About St. Francis College (SFC)
Founded in 1859 by the Franciscan Brothers, St. Francis College (SFC) has a rich legacy of academic excellence and service. Located in Brooklyn, New York, SFC educates over 4,500 students, primarily from the five boroughs, with backgrounds representing over 70 countries and more than 40 languages. With a network of 20,000 alumni, the college has produced distinguished public servants, scientists, lawyers, business professionals, nurses, teachers, and members of the clergy.
Rooted in Franciscan values of community, collaboration, and connection, SFC remains committed to providing a first-class, attainable, high-quality education to individuals of all racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds, with a special focus on working-class New Yorkers. In 2021, the College launched a transformative initiative to restructure academic and programmatic offerings, aligning them with 21st-century career needs while expanding its reach locally and internationally. In 2022, SFC relocated to a modern, state-of-the-art campus in Downtown Brooklyn, ensuring it continues to prepare students for success in a rapidly evolving world.
Job Summary
The Assistant Director of Residence Life is responsible for the administration of the College's residential life program, including policy development and implementation, residential operations strategy, budget administration, compliance coordination, risk management, staff supervision, vendor coordination, and analysis of housing and student-life trends to support institutional decision-making. This position plans, directs, implements, and evaluates residence life initiatives that promote student engagement, learning, safety, retention, and overall student success.
The Assistant Director exercises independent judgment and discretion in developing and implementing operating procedures, allocating budgeted resources within approved parameters, supervising Resident Assistants, evaluating vendor performance, interpreting and applying College policies, resolving escalated student conduct, housing, and risk management matters, and making operational recommendations relied upon by Student Affairs leadership. The position serves as the College's primary housing administrator and collaborates extensively with campus departments and external housing partners to ensure an exceptional residential experience.
This is a full-time, exempt, live-in professional position requiring availability to serve as the senior administrative decision-maker for escalated evening, weekend, holiday, and emergency matters as operational needs require.
Salary Range: $66,300 annually, plus College-provided housing and comprehensive benefits.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities: Assistant Director of Residence Life
Residence Life Leadership & Administration
- Serve as the core strategic leader and administrator for residence life operations and residential education initiatives.
- Develop, implement, assess, and continuously improve residence life policies, procedures, and programs that support student development, engagement, inclusion, wellness, retention, and institutional objectives.
- Establish annual goals, priorities, operating procedures, assessment measures, and staffing plans for the Office of Residence Life.
- Exercise independent judgment in resolving non-routine and escalated student, operational, compliance, and housing-related issues.
- Create, interpret, implement, and recommend revisions to College policies, procedures, and student conduct standards affecting residence life operations.
Supervision & Staff Development
- Recruit, select, train, supervise, schedule, mentor, evaluate, and develop Resident Assistants, with recommendations regarding hiring, retention, corrective action, and removal given substantial weight.
- Conduct regular individual supervision meetings and weekly staff meetings focused on performance expectations, policy implementation, risk management, and continuous improvement.
- Evaluate staff performance and make recommendations regarding corrective action, recognition, professional development, retention, and staffing structure.
Housing Operations
- Oversee, through subordinate staff and housing partners where appropriate, the administration of residence hall operations.
- Establish procedures and provide oversight for room assignments, occupancy planning, move-in and move-out processes, meal plan coordination, housing records, and summer housing operations, while delegating routine transactional tasks where appropriate.
- Prepare, administer, and manage the residence life operating budget, approve routine expenditures within delegated authority, monitor budget variances, and recommend resource allocations.
- Analyze occupancy data, student retention trends, incident reports, conduct trends, safety issues, accessibility-related housing needs, and student satisfaction data to develop operational, staffing, policy, and programmatic recommendations.
- Evaluate contracted housing provider and vendor performance, identify service deficiencies, coordinate corrective action, and recommend contract, service-level, or operational changes affecting housing availability, costs, risk management, or student services.
Student Conduct & Student Support
- Oversee and administer residence hall conduct processes consistent with College policies, serving as the decision-maker for escalated matters within delegated authority.
