Highlands School is a vibrant leader in independent education in the Birmingham metropolitan region. Highlands School's whole-child focused academic program – guided by a comprehensive emphasis on physical, social-emotional, creative and intellectual development – educates and inspires students in preschool through 8th grade. The School was founded in 1958 and holds dual accreditation with the Southern Association of Independent Schools (SAIS) and Cognia.
Position Overview: Highlands School seeks a dynamic, personable, experienced, and highly effective Director of Enrollment Management. The Director of Enrollment Management reports to the Head of School and sits on the school’s senior administrative leadership team. The Director provides innovative strategic leadership in all aspects of enrollment management, including overseeing all admission practices and outreach, retention work, as well as the outplacement program for graduating 8th graders. This Director collaborates closely with strategic leaders in marketing, development, and finance. The Director has the ultimate responsibility for the process of sourcing, attracting, yielding, enrolling and retaining Highlands School students. Joining a fast-paced, collaborative team, the ideal candidate will be a relationship-builder who thrives on connecting with people, manages complex details with ease, and is deeply committed to the mission of the school. Highlands School is looking for a proactive partner eager to roll up their sleeves, contribute to an ‘all hands on deck’ community, lead with what’s best for children, and bring both strategic thinking and a sense of humor to daily operations.
Experience:
- Minimum of 3-5 years of admissions and enrollment leadership experience, in an independent school setting.
- Bachelor’s degree required; master’s degree preferred.
- Strong command of independent school enrollment management principles and best practices.
- Demonstrated, hands-on experience administering need-based financial aid, including application review, award decision-making, and strategic stewardship of financial aid resources in partnership with school leadership.
- Proficiency in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Google Suite.
- Demonstrated success using enrollment management and financial aid platforms, including Finalsite and Clarity.
Required Skills and Abilities:
- Ability to understand and effectively champion the value of an independent school education, especially the Preschool-8th grade model.
- Excellent communications skills, including empathetic listening, engaging speaking and storytelling, and strong writing skills.
- Deep understanding of enrollment, admissions, financial aid trends and best practices, with the strategic vision to develop and implement innovative approaches.
- Comfort presenting and communicating to a wide range of audiences.
- Ability to build authentic relationships and use data effectively to inform admissions and enrollment decisions.
- Ability to collect and analyze data, enrollment trends, and enrollment projections.
- Ability to take initiative on projects, working both independently and within a fast-paced, collaborative environment.
- Strategic, analytical thinker with strong qualitative and quantitative skills and the ability to identify trends and make data-informed decisions.
- Strong organizational, managerial, and interpersonal skills.
- High level of professionalism, integrity, and discretion handling sensitive, confidential information.
- Ability to cultivate meaningful relationships with prospective and current families, feeder schools, and community partners.
- Enthusiasm for participating fully in school and community life to build meaningful relationships with students, parents, faculty, and staff.
- High energy, flexibility, warmth, and a sense of humor.
Key Responsibilities:
- Oversee, manage, and provide leadership in enrollment management, which includes admissions, recruitment and retention.
- Setting admission and enrollment goals and strategies to achieve those goals.
- Maintain statistical and trend data related to admissions, retention, and enrollment.
- Create and provide admission, retention and enrollment reports for the Head of School, Director of Finance and Operations, and to the Board of Trustees.
- Oversee all aspects of admissions such as leading tours, organizing admission recruitment events, student visits, orientation for new families, and onboarding new families over the summer.
- Oversee all aspects of financial aid.
- Form and lead admission, retention, and financial aid committees.
- Oversee the entire re-enrollment process in partnership with the Business Office.
- Work closely with faculty throughout the year to ensure the sharing of accurate information for prospective families and partnering on recruitment and retention efforts.
- Willingness to work occasional evenings and weekends as needed as well as perform other duties outside of job scope such as carpool duty, lunch duty, classroom assistance, etc.