Director of Education, Clifton, NJ

Role Overview

Excelon Associates has been retained to recruit a Director of Education for a private, career-focused college in Clifton, New Jersey. The Director of Education is the campus academic leader, responsible for executing the institution's educational strategy and for the consistent delivery of high-quality, compliant, outcomes-driven academic programs. The position is full time and on campus, with a salary range of $85,000 to $90,000 set by experience and qualifications.

The role leads curriculum implementation, instructional quality, faculty performance management, and student academic support, with direct accountability for retention, progression, and student satisfaction. Candidates need a Bachelor's degree with an education or business focus, at least five years leading academic programs, faculty, and compliance efforts, and at least five years in a leadership role. The college was founded in 1924 and trains students for careers in business, legal, allied healthcare, diagnostic medical sonography, and information technology.

What Does a Director of Education Do?

A Director of Education at a career college is the senior academic officer for the campus. The role owns how programs are taught, who teaches them, and whether students progress and graduate. It covers curriculum implementation, class scheduling, instructional quality, faculty hiring and performance, academic advising, attendance and satisfactory academic progress (SAP) monitoring, and the education department budget, and it answers to campus leadership for retention, progression, and student satisfaction results. At this client, the Director also reviews enrollment and re-entry applications, facilitates enrollment agreements, and integrates online and on-campus learning into a single delivery model.

Career colleges in New Jersey operate inside a layered compliance framework: state licensure (degree-granting institutions answer to the New Jersey Office of the Secretary of Higher Education), institutional accreditation, programmatic accreditation where a program requires it (diagnostic medical sonography programs, for example, are typically accredited through CAAHEP), and the Title IV rules set by Federal Student Aid under the U.S. Department of Education. The Director of Education is the person who keeps academic operations productive and compliant at the same time, and who prepares the campus for regulatory reporting, audits, and accreditor site visits. For a general version of this role, see the Excelon Director of Education sample job description.

Primary Responsibilities

Academic Leadership and Program Delivery

• Lead and execute academic program delivery, including curriculum implementation, class scheduling, and instructional quality.
• Develop and publish class schedules, review academic reports, and keep program delivery on plan across the campus.
• Develop and implement educational strategies that integrate online and on-campus learning experiences.
• Support program evaluation, equipment and course review, and continuous improvement efforts.
• Partner on academic planning activities, including learning model integration and new program launches.

Student Academic Support and Services

• Oversee student academic advising, attendance monitoring, and academic support services, and advise students on academic and attendance matters.
• Manage student drops, cancellations, satisfactory academic progress (SAP) monitoring, and support processes for high-needs students to maintain a supportive and inclusive learning environment.
• Review and determine student enrollment and re-entry applications.
• Review and facilitate student enrollment agreements, ensuring documentation is complete, accurate, compliant, and executed to institutional requirements.
• Lead initiatives to improve student satisfaction, success, retention, and graduation rates.

Faculty Management

• Manage faculty performance, instructional excellence, and curriculum innovation.
• Promote and facilitate professional development and drive faculty engagement.
• Conduct instructor performance reviews and student evaluations on a regular cycle.

Administration, Compliance, and Reporting

• Manage education department administrative functions, including budgeting, resource allocation, and compliance with regulatory requirements.
• Ensure adherence to federal, state, and accrediting body regulations, compliance requirements, and academic policies.
• Support regulatory reporting, audits, and site visit preparation as needed.
• Conduct periodic evaluations of equipment, course content, and general school operations.

Partnerships and Team Leadership

• Establish and maintain relationships with external partners, including educational institutions, community organizations, and industry stakeholders.
• Collaborate with campus leadership and the curriculum team on operational priorities, data review, and performance improvement initiatives.
• Lead, coach, and develop team members, fostering a culture of wellness, recognition, and engagement.
• Meet regularly with direct reports in one-on-one and group settings to provide feedback and maintain a positive work culture.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Qualifications and Requirements

Required

• Bachelor's degree with an education or business focus, with complementary experience in education and/or business.
• Five or more years of experience leading academic programs, faculty, and compliance efforts.
• Five or more years of experience in a leadership role.
• Strong communication, collaboration, and stakeholder management skills.
• Ability to communicate professionally and fluently in verbal and written English.
• Ability to support a diverse and inclusive work environment.
• Computer literacy sufficient to navigate and use the technology required for the role.

