support timely resolution and executive decision-making.
Monitor progress toward strategic objectives and provide senior leadership with clear assessments of performance, emerging risks, and recommended actions.
Serve as a trusted advisor and thought partner to institutional leaders, providing objective analysis and constructively challenging assumptions when appropriate.
Lead high-priority, institution-wide projects and initiatives involving multiple academic and administrative stakeholders, often without direct authority over project participants.
Manage complex projects from initial scoping and business analysis through planning, implementation, and evaluation.
Establish project objectives, scope, governance, decision rights, roles and responsibilities, timelines, dependencies, deliverables, resource requirements, and measures of success.
Create and maintain project plans, decision logs, risk and issue tracking, status reports, and other mechanisms necessary to ensure visibility and accountability.
Establish clear expectations for project participants and proactively follow up with stakeholders at all levels of the organization to secure information, decisions, approvals, updates, and deliverables.
Facilitate project meetings and working sessions that drive decisions, resolve issues, clarify accountability, and produce concrete next steps.
Maintain momentum on complex initiatives by identifying barriers, resolving issues where possible, and escalating matters requiring senior leadership attention.
Communicate project status candidly and objectively, including where milestones, commitments, or expected outcomes are at risk.
Navigate competing priorities and differing perspectives while maintaining productive working relationships and keeping projects focused on institutional objectives.
Develop and promote consistent project management practices, tools, and protocols that strengthen the College’s ability to execute complex initiatives.
Support change management and stakeholder engagement associated with significant institutional initiatives.
Evaluate project outcomes and capture lessons learned to strengthen future planning and execution.
Perform other duties as assigned that are consistent with the responsibilities and objectives of the position and the mission of the College.