IACT Director of Engagement

USC Hillel 

Role Overview 

Invigorate the next generation of Jewish life as IACT Director of Engagement at USC Hillel. This dynamic new role sits at the intersection of direct student engagement and visionary leadership. You will champion our Hillel’s engagement efforts, serve as a collaborative thought partner for the student experience, and take charge of transformative immersive experiences. You will catalyze the student life team around recruitment and outreach efforts and have creative license to innovate around existing and new spaces for engagement on campus. You will contribute enthusiastically to full-team endeavors like Shabbat and  Jewish celebrations to create a warm, welcoming home for the Jewish Trojan Family. 

The IACT Director of Engagement is a full-time leader on our student life team, serves as the direct supervisor for our two additional frontline student engagement professionals (Springboard Fellow and Israel Fellow), and reports to our Managing Director.

What You’ll Do

You will participate fully in student-facing engagement work, manage major immersive experiences, coach student leaders, and supervise two professionals.

Campus Engagement Efforts 

You will be a frontline engagement professional with a goal to recruit students for immersive experiences, fuel our student leadership engine, and bring students closer to Jewish life on campus. You will build a wide breadth of relationships across campus (200 students) and establish deep, meaningful relationships with a smaller segment of those students (75). You will work with students and professionals to create on-campus opportunities for engagement and amplify Hillel’s presence and brand visibility in the campus community. 

Immersive Experiences

You will own two of our flagship immersive experiences: Birthright Israel and FreshFest. 

You will lead the charge of Birthright recruitment and staff trips each season, aided by the support of a Birthright Israel student intern team and by empowering other members of the student life team. You will lead follow-up efforts upon returning to campus, and serve as a resource connecting students to additional Israel opportunities that meet student interests. 

As our largest annual immersive experience, our overnight FreshFest retreat is the introduction for first-years to Jewish campus life and a catalyst for continued engagement. You will own the cycle of the FreshFest experience from start to finish by working with a team of student leaders to craft the arc of the program throughout the year. You will manage student leaders and staff to outcomes across an eight-month period to bring this exciting environment to life.

Supervision

You will supervise two professionals on the student life team: the Springboard Innovation Fellow and the Israel Fellow. 

As the supervisor of the Springboard Fellow, you will support the fellow’s transition into what is likely their first full-time job as a young professional. You will manage their engagement outcomes through setting SMARTIE goals, checking in 1:1 on a weekly basis to track progress and maintain accountability, and give actionable feedback. You will also counsel them on adjusting to a workplace and our team culture. 

As the supervisor of the Israel Fellow, you will support the fellow’s work overseeing Hillel’s Israel-focused student campus groups and their work as our Hillel’s lead Israel educator and engager on campus. As the supervisor of an Israel Fellow, you will: honor weekly 1:1 meetings, provide constructive and consistent feedback for the fellow to learn and grow as a professional, and be mindful of their unique role as a staff person far from home. 

Team

As a member of the student life team, you’ll join together with your colleagues to facilitate Jewish life through meaningful observances of Shabbat and Holidays and in coordination with major campus events. 

What You’ll Bring to the Job

• Dynamic energy and enthusiasm to connect with students 
• Strong relationship building skills and accessibility to students from diverse backgrounds.
• Strong entrepreneurial spirit, a willingness to take risks and learn from your wins as well as your losses.
• Capacity to create space for a diversity of perspectives and allow all student voices to be heard.
• An attitude of proactive communication and collaboration.
• A passion for supporting students to explore, experience, and create vibrant connections to Israel.
• An ability to manage multiple projects and track deliverables and outcomes
• A commitment to working in an immersive, in-person, on-site environment 
• A willingness to conduct your role in alignment with a student-focused schedule, including some evenings and weekends.
• A commitment to Jewish pluralism and inclusion.

Qualifications

• 2-4 years of professional work experience. Experience in a Jewish professional, higher education, or mission-driven organizational capacity a plus. Past Hillel experience a plus.
• Ability to work collaboratively as part of a complex team.
• Ability to work autonomously and manage multiple projects.
• Excellent time management skills.

What You’ll Receive

• Competitive salary in the nonprofit marketplace. The salary range for this role is $70,000-$75,000 and the position is classified as exempt..
• A comprehensive benefits package, including health insurance, Group Supplemental Retirement Annuity (GSRA), pension plan, life insurance, Long Term Disability (LTD), Flexible Spending Plan, generous vacation/sick time, and parental leave.
• Outstanding professional development, mentoring, and skill building opportunities.
• Travel regionally and abroad, particularly to Israel.
• Schedule flexibility from week to week to ensure balance.

About USC Hillel

USC Hillel is the Center of Jewish Life at USC, annually engaging over 75% of our 2,000 Jewish student population. Our mission is to enrich the lives of our students so that they may enrich the Jewish people and the world. Fostering meaningful Jewish experiences, USC Hillel develops leaders and inspires young Jewish Trojans to make an enduring commitment to Jewish life. We offer a welcoming environment to nurture a strong Jewish community and place an emphasis on peer-to-peer relationship building among an actively engaged student base. USC Hillel offers opportunities for students to become leaders, mentors, and community members within the greater USC and Los Angeles communities. USC Hillel prioritizes the development of our professionals by investing in team-wide and individual skill building opportunities, both in and outside of the Hillel context. USC Hillel received the “Great Place to Work” award in 2022 from Hillel International which highlighted our emphasis on professional growth opportunities, strong interpersonal relationships, and prioritization of personal wellness. 

About the University of Southern California

The University of Southern California is one of the world’s leading private research universities. An anchor institution in Los Angeles, USC enrolls more international students than any other U.S. university and offers extensive opportunities for internships and study abroad programs. With a strong tradition of integrating liberal and professional education, USC fosters a vibrant culture of public service and encourages students to cross academic as well as geographic boundaries in their pursuit of knowledge.

To Apply

Apply at hillel.org/work-at-hillel/ and include your resume and cover letter.

Salary : $70,000 - $75,000