Senior Director, Coaching and Career Education, Darden School of Business

University of Virginia•Charlottesville, VA

8d•Hybrid

About The Position

The University of Virginia Darden School of Business seeks a strategic and collaborative Senior Director, Coaching and Career Education to join its career team. Darden is recognized among the nation's leading MBA programs and its career team supports over 1,200 graduate business students through one-on-one career advising, lifelong career management skill development, and comprehensive internship and job search support. The Office engages Full-Time, Residential MBA students at the Goodwin Family Grounds in Charlottesville and working professional students at the Sands Family Grounds in Rosslyn, Virginia. The team is driven by a commitment to student success and believes in the transformative impact of thoughtful career advising and meaningful employer engagement. The Office partners with nearly 150 organizations that recruit and hire students across various industries. This Senior Director plays a critical role in helping Full-Time MBA students pursue MBA-level careers, building and delivering the Office’s career education curriculum, and strengthening connections among students, alumni, faculty, student leaders, and employers. Through one-on-one coaching, small-group advising, workshops, and career education programs, the Senior Director helps students build clear, actionable plans and navigate the job search with confidence. The Senior Director develops a vision for deeper engagement between students and employers and helps ensure that students have a strong, consistent, high-quality experience across career clubs and student organizations. The Senior Director will be purposefully assigned an initial sector or functional portfolio aligned with background, expertise, and student demand, and will be expected to deepen market knowledge over time through ongoing engagement with employers, alumni, recruiters, and students while remaining open to adjacent sectors as student interests and office needs evolve. Ideal candidates bring experience in one or more of the following areas: a seasoned and execution-oriented corporate manager with multi-functional experience at a top company; an experienced talent acquisition or university relations professional; or a professional who has led MBA recruiting, leadership development, sales, operations, or client-facing work and is excited to coach MBA students. The Senior Director, Coaching and Career Education, joins a team of career advisors who primarily support Full-Time MBA students across consulting, investment banking, general management/marketing, technology, and international job searches. This position is based in Charlottesville, with limited hybrid flexibility during the summer (late May to late July), based on business needs and leadership discretion.

Requirements

Master’s degree and 9+ years of relevant experience required
MBA from a top-tier, residential program strongly preferred.
Experience in a corporate profession required; direct exposure to MBA-level hiring, personnel management, account management, or talent development preferred.
Proven ability to build and sustain long-term, strategic relationships with executives, recruiters, and alumni.
Exceptional communication skills, including experience delivering presentations, facilitating workshops, and leading professional development programs.
Comfort in using data and analytics to drive decision-making and communicate impact through related reporting and strategic storytelling.
Strong emotional intelligence, demonstrated through empathy, sound judgment, and effective collaboration in a team environment.
Commitment to the mission, values, and impact of the University of Virginia and the Darden School of Business.

Responsibilities

Advise graduate students pursuing MBA careers through individual coaching, small group sessions, and targeted career development resources.
Partner with student leaders and career club leaders to gather feedback, identify emerging needs, and encourage student engagement with the Office.
Design and deliver career programming to connect students with employers and opportunities; regularly presenting to audiences from 15-200 students.
Support students in networking, alumni outreach, interview preparation, internship search, and full-time recruiting strategies.
Build relationships with alumni and student organizations to strengthen community, feedback loops, and participation in Office programming.
Leverage industry expertise and professional networks to expand student access to job opportunities, mentorship, and career insight.
Own an assigned sector or functional portfolio and deepen expertise through ongoing engagement with employers, alumni, recruiters, and students.
Build and sustain relationships with alumni, executives, and recruiters that strengthen Darden’s alumni network presence within companies of interest, enhance job sourcing, and elevate the School’s brand.
Advise corporations on effective strategies for hiring Darden MBA talent.
Partner with Corporate Engagement and Recruiting Operations teams to strengthen employer relationships and expand high-impact recruiting opportunities.
Lead the planning and coordination of the Office’s MBA general career education curriculum, including pre-matriculation asynchronous content, in-person workshops, and other professional development programming.
Develop and maintain an overall career education calendar to ensure programs are delivered accurately and on schedule.
Collaborate with career coach colleagues to develop relevant content and deliver a consistent, high-quality student experience.
Monitor participation, student feedback, and program outcomes; use data and stakeholder input to evaluate effectiveness and recommend improvements.
Identify opportunities to streamline processes, strengthen documentation, and improve the scalability and consistency of career education programming.
Balance multiple programs and competing deadlines while maintaining strong attention to detail, clear communication, and accountability for execution.
Collaborate with colleagues across the Career Development Office, Admissions, Communications & Marketing, Corporate Engagement, Recruiting Operations, and alumni-facing teams to strengthen the student experience and Darden’s brand.
Serve as a visible face of the Career Development Office and contribute to cross-functional initiatives that strengthen the School’s residential MBA and professional degrees ecosystem.