Career Center

Director of Enrollment Management
Saxtons River, Vermont
Job Summary

Vermont Academy is a small co-educational boarding school in the majestic Green Mountains of southern Vermont. Founded in 1876, Vermont Academy's student body of 200 students yields from 20 states and 20 countries. Serving students from 9th to 12th grade and postgraduates, Vermont Academy is renowned for handcrafting an extraordinarily unique education for each student. Students are encouraged to embrace adventures, ideas, natural interests, free-thinking, and lifelong growth, and taught how to rely on their inner compass and head toward their true north. Vermont Academy doesn’t just educate its students. Students are taught to be authors of their education, for life.

Reporting directly to the Head of School, the Director of Enrollment Management (DEM) is a strategic and analytical thinker who plays an essential role in communicating the values of a Vermont Academy education to a broad constituency. With the newly developed strategic plan, the DEM works closely with the Director for the Center of Learning and the Director of Outdoor Programs in cultivating interest in the Academy and these programs. S/he is responsible for leading a team of four and effectively engaging the entire school community in the work of enrollment management. The Director of Enrollment Management participates in the policymaking of the School as a member of the senior administrative team. The Director of Enrollment Management is responsible for a coordinated school effort to convey Vermont Academy’s unique value to the marketplace and attract, enroll, and retain a mission-aligned, diverse and inclusive student community.

Job Responsibilities

• Provides leadership in enrollment management, which includes admission, marketing, and recruitment, and directs the process of attracting, enrolling, and retaining students at Vermont Academy.
• Sets annual enrollment and admission goals, in accordance with the School’s mission, to promote essential elements of diversity in the student body, based on enrollment goals set by the Board of Trustees and Head of School.
• Organizes and administers the School’s financial aid program and budget in conjunction with the Director of Financial Aid.
• Manages new student enrollment and the re-enrollment of current students by working in close connection with school leadership.
• Understands and informs the Leadership Team, admission staff, and community about research, demographics, and other relevant enrollment trends, ensuring that changes and challenges are anticipated, understood, and addressed.
• Serve as a member of the administrative team, financial aid committee, and the Administrator on Duty during assigned weeks and be part of a nightly and weekend duty team.
• Serve as a thought partner for and collaborator with a highly dynamic, fast-paced, ambitious, and creative enrollment management team.
• Responsible for managing all facets of the admission process and collaborating in the financial aid process in the school’s effort to attract, enroll, and retain a diverse and dynamic student population.
• Develops and implements enrollment and admission plans with clearly stated goals and objectives (headcount and net-tuition revenue).
• Formulates forward-thinking, strategic application, admission, and enrollment policies.
• Ensures the internal constituents understand and embrace a customer service orientation intended for all families from the prospect to the enrolled phase.
• Attends Board of Trustee and Board Finance Committee meetings and is involved in strategic planning and keeps the Board fully apprised of the School’s admission & financial endeavors.
• Maintains statistical and trend data related to admission and enrollment. Presents statistical and trend information to the Leadership Team, Board of Trustees, and faculty. 
• Fosters high ethical standards, integrity, and respect for students, colleagues, alumni/ae, and parents throughout the admissions process and beyond.
• Actively participates, and leads, in local and national professional development and networking opportunities, always seeking to serve the greater needs of the school.
• In partnership with the Director of Marketing and Communications, develop a strategic recruitment and communication plan to reach targeted audiences, including identifying and implementing best-practice web-based technologies.
• Ensures the internal constituents understand and embrace a customer service orientation intended for all families from the prospect to enrolled phases.
• Supervises Admission staff of four in a manner that will maximize their individual talents and encourages professional growth by providing highly visible, accessible, communicative, and supportive leadership and mentorship to the office, and training new staff members.
• In partnership with the Advancement staff, identify potential donors within the broader community and in consultation, cultivates gifts to the school.
• Lives on campus, and participates in the responsibilities of the senior administrative team and other school activities as time and the travel schedule reasonably allow.

About Vermont Academy

Founded in 1876, Vermont Academy is nestled on 450-acres at the foothills of the Green Mountains in Saxtons River, Vermont, just 30-minutes north of Brattleboro, 1.5 hours from Hartford’s Bradley International Airport, and 2.5 hours from Boston's Logan Airport. The Academy is strategically connected to a gorgeous natural space and yet fully accessible for domestic and international travel to campus. Vermont Academy is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Vermont Academy has a long history of experiential learning and outdoor experiences, including hiking, skiing, and camping. As a nod to the Academy’s history, the campus includes a thirty-meter ski jump that is an iconic centerpiece to the campus, adjacent to the ski hill where many students enjoy a Sunday afternoon during the winter months. In the arts, Vermont Academy is a Vermont school to its core, with the state of Vermont hosting numerous writers’ retreats and serving as home to authors and poets. One of the strengths of Vermont Academy is that its students embrace both the arts and athletics. The Academy competes athletically in the Lakes Region and has a long and successful athletic tradition. For skiers, Vermont Academy has a partnership with Mt. Snow where VA students enroll at Mt. Snow Academy for the winter term while working online with their VA program, to return to campus in person for the fall and spring terms. Vermont Academy is also strategically positioned to be a Vermont school with a long reach with global education opportunities in Belize, Spain, Tanzania, Morocco, and many other locations. Cultural understanding and cultural competencies are intrinsic values in VA’s classrooms and experiential curricula.

Applying for the Position

Successful candidates should possess a minimum of seven years of Admission and Financial Aid leadership experience; a strong commitment to boarding school life; outstanding communication skills, both written and spoken; facile with data, and managing an admission database, and experience with financial aid – both need-based and merit, comfortable thinking critically and strategically, superior interpersonal, organizational and managerial skills; high energy, flexibility, a team player with a collaborative style. In addition, successful candidates need to think critically, openly, creatively, and with an entrepreneurial mindset, demonstrating a willingness to generate and adopt new leading-edge ideas about enrollment and the enrollment management process. Warmth and a sense of humor are important. A bachelor’s degree is required; a master’s degree is strongly preferred. Experience working with students and adults in an independent boarding/day school environment is strongly desired. Also, traveling domestically and internationally is a critical component of this position, as needed and supported by the School’s enrollment and recruitment plan.

Please submit a cover letter, resume, and three references to jobs@vermontacademy.org