Student Development Director

Cal Alumni Association•Berkeley, CA

4d•Onsite

About The Position

The Student Development Director serves as the operational anchor of the alumni headquarters while championing the professional growth, and financial wellness of UC Berkeley students. Reporting directly to the Senior Director - Facilities Operations, this leader maintains multi-faceted oversight over a dedicated team of front desk staff and a separate, permanent cohort of undergraduate student interns. Operating within a matrixed and highly complex institutional landscape, the Director manages daily facility hospitality operations, implements strategic planning for student workplaces, and serves as the lead architect and strategist tasked with scaling a compact student intern unit into a dynamic, impactful workforce within CAA. This role transforms the headquarters in a strategically designed learning laboratory that requires navigation at various levels of the higher education environment to deliver critical experiential financial support to undergraduate students.

Requirements

4–6 years of experience in student affairs, higher education administration, hospitality management, facilities operations, or front-office leadership.
Deep institutional understanding of the modern higher education environment, with proven success navigating and collaborating across multiple departmental silos, administrative tiers, and structural hierarchies.
Proven success or demonstrated capability in program selective hiring, cross-departmental integration, or transforming small teams into high-impact workforces.
Proven success maintaining oversight over complex business units, including the direct supervision of permanent operational staff.
Demonstrated capability or familiarity with spatial planning, workspace optimization, or managing flexible collaborative office layouts.
Familiarity with higher education financial frameworks, collaboration with finance and senior leadership budgetary directives.
Elite interpersonal skills; able to seamlessly transition between mentoring undergraduate students, managing daily operational staff, and briefing executive leadership.

Nice To Haves

Demonstrated capability working directly within the University of California (UC) ecosystem, showcasing the ability to effectively communicate and align strategies at various levels—from direct engagement with undergraduate students to collaboration with executive campus leadership and senior campus partners.
Demonstrated experience collaborating with UC Financial Aid departments.

Responsibilities

Architect and execute a growth strategy to scale a compact student intern unit into a highly visible, dynamic, and integrated workforce amongst all CAA departments.
Design, implement, and facilitate a professional development and career-readiness curriculum for the undergraduate intern cohort, through real world organizational deliverables, in collaboration with CAA objectives.
Oversee the administration, tracking, and compliance of student experiential stipends designed to directly offset individual costs of student attendance. Monitor, allocate and budget funds effectively, in collaboration with CAA senior leadership.
Partner directly with campus departments, external partners, and the UC Berkeley Financial Aid & Scholarships Office to coordinate student placement, stipend eligibility, and adherence to university financial aid packaging regulations.
Provide individual coaching and oversight, structured performance reviews, and career-readiness mentorship to help students leverage their financial awards into early career placement.
Oversee the recruitment, training, daily duties, and performance evaluations of the front desk staff team.
Direct the daily visitor experience, security protocols, multi-line phone routing, mail/shipping distribution, and lobby logistics for the CAA headquarters.
Manage a multi-faceted operation to ensure proper utilization and staffing of applicable CAA spaces.
Establish and enforce standard operating procedures (SOPs) to maintain a exemplary hospitality environment for visiting alumni, faculty, and VIP guests, while enhancing organization-wide communication, efficiency and productivity.
Strategically plan, configure, and manage the physical layout of the student workspace to maximize footprint utility and ensure an environment conducive to organizational needs and requirements.
Maintain physical workspace layouts that adhere to campus safety guidelines, resource efficiency, resource allocation and professional workstation standards.
Oversee the procurement, setup, and maintenance of the physical assets, technology, and flexible furniture configurations necessary to support an evolving, high-occupancy student cohort within the facility.
Formulate and manage the front desk operational budget, reception supplies, vendor contracts, and digital visitor-check-in systems.
Compile programmatic data, track student retention metrics, and author progress reports detailing the career placement success, spatial efficiency, and financial benefit metrics of the internship program.

Benefits

Healthcare benefits
Retirement plan with company match
Generous vacation time-off
Generous holiday time-off
Professional development opportunities
Discounts on campus
403(b) retirement savings plan with a company match
Supplemental Insurance with 100% of premiums paid by CAA: Life Insurance, AD&D Insurance, LTD Insurance
Option to purchase supplemental insurance plans from AFLAC
Pre-tax public transit commuter benefit
Cal Bear Pass (discounted AC Transit pass)
UCB Campus Parking Permit (discounted rate)
Access to Recreational Sports Facility (RSF) at Faculty/Staff discount rate
Special campus events
Free admission to the University Art Museum
Discount tickets for Cal Performances, Pacific Film Archive, and Hertz Hall
Wireless internet access on campus