Assistant Director

Role Overview

Make your mark on Jewish student life by joining Vanderbilt Hillel as the Assistant Director. You will drive Hillel forward by thinking big and implementing with excellence on a day-to-day basis. As you lead people and programs, you’ll help every student on campus connect to Jewish life, learning, and Israel.  You will develop innovative programs and inspire our highly engaged student body to deepen their connection to Hillel, each other, and the Jewish community. Our Hillel serves over 1,000 Jewish students at Vanderbilt University, as well as students at neighboring schools around Middle Tennessee. Our team is proud to create daily programming and engagement opportunities to meet every student where they are along their Jewish journey.

Our next Assistant Director is a passionate Jewish leader that prioritizes creating student-led, innovative and meaningful programs, experiences, and communities on campus. You will use your energy and drive as you inspire students and staff to dream big, while you empower them as they find ways to make those dreams reality. You will have the opportunity to put your stamp on all aspects of our student-facing operations.

The start date for this role is negotiable but no later than Summer 2025.

What You’ll Do

• With the Executive Director, design and execute a programming, education, and engagement strategy to connect Jewish students at Vanderbilt to Hillel’s mission
• Innovate and expand on our robust leadership structure, seeking to empower as many Jewish students as possible as they lead our Hillel’s programmatic offerings, Shabbat and holiday celebrations, and community-building efforts
• Leverage your excellent people skills to relationship-build with key current and future leaders of our community
• Supervise and mentor 4 early career staff members, identifying their unique skills, passions, and backgrounds as you inspire them to leverage those interests into new opportunities for student networks and communities
• Manage daily operations of Vanderbilt Hillel, including events, facilities, building tours and coordinating with full time catering team to ensure that Hillel programing is running smoothly while maximizing our resources
• Be a thought partner and trusted advisor to the Executive Director and indispensable member of the Senior Leadership Team.

On a day to day basis you will

• Oversee 1-3 student leadership groups directly supervising their student leaders, attending planning meetings, and supporting them to create and execute dynamic programmatic offerings.
• Ignite campus engagement through one or more micro communities that spark your passion, whether that is a hiking group, a fantasy football league, an identity-centered space, or something new that you ideate with a rising student leader.
• Manage the staff hiring process and training of new professionals, weekly all staff and engagement team meetings, and ensure that all staff (including you!) have opportunities to participate in ongoing Jewish learning and professional development that support current needs and future aspirations.
• Be an enthusiastic team member and active participant during Hillel programs, including Shabbat, holidays, fundraisers, social activities, and other major events, as well as immersive education experiences, such as alternative breaks and Taglit-Birthright Israel, including pre- and post-trip programs.
• Build meaningful relationships with key university staff and faculty that yield productive partnerships.
• Oversee the collection of our engagement data in partnership with Hillel International.

What You’ve Accomplished

• 5+ years in Jewish, experiential, or higher education
• Experience as a professional in a Jewish nonprofit organization is preferred
• Bachelor’s degree required, advanced degree preferred
• Proven success in:
  • Hiring and managing a team. Excellent supervision skills and ability to coach others to achieve outcomes
  • Relationship building with, and advising of, traditional-age college students
  • Embracing innovative approaches to both secular programming and religious experiences
  • Creating structures and opportunities that assist and empower students and staff to take initiative and ownership of their communities.
  • Management of multiple projects while maintaining quality.

What You’ll Bring to the Job

• Be the face of Hillel to students, community members, and visitors.
• Knowledge of what makes people tick – you deftly bridge people’s passions and interests to their Jewish identity and Hillel’s mission.
• Comfort in managing teams as well as working independently and collaboratively.
• A practice of failing forward—things may not always go according to plan, but you understand that ambiguity and mistakes are 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.
• A commitment to pluralism and comfort with your Jewish identity so you may act as a role model and mentor for emerging Jewish adults as they explore how to imbue their modern lives with our generational wisdom.

What You’ll Receive

• Competitive salary in the nonprofit marketplace. The salary range for this role is $80,000 - $100,000.
• High-level professional development, including professional development funds, to help develop core skills in experiential education, including learning from some of the most innovative organizations in Jewish education today.
• Free daily meal and unlimited beverages from our kosher vegetarian café, phone and gas allowance
• Complimentary access to all Jewish young professional events in Nashville.
• A comprehensive benefits package, including health insurance, retirement plan, Life, AD&D, and Long Term Disability (LTD) insurances, Flexible Spending accounts, generous vacation/sick time, and parental leave.
• Great mentoring and skill-building opportunities, including frequent travel for professional development.
• Plenty of Hillel swag.

About Vanderbilt Hillel

Vanderbilt Hillel is dedicated to building Jewish communities in a variety of formats through empowering students to follow their interests. Entrepreneurial Vandy Jewish students hold a variety of leadership positions in a student-centered leadership structure and create clubs and programs that appeal to and attract their peers. Together, with a talented and committed Hillel staff, Vandy Jewish students are encouraged to explore all aspects of Judaism and Jewish life, from Shabbat dinners to alternative break programs and everything in between. The Ben Schulman Center for Jewish Life is a hub for the more than 1000 Jewish students at Vanderbilt and at surrounding Universities and colleges in the Central Tennessee area.

Established in 2002, Vanderbilt Hillel is located in the heart of Nashville, TN. One of the fastest growing cities in the nation, Nashville is home to major sports teams of all stripes, a booming coffee and dining scene, a farmers market lineup to brag about, and of course as many concerts, writers’ rounds, and pop up shows as you can dream of – after all, we are Music City! Our Jewish community is strong and growing with several synagogues, a day school, and many communities for Jewish residents of all ages and stages to connect with peers and grow as individuals and leaders.

Vanderbilt Hillel 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.