Employer: Stanford University
Location: Stanford, CA, United States
Category: Administration
Job function: Academic Operations Manager
Workplace type: Hybrid
Contract type: Regular
Grade: M
Posted: 2026-09-18
Introduction
Stanford’s Graduate School of Business (GSB) has built a global reputation for its immersive and innovative management programs, groundbreaking research, and commitment to developing leaders who create positive impact. We bring together students, alumni, staff, faculty, and a global community to generate new knowledge, transform how business is taught and practiced, and prepare innovative, principled, and insightful leaders who change lives, change organizations, and change the world.
Success at the GSB is defined by The GSB Way, our commitment to shared purpose, community, and excellence in all that we do. We seek individuals who elevate themselves and those around them through academic candor, generous collaboration, and curiosity and rigor in solving meaningful problems. At the GSB, impact means taking ownership, contributing to our community, and advancing the school’s mission.
Job Summary
The Stanford Graduate School of Business seeks an Assistant Dean of Academic Administration, a role at the center of faculty life at one of the world’s leading business schools. What distinguishes this position is not formal authority, but the trust, judgment, and relational credibility to be the person faculty and academic leaders turn to first: a reliable guide through institutional policy and a consistent source of truth across a complex, research-intensive university.
The work spans the full scope of faculty and academic affairs, from faculty lifecycle administration and faculty governance to academic leadership support, in a decentralized environment where influence matters as much as position. The incoming leader will inherit a stable, experienced team with deep institutional knowledge; their charge is to sustain that excellence while building a more distributed, transparent, and data-informed operation.
At its core, the role is anchored in two areas:
- Steward the full faculty experience. Serve as the primary institutional resource for faculty across the entire lifecycle (appointments, teaching assignments, leaves, sabbaticals, promotions, tenure, compensation, and benefits) while ensuring that workflows, information, and policy guidance remain consistent and transparent across the organization.
- Sustain the operational core of academic leadership. Serve as the primary administrative partner to the Senior Associate Deans, overseeing faculty governance processes including the Faculty Advisory Board, Academic Area Reviews, and Senior Faculty Meetings, while administering the associated budgets and representing the school with the Provost’s Office and peer institutions.
The ideal candidate brings deep fluency in faculty culture and academic personnel administration, earned in a research-intensive or decentralized academic environment. They show up as a facilitator and service partner: curious about finding solutions, skilled at navigating complexity without friction, and trusted to handle highly confidential faculty and institutional matters with professionalism and discretion.
They are equally strong as a team leader: building distributed accountability, developing staff self-sufficiency, and creating the conditions for a capable department to operate without depending on any single person. They bring financial and data acumen, and a genuine curiosity about how emerging tools and better information can surface sharper insights for senior leaders and expand what a high-performing team can accomplish together.
Additional Details
Budgeted Salary: The expected pay range for this positions is $220,156 - $287,216.
Work Schedule: Hybrid workweek typically at least 4 days onsite.
To be considered, applicants must submit both a resume and cover letter.
Core Duties
- Direct staff and provide leadership to achieve goals and vision of the organization. Responsible for hiring and retaining staff, career coaching, personal development for direct reports and accountable for the performance of employees.
- May independently or in collaboration with human resources managers, direct faculty supervisors and managers in the interpretation and implementation of human resources policies, procedures and programs.
- Independently initiate and create strategic plans for organization or program(s) managed. Make recommendations that may impact the unit’s academic and research capabilities. Identify and resolve strategic issues of substantial significance that affect the overall functioning beyond the immediate unit, consult and advise senior leadership. Oversee allocation of all resources.
- Manage the direction of internal academic and administrative policy development for programs and administrative operations.
- Oversee and/or manage the finances across all sources for the annual budget cycle, including developing, monitoring, analyzing forecasting and reporting to ensure the financial success of the organization.
- Manage and coordinate grants and contracts for the department. Ensure compliance with institutional and external requirements.
- Advise senior management on programmatic and policy development. May provide input to university leadership on institutional academic and administrative policies and guidelines.
Minimum Education
Bachelor’s degree
Minimum Experience
seven years of relevant experience in administrative and financial management, or combination of education and relevant experience.
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
- Demonstrated leadership and supervisory, planning and change management skills.
- Excellent planning and organizational skills.
- Excellent communication skills. Able to influence people, solve problems, troubleshoot, think creatively and resolve conflicts.
- Advanced financial expertise in accounting budget planning, and financial forecasting.
- Advanced expertise in grants and contract administration.
- Advanced analytical and problem solving skills Strong knowledge of industry standards and/or regulatory requirements.
- Strong negotiation and effective interpersonal skills.
- Attention to detail and accuracy.
- Advanced expertise in business and management computer applications and databases.
- Subject matter expertise for area(s) of responsibility.
- Ability to multi-task and manage deadlines.