Director of Admission, Knight-Hennessy Scholars

Knight-Hennessy Scholars at Stanford University seeks a collaborative and strategic leader and problem-solver to serve as its Director of Admission. A key member of the leadership team, the Director of Admission will have the opportunity to attract, recruit, select, and enroll an extraordinary cohort of graduate students across the University who engage in experiences that prepare them to be visionary, courageous, and collaborative leaders to address the world’s most complex challenges.

Leadership in the modern world requires multicultural and multidisciplinary understanding. The most important problems that the world faces are often global and usually require experts across multiple disciplines to make meaningful progress. To address this systemic issue, President Emeritus John Hennessy and Nike co-founder Phil Knight founded Knight-Hennessy Scholars in 2016, the world's largest fully endowed scholarship program for graduate education. The program brings together scholars from around the world and from many disciplines to create a learning environment that will help prepare all scholars for leadership in a highly diverse and complex world. Each Knight-Hennessy scholar receives up to three years of financial support to pursue graduate studies at Stanford while engaging in experiences that prepare scholars to be leaders in business, law, medicine, government, nonprofits, industry, and the community at large. The program’s offerings seek to strengthen values, build skills, develop knowledge, and create a community that will lead to lifelong relationships with a network of global leaders. Today, over 500 scholars are a part of this prestigious community. 

The Director of Admission will join a highly entrepreneurial and collaborative team to continue to develop, implement, and oversee a strategic admissions process that embodies the mission and value of Knight-Hennessy Scholars. Reporting to the Executive Director, they will lead the admissions team in their pursuit of a comprehensive and nuanced admissions process that attracts high-quality emerging leaders, with the goal of enrolling up to 100 scholars annually from across Stanford’s degree programs. The Director will have the opportunity to engage with varied constituencies around the world and cultivate relationships across the university ecosystem to maintain the partnerships and cooperation required to enroll the strongest cohort possible. A key member of the leadership team, the Director of Admission will exhibit intellectual curiosity, solid judgment, an innovative spirit, technical expertise, and a commitment to managing complex projects in a fast-paced, start-up-like environment. To be successful in this role, the Director of Admission will address the following opportunities and challenges: 

• Provide critical leadership in assessing, refining, and implementing an overarching and impactful admission strategy for long-term success
• Thoughtfully represent Knight-Hennessy Scholars within Stanford University and around the world
• Work in close collaboration with the Knight-Hennessy Scholars leadership team to achieve programmatic goals, including continuing to integrate admissions and marketing efforts
• Manage and empower a talented admissions team

The following qualifications represent the broad set of skills and personal qualities deemed important for success as the Director of Admission. While no candidate will embody every quality, ideal candidates will bring many of the following professional qualities and attributes:

• Bachelor’s degree and ten years of relevant experience, or a combination of education and relevant experience, specifically highly selective admissions processes. An advanced degree is preferred; 
• Experience leading and managing a team; 
• Demonstrated ability to handle highly confidential and sensitive information with good judgment; 
• Ability to establish working relationships across the university; 
• Advanced communication (oral and written) and presentation skills to convey information to diverse audiences; 
• Adaptability to new information, changing conditions, or revised priorities; 
• Ability to collaborate with peers and lead cross-functional groups toward a shared goal; 
• Comfort with and proficiency in data analysis. Highly detail-oriented and analytical;
• A deep intellectual curiosity, solid judgment, an innovative spirit, technical expertise, and a commitment to managing both complex and simple projects simultaneously in a fast-paced, start-up-like environment.

The expected pay range for this position is $176,583 to $220,000 per annum. Stanford University provides pay ranges representing its good faith estimate of what the university reasonably expects to pay for a position. The pay offered to a selected candidate will be determined based on factors such as (but not limited to) the scope and responsibilities of the position, the qualifications of the selected candidate, departmental budget availability, internal equity, geographic location, and external market pay for comparable jobs.

Screening of complete applications will begin immediately and continue until the completion of the search process. Applications, inquiries, nominations, and referrals should be directed electronically below. 

Lindsay Gold is leading this search with Jaime Morgen and Julia Hocher.

Stanford is an equal employment opportunity and affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.