Director, Graduate & Alumni Career Development, Pulsifer Career Development Center

Job Description Summary

The Director of Graduate, Professional, & Alumni Career Development is a senior, forward-looking leader responsible for redefining how career development fuels institutional growth, employer engagement, and near & long-term career impact. Situated within Bentley’s Strategy & Innovation Division (SID), this role goes beyond traditional career services to operate at the intersection of talent, education, industry, and business development.

As part of the Bentley 2030 Strategic Plan, the institution is seeking to build on its reputation as a business university known for producing world class students, by broadening its Post-Baccalaureate portfolio beyond just traditional graduate degree programs, offering more market aligned degree & non-degree programs that sit at the intersection of technology and business. Career management and industry engagement are critical in ensuring that this portfolio delivers compelling return on investments to students and alumni.

Historically, Bentley’s graduate programs have focused on early career students in specialized masters and MBA programs. Recently, with the launch of the executive PhD program and the Professional MBA, the institution has made a more concerted effort to develop programs more aligned with the working professional and executive market. The director will lead a career development team that serves early career students, experienced professionals & executives, and Bentley alumni. The next iteration of the role places a much greater emphasis on corporate and employer development, cross-selling with Executive & Professional Education (EPE), and open-ended partnerships that leverage Bentley’s academic, research, and convening strengths. Career development is viewed not only as a student service, but as a multi-faceted connector with industry that fosters strategic growth for the university.

The Director sets vision and direction for a scalable, market-aligned career ecosystem that strengthens Bentley’s value proposition, accelerates alumni outcomes over the long arc of their careers, and deepens Bentley’s relevance with employers globally. In order to execute the vision and direction, the director will lead and manage a full-time team, currently four persons, focused on the execution of employer relations, career and professional education, and coaching strategies. The GACD also has portfolio of part-time career and professional development coaches that support delivery of the mission. In addition, the director oversees office operations and the effective management of career systems, including platforms and tools used to facilitate employer postings, track student and alumni outcomes, and ensure data-driven decision-making across all aspects of career development.

Strategic Mandate

The Director of Graduate & Alumni Career Development advances SID’s charge to drive institutional growth and transformation by:

• Building durable employer and corporate relationships that support hiring, upskilling, executive education, and partnership opportunities

• Translating Bentley’s academic and intellectual capital into market-relevant talent and workforce solutions

• Positioning graduate and alumni career outcomes as a differentiator for enrollment, reputation, and revenue

• Operating with a future-oriented mindset shaped by AI, global labor markets, skills-based hiring, and evolving career trajectories

Essential Duties

1. Career Strategy & Graduate/Alumni Outcomes

• Provide strategic leadership for all graduate and alumni career development activities, ensuring alignment with Bentley’s mission and SID priorities

• Design and continuously evolve a career and professional development model that supports career accelerators, career changers, executives & strategies, and entrepreneurial talent across full-time, part-time, and executive populations

• Oversee delivery of a comprehensive career curriculum spanning career choice, story crafting, networking, interviewing, negotiation, and long-term career navigation

• Champion data-informed approaches to placement, salary outcomes, promotability, and alumni career progression

• Ensure career development offerings are global, inclusive, and responsive to changing work authorization and labor market dynamics

2. Employer & Corporate Development (Expanded Focus)

• Lead the development of a global, diversified employer portfolio across priority industries focused on financial services, technology, and health & life sciences

• Shift employer relations from transactional recruiting toward relationship-based partnerships that span hiring, project work, upskilling, experiential learning, and talent pipelines

• Conduct regular, senior-level employer engagement to understand evolving workforce needs and identify new collaboration opportunities

• Partner with alumni leaders to activate employer access, advocacy, and sponsorship

• Position Bentley as a trusted partner for talent, innovation, and applied business problem-solving

3. Cross-Selling & Revenue-Aligned Collaboration

• Work closely with Executive & Professional Education (EPE) to identify, cultivate, and cross-sell opportunities that connect employer relationships with custom programs, open enrollment offerings, and executive credentials

