Director Career and Co-Op

Description

Who We Are:

Are you ready to work at a dynamic institution that believes in higher education with lower obstacles? Benjamin Franklin Cummings Institute of Technology (now known as Franklin Cummings Tech) is a nationally accredited non-profit, technical college serving Massachusetts. The college was seeded in 1791 with funds from the estate of Benjamin Franklin given to the City of Boston to proliferate access to apprenticeship and entrepreneurship. Today, that legacy has evolved into an accredited college that delivers accessible tech and trade education to level the playing field for aspiring talent.

With a mission to deliver transformative technical and trade education that leads to economic advancement, Franklin Cummings Tech offers a unique mix of certificates and degrees that appeal to enterprising students from Eastern Massachusetts and respond to employer demand for a well-prepared workforce. Intentional partnerships with the industries we serve coupled with high graduation and job placement rates, recently attracted the largest philanthropic gift in the history of the college from the Cummings Foundation, helping to spur incredible growth in the past four years.

Franklin Cummings Tech educates more than 1,000 learners annually across three student types: 1) certificate and degree seekers, 2) continuing education enrollees, and 3) early college students. As evidence that our mission holds resonance student enrollment is up and Fall 2027 applications have soared 16% year over year. 

We seek optimistic, data-informed, and dedicated colleagues who are eager to increase student success outcomes and boost total enrollment to 1,500 learners by 2030. Join us in this mission-driven work! 

Position Summary:

The Director of Career and Co-op leads employer engagement efforts for automotive tech, construction management, and opticianry. The position is responsible for securing student placements, generating employer revenue, and supporting strong career outcomes for students and graduates in these majors. The Director also manages departmental staff, oversees the co-op and apprentice program, and drives operational excellence through effective systems, processes, and cross-functional collaboration.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities:

Employer Partnerships:

• Lead relationship management with employers in automotive, construction management, and opticianry, including prospecting, cultivating, asking, and stewarding prospective employers
• Ensure the successful placement of co-op and apprenticeship students, as well as additional job opportunities for graduates in these majors 
• Collect up to $5,000/student in revenues from co-op and apprenticeship employers in return for matching and supporting the students in these roles 
• Write up meeting reports after each employer meeting to ensure clear next steps and provide institutional memory of the relationship

Co-op and Apprenticeship Oversight:

• Oversee the co-op and apprenticeship program, including the student recruitment process, the student enrollment process, the student matching and job onboarding process, the student on-the-job support process, and the employer contract and apprenticeship compliance process
• Develop annual plan for the further expansion of co-ops and apprenticeships over time

Team Management:

• Manage the Associate Director of Career and Co-op and Temporary Career and Co-op Specialist
• Co-lead the semi-annual team retreats
• Manage the day-to-day budget for the department, including approval and tracking of expenses 

Academic and Student Support:

• Build a strong relationship with the academic chairs and gain familiarity with the curriculum in automotive, construction management, and opticianry
• Attend biweekly meetings with the academic chairs of automotive and construction management and monthly meetings with the chair of opticianry
• Build relationships with students in opticianry, and ensure that the Career and Co-op Specialist builds relationships with students in automotive and construction management
• For the three majors, connect graduating students not in co-ops to career opportunities

Systems Building:

• Oversee the rollout and smooth implementation of Jenzabar enterprise information system within the Career and Co-op Team, including the Jenzabar Communications Module and Jenzabar Advancement Module
• Focus on continuous improvement of team systems and standard operating procedures, so that the team works more effectively and efficiently over time
• Manage warm relationships with other teams, including Student Affairs, Academics, Operations, and Enrollment

Requirements

Required Qualifications:

• 10+ years of work experience at high-performance organizations
• 5+ years of management experience
• 5+ years of sales experience, preferably working with employers
• Experience with a SIS or complex CRM such as Salesforce or Jenzabar
• Associate’s degree or higher required

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Proven sales and relationship-building skills – able to build long-lasting financial partnerships built on trust
• Proven listening skills – able to draw out and understand the pain points of employers
• Proven skills in managing entry-level workers and managing new managers
• Proven systems-building experience
• Proven event and project management skills
• Excellent collaborative skills
• Detail-oriented
• Results-driven and dependable
• Strong written and verbal communication skills 
• Integrity 
• Excited to work in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial work environment
• Passionate about the college mission and working in a diverse environment

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in a career placement database such as Handshake 
• Bachelor's degree or master's degree

Physical Requirements:

Reasonable accommodation(s) may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the position.

Work Environment

• The role is a minimum of four days a week onsite at the Franklin Cummings Tech Boston Campus.
• Most of the work is from 9am to 5pm, with occasional evening events 6-8 times a year. 
• There is occasional travel to employer sites 2-3 times a month.

Employee Expectations:

All employees are expected to support the college’s student-centered mission, contribute to institutional growth and innovation, and collaborate across departments to improve student recruitment, retention, graduation, and career placement outcomes. 

Our college is an in-person institution. Campus presence is the default expectation for all employees. In-person presence remains the expectation and the standard for all staff. Flex arrangements are a discretionary privilege, not a right, and may be modified or discontinued if it is determined that flex arrangements are diminishing service quality, team cohesion, or responsiveness to students, external partners, and colleagues. The student experience and fidelity of institutional operations take priority over individual schedule preferences.

The salary for this position is $90,000-$105,000; DOE.