Director, Enrollment Management

If you're passionate about building a better future for individuals, communities, and our country—and you're committed to working hard to play your part in building that future—consider WGU as the next step in your career.

Driven by a mission to expand access to higher education through online, competency-based degree programs, WGU is also committed to being a great place to work for a diverse workforce of student-focused professionals. The university has pioneered a new way to learn in the 21st century, one that has received praise from academic, industry, government, and media leaders. Whatever your role, working for WGU gives you a part to play in helping students graduate, creating a better tomorrow for themselves and their families.

The salary range for this position takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to skill sets; experience and training; licensure and certifications; and other business and organizational needs.

At WGU, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their position, and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current range is:

Job Description

Essential Functions and Responsibilities

Strategy and Results

• Creates the enrollment vision, strategy and goals for the assigned school within the overall enrollment strategy, meets school and program needs, builds on work across the department, and champions a culture of innovation.

• Sets direction through Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) aligned to the strategic direction of the VP of Enrollment, with consistent performance metrics and reporting, tracks progress, and is accountable for delivering new starts and the outcomes.

• Finds creative solutions to department issues and keeps improving programs and processes through objective review.

• Presents new start and enrollment performance against OKRs, the root causes behind it and recommended actions to executive leadership in weekly, monthly and quarterly business reviews, operational planning meetings and ad hoc forums.

Data and Analytics

• Analyzes complex data to meet business goals, advises on data quality, tracking and metric analysis for projects, and creates and shares reports that improve performance.

• Finds and removes bottlenecks and inefficiencies in data and analysis to improve efficiency and the staff and student experience, and gets to the root cause of performance trends so the team can act on it.

Leading and Developing the Team

• Leads and develops Sr. Managers and Managers, who lead a large team of Enrollment Counselors, and makes use of university training, coaching, content and quality assurance resources so the team has the knowledge and training it needs.

• Applies knowledge of adult learning, developmental theories, transformational coaching and quality assurance to develop the team, following university-wide policies, best practices and norms for training and quality assurance.

• Builds systems to assess staff skills, experience and development needs, supports consistent employee evaluation and goal setting, and hires, develops and retains high-quality employees on time and within budget.

Change and Technology

• Leads change within the school enrollment organization and supports department-wide implementation, using influence without authority to drive change and ensure compliance with university-level policies.

• Serves as the subject matter expert on their school and program content, the enrollment experience and the enrollment business process. Holds the partner teams that build and run the supporting technology, including AI and agentic enrollment tools, accountable across multiple channels, provides input into department-level technology, staffing and process strategy, and owns the outcomes for their school.

Partnership and Alignment

• Is an excellent partner to key stakeholders, prioritizing the work behind primary OKRs while finding ways to help partners get their work done. Takes a "Yes, and…" approach, recognizing constraints and focusing on joint wins and timing. Leads cross-functional project teams as needed, and makes decisions that affect more than one area of the university.

Leadership and Communication

• Communicates WGU's mission and strategic vision clearly and consistently, lives WGU's Leadership Principles, and leads by example, improving the organization and championing company direction and standards.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Experience using word processing, spreadsheet, database, internet, e-mail and scheduling applications, and applicable AI functionalities and other emerging technologies.

• Communication - Excellent written, verbal, presentation and customer service skills. Presents information clearly and concisely, turns quantitative and qualitative analysis into persuasive messages for large and small groups, adjusts message and style to the audience, listens well, welcomes diverse ideas and opinions, and gives timely, useful feedback.

• Executive Presence - Demonstrates executive presence and credibility with senior leaders in high-visibility forums.

• Managerial Courage - Speaks candidly and constructively in executive settings, navigating sensitive topics and difficult conversations with professionalism and sound judgment. Decides and acts without the full picture and stays calm and productive when things are in flux.

• Leads Change and Adapts - An agent for change who helps others accept it. Handles risk and uncertainty comfortably, adjusts approach to fit the situation, shifts gears quickly and takes on obstacles directly.

• Strategic Thinking and Problem Solving - Excellent project management, planning and analysis. Thinks ahead, weighs what will help or hinder goals, focuses on what matters, and brings in the right resources and partners when needed.

• Executes and Achieves Results - Focused on outcomes, with a record of exceeding goals. Works across the organization toward shared objectives, builds buy-in, trust and support, gives others credit, and helps others achieve results that benefit WGU and our students.

• Fiscal Responsibility - Manages the multi-million-dollar operating budget and enrollment-related financial commitments for assigned schools, with clear ownership and delivery of revenue and cost budgets, and understands how enrollment results affect university financials.

• This position requires occasional travel of up to 20%, including required attendance at designated company summits (typically one to two per year). Additional travel may include conferences, visits to company locations, and other business-related events as needed. Additional travel may be assigned as needed to support business requirements.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited institution. Education is verified.

• 10+ years of experience in enrollment management or a related domain, including 5 years in people leadership. An equivalent combination of education and experience may be considered.

• Full mastery of enrollment management, with working knowledge of related domains such as admissions, credential evaluation, marketing and EdTech.

• Experience leading enrollment initiatives and teams, including strategic initiatives, in an educational setting.

• Demonstrated strategic thinking in the context of recruitment strategy, marketing, partnerships and enrollment goals, with impact on multi-year financial planning.

• Experience coaching staff, managing priorities, developing high-performing teams, setting and achieving strategic objectives, and managing budgets.

• Experience working in a dynamic, fast-changing environment with a focus on metrics and priorities.

• Experience with Customer Relationship Management systems and reporting.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree in a related field.

• Experience with Salesforce.

• Experience supporting enterprise transformation or technology modernization, including applicable AI functionalities and other emerging technologies.

• Experience in competency-based education environments.

Position & Application Details

How to Apply: If interested, an application will need to be submitted online. Internal WGU employees will need to apply through the internal job board in Workday.

Additional Information

Disclaimer: The job posting highlights the most critical responsibilities and requirements of the job. It's not all-inclusive.

Accommodations: Applicants with disabilities who require assistance or accommodation during the application or interview process should contact our Talent Acquisition team at [email protected].

Equal Employment Opportunity: All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to any protected characteristic as required by law.