Assistant Director, Alumni Communities, Alumni Relations

Company Description

By working at Harvard University, you join a vibrant community that advances Harvard's world-changing mission in meaningful ways, inspires innovation and collaboration, and builds skills and expertise. We are dedicated to creating a diverse and welcoming environment where everyone can thrive.

Why join Harvard Business School?

Harvard Business School, located on a 40-acre campus in Boston, was founded in 1908 as part of Harvard University. It is among the world's most trusted sources of management education and thought leadership. For more than a century, the School's faculty has combined a passion for teaching with rigorous research conducted alongside practitioners at world-leading organizations to educate leaders who make a difference in the world.

Through a dynamic ecosystem of research, learning, and entrepreneurship that includes MBA, Doctoral, Executive Education, and Online programs, as well as numerous initiatives, centers, institutes, and labs, Harvard Business School fosters bold new ideas and collaborative learning networks that shape the future of business.

Job Summary:

Reporting to the Director of Alumni Communities, the Assistant Director of Alumni Communities is a key member of a team responsible for creating and sustaining lifelong relationships between Harvard Business School and its alumni through meaningful engagement opportunities. The team supports the transition of Harvard Business School (HBS) MBA graduates into the HBS alumni community and is evolving its approach to create a more integrated arc of engagement - from prospective student to recent graduate to lifelong alumnus.

This role supports the development and execution of strategies for recent alumni and other audiences as defined by current School priorities. The Assistant Director manages an individual portfolio of programs, events, communications, and volunteer relationships and directly manages staff on the Alumni Communities team, providing strategic and operational oversight of their assigned portfolio. Together, this work is designed to strengthen alumni connections to HBS and ensure that engagement is cumulative, relevant, and mutually valuable.

Job-Specific Responsibilities:

This role is responsible for supporting strategy and independently managing the development and execution of programs and engagement opportunities for recent alumni and other priority audiences. The portfolio may change over time in response to School and Alumni Relations priorities.

• Serve as a thought partner in shaping and evolving audience engagement strategies, ensuring alignment with Alumni Relations and School priorities.
• Conduct discovery work and use alumni feedback, engagement data, and knowledge of current needs to recommend approaches, refine programming, and identify new opportunities for connection.
• Manage and support an assigned portfolio of complex programs and events from concept through evaluation, which may include the Alumnae Circles Program, recent alumni regional events, One-Year Reunion, Alumni Dinner Series, admitted student dinners, MBA student events, and other audience-specific offerings.
• Manage communications and serve as a primary point of contact for alumni volunteers, participants, event organizers, internal partners, and outside vendors, coordinating program content, messaging, logistics, and follow-up.
• Build and maintain relationships with alumni volunteers; manage individual volunteers and committees and help ensure that their activities and messaging align with team and School priorities.
• Collaborate with colleagues across Alumni Relations, Alumni and Admissions Marketing and Communications, Development, Career and Professional Development, MBA, and other HBS teams to coordinate outreach, resources, messaging, and execution.
• Manage assigned program budgets and financial deliverables, use resources effectively, and communicate emerging risks or changes in a timely manner.
• Directly manage staff on the Alumni Communities team and provide strategic and operational oversight of that staff member's assigned portfolio. Set clear expectations, delegate work, provide ongoing feedback and coaching, explain the broader context of the work, and support professional development. Coordinate support staff, temporary staff, students, interns, and vendors assigned to programs or projects.
• Exercise sound judgment and initiative in resolving issues, making timely decisions within established parameters, and keeping the…