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Columbia University

Professional Development and Leadership Officer

🇺🇸 New York, NY

🕑 Full-Time

💰 $72K - $80K

💻 Learning & Development

🗓️ September 1st, 2025

Edtech.com's Summary

Columbia University is hiring a Professional Development and Leadership Officer for Columbia Engineering. The role involves executing over 250 professional development sessions annually, managing student attendance and grading for more than 2,500 enrollments, addressing student concerns, and collaborating with various departments to support student affairs programs and branding initiatives.

Highlights
  • Execute 250+ professional development workshops annually, including in-person, virtual, and hybrid formats.
  • Manage student attendance, grading, and resolve student inquiries via inbox and office hours.
  • Collaborate with Graduate Career Placement and other departments for programming and exclusive opportunities.
  • Support Columbia Engineering student affairs activities such as Welcome Day and graduation ceremonies.
  • Assist with marketing, social media promotion, and maintaining PDL websites.
  • Required skills include proficiency in Google Suite, MS Office, social media, and large-group facilitation experience.
  • Qualifications include a bachelor's degree, 1-3 years in student/academic affairs or related professional development experience, and strong communication skills.
  • Salary range is $72,000 to $80,000 per year.
  • Must be able to handle data analysis, multitask effectively, and work occasional evenings or weekends.
  • Experience working with international and domestic higher education students and strong interpersonal skills required.

Professional Development and Leadership Officer Full Description

  • Job Type: Officer of Administration
  • Bargaining Unit:
  • Regular/Temporary: Regular
  • End Date if Temporary:
  • Hours Per Week: 35
  • Standard Work Schedule:
  • Building:
  • Salary Range: $72,000 to $80,000

The salary of the finalist selected for this role will be set based on a variety of factors, including but not limited to departmental budgets, qualifications, experience, education, licenses, specialty, and training. The above hiring range represents the University's good faith and reasonable estimate of the range of possible compensation at the time of posting.
 
Position Summary
The Professional Development and Leadership Officer executes the Professional Development and Leadership Program (PDL) of Columbia Engineering. This includes: (1) execute over 250 professional development sessions annually; (2) reconcile student attendance and grading (2500+ student enrollment); (3) triage student concerns in the PDL inbox and via one-on-one office hours.
The position will also partner with other units within Engineering Student Affairs (ESA) to support signature Columbia Engineering programs, execute the Countdown to Columbia yield initiative, and assist with ESA branding and social media promotion.

Responsibilities
  • Professional Development & Leadership ( 75%):
    • With the PDL team, execute 250+ professional development workshops per year, including facilitating and staffing in-person, virtual, and hybrid workshop delivery.
    • Partner with the Graduate Career Placement Team to bring in alumni and industry partner subject matter expert instructors in PDL.
    • Collaborate with GCP, EDAR, and other partner offices to offer exclusive Professional Development opportunities in conjunction with signature SEAS programming (e.g. Executive in Residence, Tech CEO Lectures)
    • Manage the PDL team inbox and triage all student questions and concerns.
    • Host open office hours for all student inquiries, including addressing and advising student inquiries in a timely manner, and escalating urgent issues to the PDL Manager.
    • Advertise, market, and communicate the offerings of PDL to students, prospective students, and other constituents, including marketing office and student group events.
    • Grade required student assignments as part of the PDL core curriculum.
    • Capture and analyze the attendance and evaluation data collected from PDL sessions.
    • Obtain and manage resources (rooms, materials) needed for PDL purposes; collaborate with GCP team to optimize scheduling across teams.
    • Maintain and develop PDL websites in accordance with the School’s best practices
  • Engineering Student Affairs (20%):
    • Support signature Columbia Engineering student affairs activities, including Welcome Day, Graduate Engineers Connect, graduation ceremonies, and other school-wide initiatives for engineering students.
    • Execute the Countdown to Columbia summer lecture series for each incoming class.
    • Support student onboarding activities, including admissions yield, orientation, and advising.
    • Assist in responding to messages to various ESA aliases during peak times.
    • Proofread and edit communications, including correspondence and social media marketing.
  • (5%) Performs other and related duties and responsibilities as assigned/requested

Minimum Qualifications
  • A bachelor's degree is required; graduate-level work is preferred. Minimum of 1-3 years of related student/academic affairs or professional development (including campus recruiting, career placement/coaching, or human resources) experience required.
  • Must be able to communicate effectively and tactfully with staff, faculty, students, employers, and alumni in small and
  • large group settings. Excellent command of English (verbal and written). Experience with large-group facilitation preferred.
  • Able to analyze and work with large volumes of student data. Strong computer literacy/proficiency (Google Suite of
  • products, MS Office, social media, etc.) required.
  • Familiarity and appreciation in working with international and domestic students in higher education.
  • Possess excellent interpersonal and administrative skills. Ability to work independently and under pressure, with high
  • level of attention to detail. Candidate must exercise good judgment and flexibility. Must be able to prioritize multiple
  • tasks with minimal supervision.
  • Must be willing to work on occasional evenings and weekends, on a need basis.
  • Positive, mission-oriented, forward-thinking attitude and sense of humor a must.

Equal Opportunity Employer / Disability / Veteran
Columbia University is committed to the hiring of qualified local residents.