Director of Jewish Student Life

Hillels of North Texas

Role Overview

Make your mark on Jewish student life by joining Hillels of North Texas as the Director of Jewish Student Life. You will drive Hillels of North Texas (UNT & UTD) by thinking big, empowering students, and creating a warm and inclusive environment for Jewish campus life. As you lead people and programs you’ll help every student on campus connect to Jewish life, learning and Israel. 

Jewish students come from varying backgrounds and lived experiences. You understand that being out on campus, staffing Shabbat dinners, and celebrating holidays with our community will enhance your engagement work by helping you meet new faces. You’ll meet students for lunch and coffee to get to know them and hear what’s going on in their lives. In this role you will work both collaboratively and independently to plan innovative and meaningful Jewish programs and develop the future generation of Jewish leaders. This is a student-facing position with an emphasis on being a staff mentor to students in all student programming, communications, and social media efforts. 

The Director of Jewish Student Life is a full-time employee who reports to the Executive Director and is an essential partner of the Hillels of North Texas team of two full-time professionals.

What You’ll Do

Engagement

• Identify a portfolio of students currently not engaged or less engaged with Jewish life on campus and create a plan to connect them to meaningful opportunities
• Develop one-one-one relationships with Jewish students by meeting them where they live, work and/or study, utilizing creative methods to reach and interest them
• Implement a strategic program planning model for engagement
• Collaborate with student leaders to help recruit for our immersive and high intensity programs like the Jewish Learning Fellowship (JLF) and Birthright Israel.
• Engage alumni of immersive experiences, such as JLF (Jewish Learning Fellowship) and Birthright Israel
• Track, manage and analysis student engagement data for the purpose of better understanding our Hillel’s students while also aiming to build and grow engagement

Student Leadership and Programs

• Serve as an advisor to student leadership groups and other Hillel student groups 
• Direct the student leadership, programming, and engagement budgets
• Manage programs to engage large numbers of students – i.e. “welcome week” and large holiday celebrations such as High Holy Days, Passover, & Israel Week 
• Initiate, plan for, and implement new program initiatives serving unmet student needs and interests, building on existing Hillel programs.

General Staff Responsibilities

• Lead marketing, social media, and content for website; maintain participant tracking database
• Participate as a member of the Hillels of North Texas staff team in major programs, Shabbats, and holidays
• Represent Hillels of North Texas on campus with students, parents, alumni, faculty and administration as appropriate, as well as with the wider community
• Other responsibilities as assigned.
• Note: Hillels of North Texas is a two-person staff team that works both collaboratively and independently on their own campuses respectively (UNT and UTD)

What You’ve Accomplished

• 1-3 years professional experience in Jewish, experiential or higher education.
• Bachelor’s degree required; Advanced degree is a plus.
• Proven success

What You’ll Bring to the Job

• Comfort reaching out to someone new and always making space for someone at the table
• A passion for working with emerging adults and investing in their growth as Jewish leaders.
• A commitment to pluralism and comfort with your Jewish identity so you may act as a role model and mentor for emerging Jewish adults.
• Ownership of your unique Jewish knowledge and experiences and ability to inspire others to be on a Jewish journey.
• Comfort working independently and collaboratively, with organization, resourcefulness, and attention to detail.
• Demonstrates the ability to hold nuance and listen to a diversity of opinions with an open mind, fostering an inclusive and respectful environment.
• An entrepreneurial spirit - things may not always go according to plan, but you understand that ambiguity is part of developing great new opportunities.
• Strong written and verbal skills, effective at communicating with a variety of stakeholders including students, parents, alumnae/i, and university partners.

What You’ll Receive

• Competitive salary in the non-profit marketplace. The salary range is $50,000-$60,000, commensurate with experience.
• Comprehensive benefits package, including health insurance, life insurance, Long Term Disability (LTD), vacation/sick time, and parental leave
• Flexible work hours and the ability to work from home
• Great professional development, mentoring, and skill building opportunities
• Opportunity to travel to Israel leading a Birthright Israel trip

About Hillels of North Texas

Hillel inspires students to develop an enduring understanding that Judaism is relevant and transformative, alive with innovative opportunity, and compels action, leading to a meaningful and connected Jewish life. The University of North Texas Hillel (UNT Hillel) is the premier campus Hillel of Hillels of North Texas, started in 2000. UNT Hillel estimates 400 Jewish students on campus and hosts the majority of programming in the newly built University Union. Without a physical building, UNT Hillel staff and interns meet students where they live, work and/or study to build relationships. The longest running program at UNT Hillel is the annual Israel Fair. Hillels of North Texas also supports Jewish life at University of Texas at Dallas. We are a maturing Hillel with two full-time staff. 

As one of the nation’s largest public universities, the University of North Texas is diverse with a robust campus life where students become part of the “Mean Green” family. The University of North Texas is located in Denton, Texas, a college town of 131,000 people and only 36 miles north of Dallas-Fort Worth.

Hillels of North Texas is affiliated with Hillel International. Hillel International enriches the lives of Jewish students so they may enrich the Jewish people and the world and envisions a world where every student is inspired to make an enduring commitment to Jewish life, learning and Israel.