Vice President of Recruitment & Career Services

Position Overview

The VP of Recruitment, and Career Services is a new senior leadership role at Yeshivat Maharat. This role will hold primary responsibility for the long-term strategy for Maharat’s student growth and graduate impact. Reporting directly to the President, this role is focused on developing and implementing a strategic, relational, and data-informed approach to building a robust pipeline of high-quality candidates and ensuring that Maharat’s 100+ graduates thrive in rabbinic careers. Bringing together recruitment, marketing, and career services, the VP ensures a seamless, high-touch experience that begins with a candidate’s first inquiry and continues throughout their professional life.

The successful candidate is a visionary strategist and a sophisticated relationship-builder who brings deep knowledge of the Modern Orthodox community to Maharat’s most vital external partnerships and the individual needs of its alumnae. They possess the professional maturity to move seamlessly between setting a multi-year external relations strategy, to conducting high-stakes communal networking, to implementing the granular management of enrollment and placement work. This individual is a compelling storyteller and network-builder who can effectively represent Maharat’s mission to prospective students, communal partners, and institutional leaders. As the sole member of the Career Services team, they are willing to roll up their sleeves and lead both strategy and execution.

Core Responsibilities

Senior Leadership & Organizational Strategy

Strategic Visioning: Partner with the President and Senior Leadership Team to set the overarching organizational strategy and multi-year goals, ensuring all recruitment and alumnae initiatives are aligned with the strategic plan.
Cross-Functional Leadership: Navigate and identify cross-functional challenges, and frame recruitment and alumnae-related decisions for the President and Board so that Maharat can act with clarity and confidence; partner effectively with the academic and operational teams.
Strategy & Ownership: Set the strategy for and monitor the progress of recruitment, admissions, career services, and alumnae affairs.
Budgetary Oversight: Manage the strategic allocation of resources for the recruitment, career service, and alumnae departments to the areas of highest impact.

Strategic Recruitment & Enrollment Management

Pipeline Strategy: Design and implement a multi-channel student recruitment strategy that builds a global pipeline of candidates, including middle and high school students, college learners, and second-career professionals; monitor the “funnel” from lead generation to enrollment.
Relationship-Building: Conduct high-touch outreach to prospective students, building and maintaining year-over-year relationships across student life stages.
Admissions Operations: Design, execute, and oversee the admissions process to ensure it is rigorous, equitable, logistically smooth, and capable of attracting the highest-caliber talent.
Data Analysis: Oversee data strategy to inform all aspects of the recruitment and enrollment efforts, using data-driven decision-making to continuously improve recruitment and enrollment initiatives; execute record-keeping and data management.

Alumnae Success & Career Leadership

Placement and Internship Strategy: Set the strategy for graduate internships and placements; proactively cultivate new and existing relationships with Jewish communal and Orthodox institutions to open new senior rabbinic and educational roles for Maharat graduates.
Graduate Support: Set the strategy for and monitor the delivery of individualized professional support and advocacy for alumnae; provide high-reliability guidance and serve as an advocate for graduates as they navigate the professional challenges of the rabbinate.
Network and Relationship-Building: Oversee the growth of the Alumnae Network and maintain relationships with each alumna to support their career growth; set and implement the strategy for post-semikha professional learning and community building to ensure graduates remain connected and supported.

Marketing & External Relations

Stakeholder Engagement: Act as a principal ambassador for Maharat, cultivating strong, strategic relationships partnerships with camps, day schools, and communal organizations to expand the “Maharat footprint.”
Brand Visibility: In partnership with the President and Communications Manager, develop the strategy for Maharat’s external brand and public positioning; monitor the organization’s visibility in key Orthodox and broader Jewish markets.
Content & Campaign Oversight: Partner with the Communications Manager to align marketing and communications strategies throughout the enrollment life cycle; set the direction for high-impact recruitment and alumnae marketing campaigns.

Core Competencies

Strategy & Vision: Defines the long-term strategy for Maharat’s student growth and graduate impact; makes high-stakes decisions that ensure the organization’s strong position in the market.
Collaborative Leadership: Serves as a vital member of the senior leadership team, ensuring recruitment and alumni priorities are seamlessly integrated with academics, operations and development.
External Representation: Acts as a lead ambassador, building the Maharat brand and mission with prospective students, institutional partners, and the global Jewish community.
Directing the Work of Others: Effectively manages and empowers a high-performing team; sets clear performance expectations and fosters a culture of accountability and excellence.
Cross-Functional Project Management: Designs, implements and leads large cross-functional projects from inception to completion.

Qualifications

7-9+ years of experience, ideally with an emphasis on executive leadership, recruitment, alumni relations, and/or external affairs within a higher education or complex nonprofit setting.
Deep knowledge of the Jewish community; must possess the cultural and halakhic literacy to build trust with candidates and institutional leaders, with ability to support people throughout their careers.
Track record of developing data-driven strategies and monitoring performance against ambitious milestones (e.g., enrollment targets, placement rates).
Exceptional interpersonal skills with the ability to represent a vision and navigate complex communal and institutional dynamics.
Masterful public speaking and writing skills, with the ability to serve as a high-level external representative and role model of the organization.
Entrepreneurial mindset with the ability to operate in ambiguity and build new systems.
Highly personable with High EQ.