Executive Director, Keller Center

Situated in the School of Engineering at Princeton University, the Keller Center for Innovation in Engineering Education empowers its constituents to create meaningful real‑world impact through entrepreneurship, innovation, and design. Founded in 2005, the Center offers curricular and co‑curricular programs to undergraduates, graduate students and faculty. As a trusted thought partner to the Center's faculty director, the Executive Director holds a distinctive and overarching perspective across the breadth and activities of the center.

Working alongside the Director, the Executive Director leads strategic priorities to develop, articulate, and implement center‑wide strategies to achieve the center's goals.

Leading administrative, operational, outreach, financial, and programmatic aspects of the center, the Executive Director provides leadership to all members of the Keller Center community, including faculty and staff, to establish a culture of engagement in teaching and learning centered in design, entrepreneurship, and innovation. The Executive Director designs organizational strategy to create, own, and enforce processes to drive coordination, communication, and excellence to support the smooth and effective operations of the center.

The Executive Director is a senior professional with a broad and deep understanding of strategic planning, finance, people leadership, and operational acumen, with an entrepreneurial, energetic, and optimistic approach. Reporting directly to the center's faculty director, with a secondary reporting relationship to the Associate Dean for Administration in the Dean's Office in the School of Engineering, the Executive Director represents the Keller Center both internally within the University and externally with strategic partners, advisors, donors, and other stakeholders.

• Deeply engage in the development, creation, and evaluation of new strategic initiatives.
• Advance strategic priorities through planning and programmatic steps.
• Lead important strategic priorities, including investing in operational and programmatic excellence.
• Design organizational strategy, develop internal policies, and lead efforts to acquire resources to establish an internal structure that ensures the center flourishes and reflects operational excellence.

• Oversee center team members; set goals and priorities for their respective areas; manage hiring, performance review, and merit increase processes.
• Support faculty recruitment for core Keller Center courses and provide input on faculty performance reviews.
• Ensure smooth, effective, and compliant operations of the center across administrative, financial, technological, space, and facility components.
• Improve current processes and coordinate organizational procedures for increased efficiency and productivity.
• Represent the center on various internal committees and working groups.

• Engage in development, fundraising, and stewardship activities on behalf of the center.
• Forge key relationships across internal and external entities to support center activities.
• Develop avenues to engage faculty and students with industry representatives, cultivate a strong sense of community, and foster synergies.
• Help define center identity and narrative to develop a communication plan to increase center visibility.
• Oversee and manage multi‑constituent collaborations, events, and projects including external partners.
• Partner with the faculty director on the center's advisory council membership and annual meeting.

• Set and oversee the center's overall budget; ensure appropriate usage of funds and oversight of all financial activities.
• Ensure appropriate and timely stewardship of donor funds.
• Routinely review financial reports and provide financial analysis to support strong business and programmatic decisions, prioritizing funding for maximum impact.

• Master's or professional degree and 7+ years of experience, ideally in entrepreneurship, design, or higher education.
• Experience leading an organization toward a shared vision and…