Assistant Director of Student Engagement

The Assistant Director of Student Engagement is responsible for developing and leading Oklahoma Athletics' comprehensive strategy to build meaningful relationships with the OU student body and increase student engagement across all sports.

The position serves as Athletics' primary liaison to student-facing organizations and departments across campus, building relationships and identifying opportunities to connect students with Oklahoma Athletics throughout their college experience. A primary measure of success for the position will be increasing student attendance at Athletics events, particularly in sports outside of football.

The incumbent will serve as the department's internal expert and advocate for the student audience—understanding student interests, behaviors, and barriers to participation and translating those insights into strategies, partnerships, and opportunities for engagement.

Working collaboratively with external operations colleagues assigned to individual sports, the individual will manage the overall relationship with key campus stakeholders while involving sport-specific staff as appropriate for execution.

Essential Functions

Student Engagement Strategy

• Develop and lead a comprehensive, year-round strategy for engaging OU students with Oklahoma Athletics across all sports.

• Establish measurable objectives for student attendance, participation and affinity, with particular emphasis on increasing attendance outside of football.

• Serve as the department's subject-matter expert on the OU student audience and advocate for the student perspective in Athletics planning.

• Develop strategies that introduce students to new teams and experiences and encourage sustained engagement.

Campus Relationships & Student Insights

• Serve as Athletics' primary liaison to student-facing campus departments, programs and organizations.

• Build and maintain relationships with Student Affairs, Fraternity and Sorority Programs and Services, Student Government Association, Registered Student Organizations, Fitness & Recreation, University Experiences and other key campus partners.

• Serve as advisor to BoomSquad to provide strategic direction for the student-led organization.

• Establish consistent mechanisms for gathering student feedback and understanding student motivations, interests and barriers to participation.

• Translate campus relationships, student feedback and participation data into actionable opportunities and recommendations for Athletics leadership.

Student Attendance & Loyalty

• Lead department-wide efforts to increase student attendance, particularly at sports outside of football.

• Develop concepts for student-focused promotions, programs and experiences that incentivize attendance and reduce barriers.

• Lead strategy and operations of the student loyalty program designed to encourage and reward attendance across multiple sports.

• Use attendance and participation data to identify trends, growth opportunities and highly engaged students or student organizations.

New Student Engagement

• Develop a strategy for introducing incoming students to Oklahoma Athletics before and during their transition to campus.

• Build strong partnerships with New Sooner Orientation, Camp Crimson and other programs to deliver mutually beneficial programming to incoming students.

• Create opportunities to introduce students to Athletics traditions, teams, venues, and experiences early in their OU journey.

• Develop programming designed to establish Athletics participation as part of the OU student experience.

• Collaboration Across Athletics

• Collaborate across the external operations team, with sport programs and with Athletics leadership to provide colleagues with insights and recommendations for engaging students, bringing specialists into campus opportunities as appropriate.

• Maintain visibility into student-focused efforts across Athletics to encourage coordination and consistency.

• Other duties as assigned

Key Measures of Success

• Growth in student attendance at Athletics events, particularly sports outside of football.

• Increase in students attending multiple sports and frequency of attendance throughout the academic year.

• Participation in student engagement, loyalty and incentive programs.

• Strength and effectiveness of partnerships with student-facing campus entities and organizations.

• Increased Athletics integration into New Sooner Orientation, Camp Crimson and other significant student experiences.

• Student satisfaction, feedback and demonstrated growth in affinity for Oklahoma Athletics.

View full job description

Required Education:

• Bachelor's degree

• 2 years experience in branding, campaign strategy, performance marketing or related field

Equivalency/Substitution: Experience or a combination of education & related experience can be considered in lieu of degree. A one-to-one ratio is used to determine the number of years of experience required in place of a degree. 

Department Preferences:

• Experience in collegiate athletics.

• Experience working directly with college students or student organizations.

• Familiarity with university student affairs, orientation, student government or campus programming structures.

• Experience developing strategies designed to increase attendance or participation.

• Experience using audience, attendance or engagement data to inform strategy.

• Master's degree in business administration, marketing, sport management or related field.

Skills:

• Demonstrated ability to develop and maintain relationships with a wide variety of stakeholders.

• Strong strategic thinking and ability to translate broad objectives into actionable initiatives.

• Excellent interpersonal, written and verbal communication skills.

• Strong organizational and project-management abilities.

• Ability to work collaboratively and influence across departments without direct supervisory authority.

• Ability to understand audience needs and develop programs designed around those needs.

• Willingness and ability to work nights, weekends and Athletics events as required.

Hiring Contingent Upon a Background Check: Yes

Norman Campus: If you are selected as a finalist for a position that supports the Norman Campus, you will be subject to The University of Oklahoma Norman Campus Tuberculosis Testing policy. 

Why You Belong at the University of Oklahoma: The University of Oklahoma values our community's unique talents, perspectives, and experiences. At OU, we aspire to harness our innovation, creativity, and collaboration for the advancement of people everywhere. You Belong Here!

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement: The University, in compliance with all applicable federal and state laws and regulations, does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, genetic information, gender identity/expression (consistent with applicable law), age (40 or older), religion, disability, political beliefs, or status as a veteran in any of its policies, practices, or procedures. This includes but is not limited to admissions, employment, housing, financial aid, and educational services.