"Director of Recruitment and Admissions"

Director of Recruitment and Admissions

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS URBANA-CHAMPAIGN

School of Information Sciences

The School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois invites applications from qualified individuals for a 100% full-time Director of Recruitment and Admissions.

The iSchool at Illinois is home to the top-ranked professional master's program in library and information science, which offers an award-winning online enrollment option, as well as joint degrees with History, Law, African Studies, and Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies. We also offer professional master's programs in information management and bioinformatics, a certificate of advanced study, a licensure program in school librarianship, as well as an exciting STEM-designated undergraduate degree that reimagines a liberal arts education for a global information society. The iSchool's doctoral program, established in 1948, is the oldest of its kind. More information can be found at: ischool.illinois.edu.

Job Summary

The Director of Recruitment and Admissions is responsible for the overall recruitment, admissions, and yield operations of the School of Information Sciences (iSchool) including the Informatics and Game Studies & Design Programs. The position develops and implements a comprehensive recruitment strategy to attract diverse and talented prospective students. Leverages best practices in enrollment management to create a welcoming and interactive experience for prospective students.

Specific Duties and Responsibilities

Recruitment and Yield

• Develop and lead robust recruitment and yield campaigns for relevant degree programs, assessing and analyzing outcomes and making changes to campaign strategies as needed. This includes a broad range of tactics including email and social media, online and in-person recruitment events, and campus visits.
• Develop and lead recruitment and yield strategies to enhance the student population across degree programs, assessing and analyzing outcomes, and making changes to recruitment strategies as needed.
• Work closely with relevant units, including the Informatics Program, Communications and Marketing and Finance offices, to strategically develop a budget for recruiting and yield activities. Evaluate all recruitment and yield efforts to determine return on investment and modify future efforts as needed.
• Work closely with the Communications and Marketing office for content creation and feedback toward effective advertisements, web-based and electronic communications, and other media to target prospective students and other stakeholders as applicable, e.g., parents and counselors of prospective undergraduate students.

Leadership and Management

• Hire, lead, and manage the recruitment and admissions staff team.
• Recommend qualitative and quantitative enrollment targets for relevant degree programs to the Dean, in consultation with the Director of the Informatics Program, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, and the Executive Associate Dean.
• Responsibly manage the units recruitment and admissions budget, ensuring alignment with recruitment and admissions strategy and return on investment of activities.
• Provide regular application progress reports and planning documents to senior leadership, faculty program directors, and faculty. Develop and prepare recruitment reports, both for standard school-level reporting to external entities and for decision support within the iSchool and Informatics Programs.
• Conduct regular market analysis and analyze enrollment trends to inform enrollment management strategic planning with respect to campaigns and budgeting.
• Provide guidance on, and create proposals for, best admission application evaluation policies and practices to the faculty and staff across relevant program committees.
• Provide guidance to relevant program committees regarding effective and appropriate admission policies and practices.
• Serve as liaison to campus committees related to admissions, recruitment, and enrollment management, as appropriate. Represent the units on the Committee on the Admissions of Student-Athletes (CASA).

Admissions Activities

• Oversee admissions review for relevant degree programs. Advise the Doctoral Studies Committee on application review processes, deadlines, and best practices in recruitment and yield efforts, as appropriate.
• Conduct college-level review of first-year and transfer applicants assigned to the all relevant programs by the Office of Undergraduate Admissions. Monitor and analyze the effectiveness of current admissions practices and implement improvements as needed.
• Oversee the application and communications process for admitted student funding, in consultation with relevant units as needed.
• Work closely with the Director of Undergraduate Affairs to manage off-campus transfer requirements for undergraduate programs. Coordinate and manage the appeal process for denied applicants, as appropriate.
• Other relevant duties as assigned to enhance the mission of the unit.

Additional Physical Demands

Some night and weekend obligations as well as domestic travel for recruiting events and other related activities will be required. It is anticipated that this will be approximately 20%.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Communications, Marketing, Higher Education, or related field. Degrees in other fields will be considered if accompanied by sufficient professional experience.
• Three to five years' experience in Admissions, Recruiting, or Enrollment Management.
• Experience with data-driven decision making in customer-focused environments.
• Experience in creating messaging for recruitment campaigns in a variety of modalities.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree.
• Five or more years' experience in Admissions, Recruiting, or Enrollment Management and/or a related area.
• A record of participation in professional organizations relevant to higher education admissions and recruiting.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Excellent written and oral communication skills, exceptional organizational skills, and experience supervising staff.
• Expert user knowledge of spreadsheets, databases, and other data analysis tools.

Appointment Information

This is a 100% full-time Academic Professional position, appointed on a 12-month basis. The expected start date is as soon as possible after the search close. The salary range for the position is $100,000 to $115,000. Salary is competitive and commensurate with qualifications and experience, while also considering internal equity.

Hybrid work options may be available for this position after an initial training period, but with the requirement that onsite availability may be needed at any time with short notice.

Sponsorship for work authorization is not available for this position.

Application Procedures & Deadline Information

Applications must be received by 6:00 pm (Central Time) on January 16, 2026. Apply for this position using the Apply Now button at the top or bottom of this posting, and upload your cover letter, resume (months and years of employment must be included), and names and contact information for three professional references. Please remember to include specific information on how you meet the qualifications of the position in your application materials, including all relevant experiences.

Interviews may occur before the close date; however, all applications received by the close date will receive full consideration. Applications not submitted through jobs.illinois.edu will not be considered. If required by the position, transcripts or other documentation of credentials are to be provided no later than the first day of employment.

For further information regarding this specific position, please email ischool-hr@illinois.edu. For questions regarding the application system, please contact 217-333-2137.