The Strategic Enrollment (SE) Director is a full-time leadership position reporting to the Vice President of Marketing and Sales at the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS). This role is responsible for developing and executing strategies to optimize student recruitment, admissions, and financial aid, focusing on aligning enrollment goals with NOLS' mission to elevate the leader in everyone. The SE Director will drive enrollment growth, support financial sustainability, create admissions outreach strategies, and ensure an exceptional student experience.
The Strategic Enrollment Director will lead efforts to create a seamless, student-centered journey—from initial inquiry to program completion—and to foster connections that encourage lifelong engagement with NOLS. Areas of responsibility include Enrollment Services, Financial Aid, Marketing & Outreach and Partnerships (e.g., K-12 schools, colleges, and organizations). This role requires close collaboration with internal teams and external partners to enhance program outcomes and advance NOLS' strategic goals.
The SE Director will use data-informed decision-making to drive marketing, recruitment, admissions, and retention efforts while integrating best practices in enrollment management. The Strategic Enrollment Director will be pivotal in expanding student access to our courses worldwide.
Please note in order to ensure pay transparency and pay equity the range posted is non-negotiable. If you are unwilling to accept an offer within the posted range, please review our other opportunities to see if one better aligns with your salary expectations.
What does a Strategic Enrollment Director do?
As the Strategic Enrollment Director you will lead NOLS’ admissions and financial aid functions, driving growth and modernizing the school’s enrollment approach. This role will optimize financial aid processes to improve net revenue and expand access. Deep knowledge of Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM) and Net Tuition Revenue generation is essential for success. In this role you will cultivate a growth-oriented environment by overseeing a team of approximately 16, including two direct reports. NOLS is a leadership-driven organization, and this role will lead teams that value innovation and creativity.
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Lead to grow the impact of the expeditions enrollment management and student services functions.
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Build enrollment focused partnerships with colleges, universities, high schools, and community based organizations.
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Develop a strategic enrollment plan and provide strategic leadership, vision, and inspiration to achieve enrollment growth and student success goals.
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Utilize data analytics to inform best practices in marketing, recruitment, admissions, financial aid, enrollment management, student success, and retention efforts.
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Organize all of the functions of the pre-enrollment, enrollment, and student support services effectively and efficiently, consistent with the philosophy and mission of NOLS.
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Coordinate and communicate with the President, Vice President, Executive Team, and staff on all necessary business, personnel, and student management matters to provide input and/or leadership direction as appropriate.
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Coordinate student data gathering efforts and ensure timely data reporting to meet deadlines established by the school.
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As a change agent, develop and communicate the vision, goals, and character of the enrollment and student services functions.
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Ensure compliance with federal, state, and institutional regulations and policies related to financial aid and enrollment management.
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Leverage a $55M endowment and financial aid gifts to make NOLS programs more accessible, focusing on retention and reducing cancellations.
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Increase applicant pools with an initial focus on semester courses
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Create reports to monitor progress toward strategic goals.
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Oversee enrollment data management and systems that ensure student data collection, maintenance, protection, and use to support data-informed enrollment operations and enable tracking, reporting and analysis of key metrics.