• Support SID-led business development efforts by contributing market intelligence, employer access, and talent insights

• Collaborate with graduate programs, academic leadership, and research centers to surface employer-driven opportunities for new programs, partnerships, and grants

• Think entrepreneurially about open-ended business development opportunities that extend beyond traditional career services

4. Scalable Career Operations & Data

• Lead, develop, and inspire a high-performing team of career professionals across coaching, employer engagement, operations, and global career readiness

• Foster a culture of innovation, experimentation, empathy, and accountability

• Oversee career systems, platforms, and technologies to ensure scalability, insight generation, and excellent user experience

• Ensure rigorous collection, analysis, and reporting of placement, salary, satisfaction, and engagement data

• Serve as a visible thought partner to SID leadership on workforce trends, employer behavior, and career ROI

5. Career and Professional Education Programming and Coaching

• Design and deliver a scalable portfolio of career and professional development workshops, short courses, and cohort-based programs aligned to high-demand skills (e.g., AI-enabled work, analytics, leadership, and industry-specific competencies)

• Support students and alums with coaching that helps maximize career outcomes and impact and critical inflection points of the career lifecycle

• Develop a coaching model that blends 1:1 advising, group coaching, and digital resources, with differentiated pathways for early-career, experienced professional, executive, and alumni populations

• Build a coaching pool with a diverse range of industry (predominantly Financial Services, Technology, and Life Sciences & Health), career, and professional development expertise and perspective

• Partner with faculty, EPE, alumni, and employers to integrate career readiness and professional skill-building into program experiences, and to source speakers, mentors, and applied learning opportunities

6. Institutional Partnership & External Presence

• Act as a key partner to Graduate Admissions, Academic Programs, and University Advancement

• Represent Bentley externally with employers, alumni, professional associations, and peer institutions

• Strengthen Bentley’s graduate and alumni brand narrative around career outcomes, employability, and lifelong career impact

Minimum Qualifications

The successful candidate is a strategic builder-equally comfortable with students, alumni, senior executives, and faculty-and motivated by growth, innovation, and impact.

Experience & Background

• 10+ years of progressively responsible leadership in career development, employer relations, talent strategy, executive education, or adjacent fields

• Demonstrated success building and sustaining employer or corporate partnerships

• Experience operating in complex, matrixed organizations and collaborating across functions

• Comfort working at the intersection of education, business development, and workforce strategy

• Industry experience in one or all of the following industries: financial services, technology, and health & life sciences

• Demonstrated experience leading a team of professional staff, particularly through a time of growth and change.

• Current and valid driver’s license and ability to travel domestically and internationally.

Capabilities & Mindset

• Strong strategic thinking paired with operational discipline

• High executive presence and credibility with senior stakeholders

• Data-literate, outcomes-oriented, and market-aware

• Entrepreneurial, adaptable, and comfortable with ambiguity

• Deep curiosity about labor markets, AI, skills evolution, and global careers

Education

Work Environment

• Flexible work arrangement. Please see the university’s Flexible Work Arrangements policy to learn more about Bentley’s workplace flexibility- https://www.bentley.edu/offices/human-resources/workplace-flexibility

• Evening and occasional weekend work required.

• May need to travel to outside conferences, events, and other meetings; travel may occur outside of standard business hours including nights and weekends.

• Ability to travel domestically and internationally as needed, up to 30% of the time.

Bentley University requires references checks and may conduct other pre-employment screening.

DIVERSITY STATEMENT

Bentley University strives to create a campus community that welcomes the exchange of ideas, and fosters a culture that values differences and views them as a strength in our community.

Bentley University is an Equal Opportunity Employer, building strength through diversity. The University is committed to building a community of talented students, faculty and staff who reflect the diversity of global business. We strongly encourage applications from persons from underrepresented groups, individuals with disabilities, covered veterans and those with diverse experiences and backgrounds.