Preferred

• Advanced degree, or equivalent experience, especially in education or business.
• Professional certifications or a specialty.
• Proficiency in MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and other business tools such as Microsoft Teams.
• Experience leading educational programs serving non-traditional student populations, online learning programs, and/or for-profit or non-profit educational organizations.

Career Level Expectations

• Manages multiple small teams or departments.
• Owns campus academic strategy, execution, and operational direction, and directs activities with significant impact on student and organizational results.
• Handles difficult and complex problems that require extensive investigation and analysis.
• Proven ability to collaborate with faculty, staff, and external partners to foster a cohesive and supportive educational environment.
• Able to influence others to adopt practices and approaches, and to communicate effectively with executive leadership.
• Demonstrates strong leadership presence and the ability to influence campus and shared services leadership.
• Desire for growth and professional development.

Compliance Responsibilities

• Demonstrate knowledge of, and carefully follow, all applicable federal and state laws, rules, compliance requirements, and regulations, including those prescribed by the U.S. Department of Education, accrediting agencies, state regulators, and internal policies and procedures.
• Communicate compliance requirements to other staff as appropriate and quickly escalate any compliance concerns to the Compliance department.
• Participate in activities including, but not limited to, student recruitment and activities related to securing financial aid.

Salary and Benefits

The posted salary range for the Director of Education position in Clifton is $85,000 to $90,000 per year, with the starting salary set by experience and qualifications. The client also offers the benefits package below to full-time team members.

Campus academic leadership roles at career colleges are typically benchmarked against the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics category for postsecondary education administrators (SOC 11-9033). Pay in that group varies widely by institution type and campus size. This range reflects a single-campus academic director seat at a career college in the New York metro area, with ownership of the entire education department and the full benefits package below.

Benefits

• Medical (including prescription), dental, and vision coverage, employer-subsidized.
• FSA or HSA, depending on the medical plan chosen.
• Basic life insurance, Employee Assistance Program, and long-term disability, all employer-paid.
• Voluntary additional life insurance, short-term disability, and supplemental critical illness, accident, and hospital coverage, employee-paid.
• Paid time off: 15 days accrued in year one, 9 paid holidays, and 1 volunteer day.
• 401(k), eligible after 90 days of employment.
• Pet insurance and identity theft protection.

Who Thrives in This Role?

This role rewards an academic leader who has already run an education department at a career college and been held to retention, progression, and graduation numbers. The strongest candidates have managed faculty across several programs, built class schedules that work for adult learners, and know how to coach an instructor from a weak evaluation cycle back to strong student outcomes without losing them.

It is a compliance seat as much as an academic one. Directors who do well here know Title IV requirements, satisfactory academic progress monitoring, and accreditor standards well enough to spot a problem before an audit does, and they keep enrollment agreements, attendance records, and student files clean as a matter of habit rather than a pre-visit scramble.

Evening classes, program start dates, and in-person events put nontraditional hours on the calendar, and occasional travel for meetings and conferences is part of the job. The best fit is comfortable with a diverse, nontraditional student population, works easily with campus and shared services leadership, and brings a steady, visible presence to a hands-on campus.

About Excelon Associates and the Client

Excelon Associates is a retained and contingency executive search firm founded in 2007, headquartered in Asheville, North Carolina, with offices in Boca Raton and Delray Beach, Florida, and a dedicated higher education recruitment practice. The firm was founded to recruit for career and technical colleges, and campus academic leadership searches remain core to its work. This search is being conducted on a retained basis on behalf of a private career college in Clifton, New Jersey, and the firm publishes its search fees and engagement terms so clients and candidates know how it works.

The client is a private, career-focused college founded in 1924 that provides hands-on training for careers in business, legal, allied healthcare, diagnostic medical sonography, and information technology. It operates with a single, well-defined teaching mission: reflect job market demands, and stay flexible enough to identify and add new programs that give graduates an edge in a competitive job market. The campus is in Clifton, Passaic County, inside the New York metropolitan area. The client's identity is shared with qualified candidates during the recruiting process. You can browse current open roles or review recent campaigns.

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The client is an equal opportunity employer and values all applications. Excelon does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, marital or veteran status, disability, age, or any other characteristic protected by law.