Reed College
Reed College

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Director of the Center for Life Beyond Reed

The Center For Life Beyond Reed


The Director of the Center for Life Beyond Reed (CLBR) provides strategic leadership, administrative oversight, and institutional direction for the college’s career development, internships and experiential learning, fellowships, and post-graduate advising initiatives. This position advances Reed College’s mission by helping students translate the value of a liberal arts education into meaningful post-college pathways, including employment, graduate and professional education, fellowships, public service, and other opportunities for lifelong success.

 

The Director of CLBR is a senior leader within the College Advancement division and collaborates closely with faculty, staff, alumni, employers, graduate and professional school partners, and donors to expand access to opportunity, strengthen student support systems, and deepen the integration of career readiness throughout the Reed experience. This position reports to the Vice President for College Advancement.

 

Reed College offers an exceptional benefits package, including  comprehensive medical and dental insurance options, 403(b) retirement plan with 10% employer contribution (after one year of service), educational assistance for employees and their children, 22 days of paid vacation, paid holidays, half-day Fridays in the summer, and many other campus amenities. This is a full-time position with typical work hours of 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. with a one hour unpaid lunch. 

Starting salary for this position is $135,000-145,000. Pay offers are contingent upon experience and are determined through an internal pay assessment. This is an exempt position in grade 11.

Who You Are

  • A champion of liberal arts education who values Reed’s mission deeply and can articulate, compellingly and credibly, why CLBR’s work is an expression of that mission rather than a concession to vocationalism

  • Genuinely relational, with the ability to build trust with faculty and students who may not initially see the center as relevant, alumni whose engagement requires cultivation, and senior colleagues across multiple divisions

  • Fluent in data, with the ability to collect and interpret leading and lagging indicators and use them to make the case for CLBR’s impact across institutional constituencies, including senior leadership and the board of trustees

  • A skilled architect of early-engagement programming, with demonstrated success designing systems that reach students in the first year and sustain meaningful contact across all four years

  • Demonstrated commitment to equity-focused practice and inclusive student support

  • Culturally attuned to Reed’s particular dynamics, including the honor principle, the anti-credentialist ethos, and the intensity of student intellectual investment

  • A strong institutional leader who can represent CLBR effectively with senior leadership, faculty, trustees, alumni, and external partners

  • Strategic judgment, cultural fluency, and the ability to build trust across a wide range of constituencies

  • Demonstrated understanding of the cultural dynamics of highly academic student communities 

  • Highly experienced and knowledgeable leader whose demeanor is open, grounded, and collaborative

What You’ll Do

Strategic Leadership and Institutional Collaboration

  • Provide strategic vision and leadership for CLBR in alignment with the college’s mission and institutional goals, contributing to policies and initiatives that advance student success, equity, and post-graduate outcomes

  • Collaborate with senior administrators, faculty, and campus partners to embed career development into academic and co-curricular programs

  • Support College Advancement fund-raising efforts with donor meetings and stewardship

  • Partner with Alumni Relations and Parent Engagement in sustained, strategic ways with measurable outcomes to support alumni and parent engagement strategies related to mentoring, networking, and student career development

  • Represent the work of CLBR to trustees, faculty, prospective students and families, alumni, employers, and other external stakeholders through presentations and relationship-building

Internships and Experiential Learning

  • Lead the college’s strategy on internships and experiential learning opportunities, including employer partnerships and academic integration

  • Expand access to funded internship opportunities and ensure equitable support for students pursuing experience-based learning

  • Manage administration and policies of EXEL (experiential learning non-academic credit)

Career Advising and Employer Engagement

  • Manage individualized and group career advising services, ensuring high-impact practices tailored to a diverse student population

  • Build and maintain strong employer relationships and pipelines to internships, jobs, and fellowships

Fellowships and Graduate School Advising

  • Lead institutional efforts to support students pursuing national and international fellowships

  • Partner with academic departments and alumni to enhance graduate and professional school advising and outcomes

Assessment, Data, and Systems

  • Direct the collection, analysis, and reporting of post-graduate outcomes and programmatic data and use data to inform continuous improvement and policy recommendations

  • Manage and optimize career services technology systems for reporting, outreach, and impact measurement

Minimum Qualifications

  • Master’s degree from accredited college or university

  • 10 years experience in career services, student affairs, higher education administration, advancement, or a related field, which includes 5 years of progressively responsible management experience

Preferred Qualifications

  • Experience working in a liberal arts college or similarly mission-driven educational environment

  • Terminal degree, including a Ph.D. or Ed.D

  • Experience in career development, experiential learning, fellowship advising, or post-graduate student success initiatives

  • Experience partnering with alumni, employers, donors, and other external constituents

  • Knowledge of integrated alumni engagement and cross-functional collaboration

Application Instructions

Click below to apply. You will be directed to Interfolio to create a free account and begin your application. A resume and cover letter are required. You can submit these documents in any format, but pdf works best. 

Applications will be considered as they are submitted so you are encouraged to apply early. 

Reed College replies to every candidate. We will confirm that your application is received, and if you are not selected, we will let you know as soon as possible.

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Background Check Requirement

A criminal conviction record check is required for all college staff positions as a condition of employment for selected candidates. Employment offers are contingent upon the successful completion of this background check. A conviction does not automatically disqualify a candidate; each case is reviewed based on the nature of the conviction and its relevance to the responsibilities of the position.