Director for Family Engagement

Job description

Job Posting Title: Director for Family Engagement ---- Hiring Department: Texas Student Life ---- Position Open To: All Applicants ---- Weekly Scheduled Hours: 40 ---- FLSA Status: Exempt from FLSA ---- Earliest Start Date: Sep 21, 2026 ---- Position Duration: Expected to Continue ---- Location: UT MAIN CAMPUS ---- Job Details: Purpose The Director for Family Engagement provides leadership and operational oversight for the University’s comprehensive engagement of parents and families from admission through graduation. The position leads Family Engagement and Texas Parents as a stand-alone unit within Student Life and ensures that families are informed, connected, and equipped to support student success while respecting student autonomy and privacy. The Director develops and implements the unit’s strategy for family engagement; oversees signature programs including Family Orientation and Family Weekend; directs the Texas Parents Association, membership, and philanthropic initiatives; leads family communications and resource navigation; supervises staff; manages budgets and revenue-generating operations; and builds partnerships across the University. The position collaborates closely with Longhorn Orientation, Enrollment Management, colleges and schools, University communications, development partners, and other campus units to create a coordinated and welcoming family experience. Responsibilities Strategic Leadership and Family Engagement Strategy Establish and implement a university-wide vision and multi-year strategy for engaging parents and families across the student lifecycle, aligned with institutional priorities and Student Life goals. Position Family Engagement as the University’s primary resource for parents and families, with a clear philosophy that helps families support student learning, belonging, well-being, persistence, and timely graduation. Provide the Assistant Vice President and campus partners with insight on emerging parent and family needs, expectations, concerns, and trends; translate those insights into responsive programs, communications, and services. Ensure engagement strategies are welcoming and accessible to families with varied backgrounds, locations, languages, structures, and levels of familiarity with higher education. Signature Programs and Year-Round Engagement Provide leadership and oversight for Family Orientation, Family Weekend, Mooov-In engagement, regional gatherings, webinars, resource fairs, receptions, and other in-person and virtual opportunities that connect families to the University. Partner with Longhorn Orientation to align Family Orientation with the new-student transition while maintaining distinct family-focused content, operations, communications, registration, and assessment. Develop a year-round engagement calendar that responds to key moments in the student experience and provides families with timely information and meaningful opportunities for connection. Oversee Texas Parents awards, scholarships, recognition programs, and related selection and stewardship processes, including the Outstanding Student Award, Staff Merit Award, Mike Wacker Award, and Parents’ Fund Awards. Ensure programs reflect UT Austin traditions, high standards of hospitality, appropriate risk management, and a consistent Longhorn family experience. Family Communications, Resource Navigation, and Issues Management Lead a comprehensive communications strategy for parents and families, including the Texas Parents and Families Portal, websites, newsletters, social media, email campaigns, presentations, and urgent or time-sensitive messages. Ensure communications are accurate, timely, coordinated with University messaging, and designed to help families understand campus resources, policies, deadlines, and appropriate pathways for student support. Oversee high-quality response and referral services for families navigating a complex university environment, including the escalation of sensitive, urgent, or high-profile concerns. Represent Family Engagement as a University spokesperson and presenter for family audiences and advise campus partners on effective parent and family communication. Texas Parents Association, Revenue, and Philanthropic Engagement Direct the Texas Parents Association, the University’s official association for undergraduate parents and families, including membership strategy, benefits, retention, fulfillment, partner relations, and community-building efforts. Provide strategic and financial oversight for a largely self-sustaining operation supported by membership gifts, program fees, brick paver gifts, sponsorships, and other earned or philanthropic revenue. Collaborate with development and advancement partners to strengthen parent philanthropy, donor stewardship, sponsorships, endowments, and opportunities that support students and expand family engagement. Ensure accurate gift, membership, and revenue administration; responsible stewardship of donor intent; and compliance with University financial, development, contracting, and data-management requirements. Organizational Leadership and Operational Stewardship Recruit, supervise, develop, and evaluate professional staff; establish clear priorities, performance expectations, decision rights, and a collaborative, service-oriented team culture. Oversee unit operations, budgets, staffing plans, contracts, purchasing, technology platforms, records, facilities, event logistics, and vendor relationships. Develop sustainable business practices, standard operating procedures, service standards, and continuity plans appropriate for a high-volume, public-facing unit. Exercise sound judgment in managing reputational, financial, operational, privacy, and safety risks, including occasional evening, weekend, peak-period, or emergency response responsibilities. Campus Partnerships, Assessment, and Continuous Improvement Build and sustain partnerships with colleges and schools, Enrollment Management, Student Affairs, University Events and Experience, communications, development, athletics, safety and support services, and other campus stakeholders. Represent Student Life on University committees and in regional and national professional networks related to parent and family engagement. Establish learning and program outcomes; use participation, satisfaction, communication, membership, revenue, and service data to assess impact and guide resource allocation and continuous improvement. Monitor national research, professional standards, legal requirements, technology, and emerging practices affecting parent and family engagement in higher education. Perform other related functions as assigned. Required Qualifications Master’s degree in higher education, student affairs, educational leadership, communications, business, public administration, or a related field. At least six years of progressively responsible experience in parent and family programs, student affairs, student success, alumni or constituent