Director, Industry Relations

Director, Industry Relations

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The Director, Industry Relations provides visionary,enterprise-level leadership for employer engagement, industrypartnerships, and early-career pipeline development across theinstitution. Reporting to the Assistant Vice President, CareerDevelopment, this role designs and executes a comprehensiveindustry relations strategy that advances student outcomes,strengthens institutional reputation, and builds sustainable talentpipelines into priority sectors including film, television, digitalmedia, journalism, communications, marketing, and the arts.

Serving as the institution's primary ambassador to industry, theDirector cultivates high-impact partnerships with employers,studios, agencies, production companies, nonprofits, and emergingcreative enterprises. The role ensures that employer engagementefforts translate into measurable student opportunities, includinginternships, project-based learning, fellowships, and full-timeemployment.

This position operates at both strategic and executionallevels-setting vision, securing flagship partnerships, and buildscalable systems, while ensuring consistent, high-quality employerengagement across geographic markets (e.g., Boston, New York, LosAngeles, Atlanta, and beyond).

ESSENTIAL JOB DUTIES

• Develop and execute a multi-year, institution-wide employer andindustry relations strategy aligned with enrollment priorities,academic programs, and student success outcomes.
• Identify and prioritize target industry sectors and geographicmarkets, with a focus on high-growth creative and communicationsfields.
• Serve as the senior liaison to executive-level industrypartners, including C-suite leaders, alumni executives, andadvisory boards.
• Build and steward flagship partnerships that yield recurringpipelines (e.g., studio partnerships, agency cohorts, productionpipelines, media fellowships).
• Position the institution as a preferred talent partner throughconsistent branding, storytelling, and outcomes reporting. Designand implement structured early-career talent pipelines, includinginternship-to-hire programs and rotational or cohort-based hiringmodels
• Establish and scale employer commitment frameworks, includingresume review and portfolio critique programs, guaranteed interviewprograms or priority candidate pipelines, and multi-year recruitingpartnerships
• Collaborate with academic and career development leadership toalign partnerships with curriculum, credit-bearing internships, andexperiential learning models.
• Expand opportunities across emerging and nontraditionalemployers, including startups, creator economy platforms, andindependent production networks.
• Develop and implement revenue-generating employer engagementmodels, such as sponsored programs and recruitment packages,employer-funded internships or fellowships, and industry-sponsoredlabs, studios, or experiential programs
• Partner with Emerson's advancement, alumni relations, andexternal affairs groups to align employer partnerships withphilanthropy and institutional priorities.
• Identify opportunities for public-private partnerships, grants,and workforce development funding.
• Lead, coach, and scale a high-performing industry relationsteam, including establishing portfolio management strategies andsegmentation.
• Build and standardize employer engagement protocols, ensuringconsistency in outreach, relationship management, and servicedelivery.
• Collaborate closely with career coaching, internship, andalumni teams to ensure seamless student-to-employerpipelines.
• Develop and maintain comprehensive employer engagementdashboards, tracking employer growth and retention, internship andjob posting volume, student participation and pipeline utilization,and conversion rates. Produce regular reports for senior leadershipon ROI, market trends, and outcomes.
• Benchmark performance against peer institutions and nationalstandards (e.g., NACE). Monitor and analyze labor market data,hiring cycles, and industry shifts, particularly within creativeand communications sectors.
• Advise institutional leadership on emerging trends such asstreaming industry dynamics, AI in media, and creator economygrowth.
• Translate industry insights into actionable strategies forprograms, partnerships, and student preparation. Represent theinstitution at industry events, festivals, conferences, andprofessional associations, including film festivals, media summits,and advertising industry events.
• Build visibility and credibility for the institution within keyindustries and markets.
• Cultivate a strong network of alumni and industry champions whoactively support student pipelines.
• Other duties as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor's degree in media, human resources, communications, orrelated field or equivalent experience required; Master's degree orhigher preferred.
• 10-12 years of progressive experience in employer relations,industry partnerships, workforce development, or creativeindustries leadership required.
• Demonstrated success building high-level, strategicpartnerships with employers or industry organizationsrequired.
• Experience leading teams and managing complex, cross-functionalinitiatives required.
• Demonstrated success in revenue generation, partnershipdevelopment, and/or business development required.
• Experience within higher education career services or a closelyrelated ecosystem preferred.
• Established professional network within key markets (e.g., LA,NYC, Boston, Atlanta) preferred.
• Experience working with creative portfolios, freelancepipelines, or gig-based industries preferred.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES

• Deep knowledge of film, television, media, communications,and/or arts industries, including hiring practices and talentpipelines.
• Proven ability to design and implement scalable employerengagement strategies that produce measurable outcomes.
• Strong executive presence, with the ability to engage seniorstakeholders and represent the institution externally.
• Familiarity with labor market analytics tools (e.g., Lightcast)and CRM systems (e.g., Salesforce, Handshake, 12Twenty).
• Proven ability to foster a culture of innovation,accountability, and continuous improvement within theteam.
• Exceptional strategic thinking and systems designskills.
• Strong relationship building and influencing skills
• Expert knowledge of market and industry trends and emergingopportunities
• Ability to make data-driven decisions
• Demonstrated ability to innovate with an entrepreneurialmindset
• Knowledge of equity-minded approaches to access andopportunity

PHYSICAL ABILITIES

• Position is generally sedentary, requiring movement throughoutthe area as needed.
• Ability to sit and concentrate for long periods oftime.
• Continuous oral and written communication with co-workers,students, and supervisors.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

• General office conditions
• Exposed to moderate noise levels
• Some travel is required

Disclaimer

Compensation: $0.00 - $0.00 , commensurate with experience.

This job description in no way states or implies that these are the only duties to be performed by the employee occupying this position. Employees may be required to follow other job-related instructions and to perform other job-related duties as requested, subject to all applicable state and federal laws. Certain job duties described herein may be subject to possible modification in accordance with applicable state and federallaws.