Walden University Looking for Director, Growth and Insights at Chicago, IL Full Time

Walden University, an Adtalem Global Education institution, supports a diverse community of adult learners from across the U.S. and other countries, who seek to achieve their academic goals and make positive, lasting social change in their professions and communities. Walden is a B Corporation with a mission to provide a diverse community of career professionals who have the opportunity to transform themselves as scholar-practitioners to positively affect social change. Walden offers more than 100 online degree and certificate programs, for students pursuing a bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral or certificate. Walden University has graduated more than 174,000 students and is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.

Visit WaldenU.edu for more information, and follow on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

Job Description

Walden University is looking to add a Director, Growth and Insights to Walden University’s team, reporting to the VP, Growth and Insights. This new role will partner with the Walden enrollment, advising and product management teams – as well as with Adtalem’s centralized marketing, customer experience, and workforce solutions teams to; 1) develop data-driven insights that can drive short and long-term strategies for growth, 2) support and lead high impact, cross-functional growth projects directly related to Walden’s transformation and 3) conduct analysis to monitor and assess project / initiative performance. In this role, the Director will play a key role in supporting Walden and its executive team and functional leaders in growing the institution and winning market share. The Director will partner with the team to help drive revenue, enrollment growth, market share, persistence, and gross margin improvements. In addition, the Director will track and drive insights from leading indicators such as lead mix and volume, website performance, admissions conversion rates, cohort retention rates, student satisfaction and program profitability. Walden University seeks an individual that can think strategically while supporting and driving results. They will have strong analytical capabilities and the ability to drive insights – and then drive action from those insights. This individual will have a strong understanding of digital education and/or a comparable industry. A bias towards action and speed of execution will be beneficial as it is imperative for the University to improve its competitiveness and drive growth.

Responsibilities

• The Director will have a broad set of responsibilities, including:
• Conduct analytics and deliver data-driven insights:
• Refine and (where needed) develop comprehensive set of dashboards to track performance against PY and targets
• Lead and conduct ad-hoc analysis to support enrollment, retention and pricing optimization.
• Collaborate with the Reporting and analytics COE to develop tools and standardized reports.
• Support high-impact growth initiatives:
• Partner with the VP, Growth and Insights (in collaboration with the VP, Enrollment) to increase dramatically (e.g., double-digit percentage points) the portion of prospects who start an application who then reserve a spot in the incoming class – a key portion of the broader prospect-to-end-of-second-semester funnel that has been identified as a growth opportunity
• Partner with the VP, Growth and Insights (in collaboration with the VP, Student Services, and the Provost/Chief Academic Officer) to increase persistence from the second to the third semester from current levels, which already represent historic peaks for the University, to best-in-class among online institutions (i.e., incremental improvement of 150 to 200 basis points) – working creatively to launch, test, and iterate new solutions given the mission and financial imperatives of improved retention
• Partner with the VP, Growth and Insights, working collaboratively across functions within the University and the broader Adtalem organization (e.g., IT) to drive effective implementation of six identified use cases for generative and conversational AI technologies to drive growth, improve student outcomes, and increase faculty productivity
• Develop effective growth strategy and related communications:
• Partner with the VP, Growth and insights (in collaboration with the VP, Product and the Chief Academic Officer) to identify opportunities to improve the program portfolio, including by generating innovative ideas for new offerings
• Support the VP, Growth and Insights (in collaboration with the broader executive team) to develop annual growth strategy and goals in coordination with the Adtalem enterprise strategy
• Partner with the VP, Growth and Insights to develop internal and external communications related to growth strategy and results
• Performs other duties as assigned
• Complies with all policies and standards

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree Required and
• Master’s Degree MBA Preferred
• 8+ years overall experience Required and
• 4+ years of experience and a demonstrated track record of successfully contributing to growth businesses with tremendous drive, intellect, and emotional intelligence; examples could include:
• Management consulting with a focus on growth and/or higher education
• Private equity portfolio operations with a focus on growth and/or higher education
• Operating experience in a high-growth company in a growth-related function, preferably in higher education Required
• Growth: Proven experience within growth-oriented environments, architecting, building, managing, and growing revenue, sustaining double-digit annual growth
• Domain: Demonstrated track record of delivering growth in B2B and B2C businesses, ideally in higher education; additional experience in health care a plus
• Scope: Broad experience leading, maximizing performance, and driving growth across new solution development, alliances/partnerships, sales, customer (student) experience, customer (student admissions) services/retention, and marketing
• Product: Substantive experience in competitive market analysis and product/solution development with demonstrated success identifying, building, launching, and scaling new offerings that extend customer relationships, expand market presence, and drive commercial success
• Growth: Proven experience within growth-oriented environments, architecting, building, managing, and growing revenue, sustaining double-digit annual growth
• Location: Lives in or is willing to relocate to Chicago, IL or Washington, DC strongly preferred.
• A thoughtful individual contributor who is highly collaborative and can successfully navigate a matrixed, complex organization.
• A self-motivated individual, that is metrics-driven, and brings disciplined approach to strategy execution. Results-driven, one will bring outstanding strategic capabilities and a strong business acumen.
• A true “change agent,” able to lead diverse groups in implementing new programs and ideas. One will bring the proven ability to work cross-functionally and lead through influence.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills.
• Highly motivated, self-directed and will be passionate about making a measurable difference for the University and its students.

Additional Information

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

We are proud to be an EEO employer M/F/D/V. At Adtalem, we welcome everyone and have a strong commitment towards diversity and inclusion. We encourage our Colleagues to be their true authentic selves and support laws that prohibit discrimination everywhere we do business. We also maintain a drug-free workplace.