Director of Industry to Campus Connections

Center for Career & Professional Development (CCPD), reporting to the Division of Student Success, is the university’s centralized career planning and employment assistance service for USF students and alumni. The programs in the CCPD are designed to help students and graduates assess, explore, develop, and implement their career goals, gain employability skills and career-related experiences, prepare for a successful transition into graduate/professional school or the labor market, and connect with employers to obtain part-time jobs, internships, cooperative education, and professional employment. The CCPD holds the values of community, excellence, integrity, service, and well-being at the core of all they do.

The ideal candidate will report directly to the Assistant Vice President, this role works closely with the Center for Career & Professional Development team and across the University, and strategic employer and alumni partners. In addition, they manage a team of Assistant Directors and coordinators to:

• Serves on the Center for Career & Professional Development leadership team to align office goals to university initiatives and employment trends. Works collaboratively with the entire team to maximize employer activities and engage students.
• Supervise and coach the team to align activities with the strategic goals and mission of he Center for Career & Professional Development. 
• Leads the Industry to Campus team to create a strategic engagement plan for industry partners to connect with students and increase the hiring of graduates.  
• Create recruitment policies and procedures to serve as best practices for campus and community. 
• Identify, advertise, and secure sponsorship opportunities for industry connections to brand themselves on campus and create partnerships.
• Work across unit teams to proactively research, identify, plan, and implement existing immersive programs and talent recruitment events. The person in this role must also possess the creativity and drive to innovate new models.
• Oversee student employment and JLD functions of office.
• Collaborate with he Center for Career & Professional Development leadership team to facilitate external engagement across the University as needed to ensure strategic partnerships, signature programs, key employer relationships, new initiatives, and externally sponsored activities foster new and expand existing relationships across the university and beyond based upon a culture of trust, collaboration and execution, and value creation.
• Work closely with the Assistant Directors of Industry to Campus Connections and Internship Development, Director of Strategic Initiatives , and the Operations and Marketing team to support talent requests from strategic partners. Examples include but are not limited to connections to key faculty, staff, and student organizations, campus Interviews, employer events, information sessions, and access to resume books.
• Host career fairs and participate in he Center for Career & Professional Development events and represent our unit with the Chamber of Commerce and university committees relating to employer development at local, state, regional, and national meetings.
• Facilitate an Employer Summit each summer to provide professional development to community recruiters and foster connection to USF.
• Promote and utilize Handshake to track contacts and promote employment opportunities and events. 

• 50%: Engage with employers and alumni to support efforts to connect with USF students. This includes working with the team to host events, panels, career fairs, and activities for student interaction. Serve in the Chamber of Commerce and other industry connected groups to connect with Tampa employers.
• 20%: Supervise the Assistant Director of Industry to Campus Connector, Assistant Director of Internship Development, and Student Employment/JLD Coordinator and train to accomplish goals outlined by the strategic plan of the office and Director of Industry Connections.
• 10%: Create policies, goals, and sponsorship opportunities for employer engagement at USF.
• 10%: Identify ways to assess engagement and impact of industry connections and report findings to leadership and university Deans. Maintain accurate data on student engagement with employers.
• 5%: Collaborate with the CCPD leadership team to facilitate engagement across the University as needed to ensure strategic partnerships, signature programs, new initiatives, and externally sponsored activities foster new and expand existing relationships across the university and beyond based upon a culture of trust, collaboration and execution, and value creation.
• 5%: Performs other duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications:

Requires a Bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited institution.
Minimum of 7 years of related exempt level experience, including 5 years of managerial 
experience. Experience leading a team, project, program, or function.
 

Degree Equivalency Clause: Four years of direct experience for a bachelor’s degree.
• Senate Bill 1310- The Florida Senate (https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/1310) is conditional upon meeting all employment eligibility requirements in the U.S.
• SB 1310: Substitution of Work Experience for Postsecondary Education Requirements
• A public employer may include a postsecondary degree as a baseline requirement only as an alternative to the number of years of direct experience required, not to exceed:
• (a) Two years of direct experience for an associate degree;
• (b) Four years of direct experience for a bachelor’s degree;
• (c) Six years of direct experience for a master’s degree;
• (d) Seven years of direct experience for a professional degree; or
• (e) Nine years of direct experience for a doctoral degree
• Related work experience may not substitute for any required licensure, certification, or registration required for the position of employment as established by the public employer and indicated in the advertised description of the position of employment.
• Minimum Qualifications that require a high school diploma are exempt from SB 1310.

Preferred Candidate Experiences: 
• A dynamic leader with excellent organizational and relationship skills who fosters a culture of collaboration and trust around external relationship building and management and functions with a high degree of professionalism and integrity.

• Possesses a strategic mindset related to achieving goals, able to communicate vision and translate ideas into operational goals effectively.

• Demonstrated ability to work effectively in a fast-paced, process-driven environment while maintaining exceptional attention to detail and accuracy with lean staff support.

• Outstanding written, verbal, and presentation skills and the proven ability to communicate effectively with stakeholders at all levels.

• Demonstrated ability to manage time-sensitive problems in a constructive, positive manner.

Leadership Competencies and Personal Traits:

• Exceptional degree of emotional intelligence and ability to establish credibility, work collaboratively, and influence outcomes with a wide range of stakeholders.

• Outstanding relationship skills and building rapport with internal and external constituents.

The University of South Florida is a top-ranked research university serving approximately 50,000 students from across the globe at campuses in Tampa, St. Petersburg and USF Health. In 2025, U.S. News & World Report recognized USF with its highest overall ranking in university history, as a top 50 public university for the seventh consecutive year and as one of the top 15 best values among all public universities in the nation. U.S. News also ranks the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine in the highest tier, placing it as one of the top 16 medical schools in the nation and inside the top 10 among public universities. USF is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), a group that includes only the top 3% of universities in the U.S. With an all-time high of $750 million in research funding in 2025 and as a top 20 public university for producing U.S. patents, USF uses innovation to transform lives and shape a better future. The university generates an annual economic impact of nearly $10 billion for the state of Florida. USF’s Division I athletics teams compete in the American Conference. Learn more at www.usf.edu.