engagement, advancement, enrollment management, communications, or a related area, including program or team leadership responsibility. Demonstrated success developing strategy and leading complex, high-visibility programs or services within a large organization. Experience supervising and developing professional staff and leading teams through change. Experience managing substantial budgets, revenue-generating activities, contracts, or financial operations. Exceptional written, verbal, presentation, interpersonal, and customer-service skills, including the ability to communicate effectively with families, students, senior leaders, campus partners, and external stakeholders. Demonstrated ability to build partnerships, influence without direct authority, navigate sensitive situations, and exercise sound judgment with confidential information. Experience using assessment, engagement, operational, or financial data to evaluate effectiveness and inform decisions. Ability to work occasional evenings, weekends, peak periods, and University events as required. Relevant education and experience may be substituted as appropriate. Preferred Qualifications Eight or more years of progressively responsible experience, including leadership of parent and family engagement or a comparable constituent-facing portfolio. Experience at a large, complex, public research university. Experience leading family orientation, family weekend, membership, advancement, donor stewardship, or large-scale event portfolios. Experience overseeing a self-sustaining or auxiliary-style operation and developing diversified revenue strategies. Knowledge of FERPA, student privacy, risk management, accessibility, records management, and other laws or policies relevant to family engagement and student affairs. Experience with constituent relationship management, family engagement, event registration, content management, or digital communication platforms such as CampusESP. Bilingual proficiency in English and Spanish. Success Measures Families report stronger connection to UT Austin and greater confidence in locating resources and supporting their students. Family Orientation, Family Weekend, and year-round programs achieve strong participation, satisfaction, accessibility, and learning outcomes. Family communications are timely, accurate, coordinated, and responsive to the student lifecycle and emerging needs. Texas Parents membership, philanthropic support, and earned revenue are responsibly stewarded and positioned for sustainable growth. Campus partners view Family Engagement as a trusted, collaborative, and effective university-wide resource. The unit demonstrates strong staff development, operational discipline, assessment practice, and continuous improvement. Salary Range $90,000+ depending on qualifications Working Conditions Standard office environment Full-time, in-person Required Materials Resume/CV 3 work references with their contact information; at least one reference should be from a supervisor Letter of interest Important for applicants who are NOT current university employees or contingent workers: You will be prompted to submit your resume the first time you apply, then you will be provided an option to upload a new Resume for subsequent applications. Any additional Required Materials (letter of interest, references, etc.) will be uploaded in the Application Questions section; you will be able to multi-select additional files. Before submitting your online job application, ensure that ALL Required Materials have been uploaded. Once your job application has been submitted, you cannot make changes. Important for Current university employees and contingent workers: As a current university employee or contingent worker, you MUST apply within Workday by searching for Find UT Jobs. If you are a current University employee, log-in to Workday, navigate to your Worker Profile, click the Career link in the left hand navigation menu and then update the sections in your Professional Profile before you apply. This information will be pulled in to your application. The application is one page and you will be prompted to upload your resume. In addition, you must respond to the application questions presented to upload any additional Required Materials (letter of interest, references, etc.) that were noted above. ---- Employment Eligibility: Regular staff who have been employed in their current position for the last six continuous months are eligible for openings being recruited for through University-Wide or Open Recruiting, to include both promotional opportunities and lateral transfers. Staff who are promotion/transfer eligible may apply for positions without supervisor approval. ---- Retirement Plan Eligibility: The retirement plan for this position is Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS), subject to the position being at least 20 hours per week and at least 135 days in length. ---- Background Checks: A criminal history background check will be required for finalist(s) under consideration for this position. ---- Equal Opportunity Employer: The University of Texas at Austin, as an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer , complies with all applicable federal and state laws regarding nondiscrimination and affirmative action. The University is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, religion, or veteran status in employment, educational programs and activities, and admissions. ---- Pay Transparency: The University of Texas at Austin will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor’s legal duty to furnish information. ---- Employment Eligibility Verification: If hired, you will be required to complete the federal Employment Eligibility Verification I-9 form. You will be required to present acceptable and original documents to prove your identity and authorization to work in the United States. Documents need to be presented no later than the third day of employment. Failure to do so will result in loss of employment at the university. ---- E-Verify: The University of Texas at Austin use E-Verify to check the work authorization of all new hires effective May 2015. The university’s company ID number for purposes of E-Verify is 854197. For more information about E-Verify, please see the following: E-Verify Poster (English and Spanish) [PDF] Right to Work Poster (English) [PDF] Right to Work Poster (Spanish) [PDF] ---- Compliance: Employees may be required to report violations of law under Title IX and the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act). If this position is identified a Campus Security Authority (Clery Act), you will be notified and provided resources for reporting. Responsible employees under Title IX are defined and outlined in HOP-3031 . The Clery Act requires all prospective employees be notified of the availability of the Annual Security and Fire Safety report. You may access the most recent report here or obtain a copy at University Compliance Services, 1616 Guadalupe Street, UTA 2.206, Austin, Texas 78701.