Senior Administration Openings
Director of Admissions and Financial Aid - Atlanta International School (AIS)
Preamble
AIS is a twenty-three year-old private international school in Atlanta, attended by nine hundred forty students (940) and located in an architectural landmark building in the heart of Buckhead. Its multicultural community is valued as an integral part of the school. AIS offers to students from four-year-old Kindergarten to grade 12 a curriculum based upon the International Baccalaureate (IB). The Primary School offers an excellent dual language program in Spanish, French, and German; Latin and Chinese are additionally offered in the Secondary School. IB Diploma results consistently place the school amongst the top international schools worldwide, and AIS graduates win admission to highly ranked colleges throughout the world. The school has an educational philosophy that combines global open-mindedness and respect with a commitment to rigorous academic performance, while valuing an inquiry based approach to learning that emphasizes independent thought and research skills.
The office of the Director of Admission and Financial Aid is the first point of contact with prospective and new parents to the school. Thus, the Director of Admission and Financial Aid should be able to actively demonstrate to applicant families the school’s unique educational philosophy, as well as the institution’s sincere concern for and interest in each individual student. Besides obtaining an in depth institutional knowledge, this requires advanced written and verbal communications skills and an extraordinary level of interpersonal empathy. The successful candidate should be able to demonstrate broad marketing understanding coupled with advanced written and verbal communications skills. Personal attributes expected include self-motivation, the ability to think both strategically and tactically, and the flexibility to successfully work within a diverse and demanding school environment. Technology and financial management skills are expected in order to manage successfully the financial aid program.
Director of Admission and Financial Aid Job Description
Summary
The Director of Admission and Financial Aid is primarily responsible for ensuring that demand for student placement at AIS continues to be high, particularly amongst key cultural constituencies. Responsibilities include managing the admission office, ensuring that the annual admission process works flawlessly, liaising with all sections of the school both academic and institutional, and contributing as an integral member of the management team.
Guiding Principles
- Supports and advances the Mission and Values of the School.
- Supports student learning and achievement through cooperative effort and best practices
- Supports and promotes the 4K-12 curriculum based upon the IB goals and mission.
- Supports and advances international education
Essential Duties And Responsibilities
As part of the Director of Admission and Financial Aid’s responsibilities he or she will oversee the day-to-day operations of admissions office. Such duties will include:
- Local and international student candidate recruitment and application assessment.
- Managing the re-enrollment process for current families.
- Organizing student and parent interviews; as well as subsequent notification to families.
- Continuous improvements to the admission process are expected to generate an optimal workflow and should include effective management of people and data throughout the recruiting cycles.
- Working with the Headmaster to target and manage enrollment numbers based on Admission data research, planning and analysis.
- Managing all aspects of the Admission process including outreach, conducting tours and Open Houses.
- Preparing reports for the Board of Trustees to support them in their fiduciary role ensuring the disbursement of Financial Aid.
- Liaising with the Director of Development in all aspects of this position relating to the marketing strategies of the school as well as data management.
Qualifications and Education
It is expected that candidates for this position will be highly qualified professionals able to lead and manage the Admission’s team in order to run a highly effective department. Characteristics of the ideal person for this position would include:
- Master's degree or bachelor's degree in an appropriate field.
- 5 - 10 years of experience in Admissions or similar field.
- Diversity training or experience.
- Ability to relate well to students or others from diverse cultural & educational backgrounds.
- Demonstrated superior oral and written communication skills and experience speaking to both large and small groups.
- Excellent interpersonal skills, cross-cultural communication experience.
- Exceptional organizational and demonstrated program-planning skills.
- Extensive experience using personal computers (e.g. internet, databases, word processing).
- Experience working with international students, organizations or companies.
- Experience studying, living or working overseas. Fluency in a second language is a plus.
- Be sensitive to, and skilled in, working with diverse families and be committed to promoting diversity in student and employee populations.
- Possess strong leadership and analytical skills.
- Ability to train, develop, motivate, and mentor an admissions team
Preferred Background
This is a full time, 12-month, fixed-term appointment. Salary range ais commensurate with experience. Please send a letter of application, resume and name, addresses and phone numbers of (3) references to employment@aischool.org by March 21, 2008. Use (Head of Admissions) for the subject line.
It is expected that interviews will commence at the end of March.