- Evaluate escalated student behavioral concerns, assess institutional risk, and determine appropriate interventions, referrals, or policy-based responses.
- Exercise discretion in responding to sensitive and non-routine student matters while maintaining FERPA compliance and coordinating with appropriate College officials.
- Establish referral protocols and coordinate escalated referrals to counseling, academic support, accessibility services, campus safety, and other student support resources.
Crisis Response & Risk Management
- Serve as the senior professional on-call administrator for escalated emergency response matters requiring administrative decision-making.
- Assess escalated student crises, medical emergencies, facility issues, and other incidents; determine institutional response; coordinate appropriate resources; and escalate matters to senior leadership when warranted.
- Direct emergency communication and documentation for escalated incidents and ensure appropriate follow-up, trend review, and policy or operational recommendations.
- Develop, implement, and monitor compliance with health, safety, Title IX, and emergency response protocols affecting residence life operations.
Collaboration & Institutional Service
- Partner with Academic Affairs, Enrollment Management, Campus Safety, Facilities, Counseling, Accessibility Services, and other departments to develop cross-functional protocols and support student success, retention, safety, and compliance.
- Serve on institutional committees and advise Student Affairs leadership on residence life strategy, residential risk management, housing operations, and student support trends.
- Participate in Orientation, Open Houses, Commencement, Move-In, and other College events in a planning, coordination, staffing, or risk-management capacity.
Other Responsibilities
- Develop and recommend policy revisions and operational improvements affecting residence life, housing operations, student conduct, compliance, risk management, and student satisfaction.
- Analyze residential trends, including occupancy, retention, conduct, safety, emergency response, accessibility-related housing needs, vendor performance, and student satisfaction, and develop recommendations relied upon by Student Affairs leadership.
- Perform other duties under general supervision consistent with the primary management-level administrative responsibilities of the position.
Qualifications
Required
- Bachelor's degree from an accredited institution.
- Three to five years of progressively responsible professional experience in Residence Life, Student Affairs, Housing, or a related higher education setting.
- Demonstrated supervisory, leadership, policy-development, and program-administration experience.
- Experience exercising independent judgment while handling confidential, sensitive, non-routine, and operationally significant matters.
- Strong organizational, analytical, interpersonal, and conflict-resolution skills.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Ability to independently prioritize multiple competing responsibilities under only general supervision.
- Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications.
Preferred
- Master's degree in Higher Education, Student Affairs, Counseling, or a related field.
- Experience with Ellucian Colleague or similar student information systems.
- Experience preparing and managing budgets, evaluating vendor performance, and developing departmental operations recommendations.
- Experience working within a diverse, student-centered college environment.
Working Conditions
- Live-in position with College-provided housing.
- Evening, weekend, holiday, and emergency on-call availability is required for escalated matters requiring administrative decision-making.
- Periodic walking throughout residence halls, climbing stairs, and presence during escalated operational or emergency situations may be required.
- Must be able to respond promptly to escalated after-hours emergencies requiring administrative judgment or coordination.
FLSA Classification:
This position is classified as Exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and applicable state wage-and-hour law. The incumbent’s primary duty is management-level administration of the College’s residence life function, including policy development and implementation, budget administration, staff supervision, vendor coordination, compliance coordination, risk management, operational analysis, and recommendations affecting residence life operations. The incumbent exercises discretion and independent judgment with respect to matters of significance and performs work that is predominantly administrative in nature.
Interested applicants can apply by visiting sfc.edu/why-sfc/careers-at-sfc.
St. Francis College is committed to providing opportunities to all persons without regard to sex, race, creed, color, religion, national origin, citizenship status, age, disability, marital status, gender identity or expression, predisposing genetic characteristics, status as a victim of domestic violence, sexual orientation, status as a Vietnam-era or special disabled veteran, or any other characteristic protected by law in its education programs and activities or employment.
The College is an Equal Opportunity employer.
Pay: $66,300.00 per year
Benefits:
- Dental insurance
- Employee assistance program
- Flexible spending account
- Health insurance
- Health savings account
- Life insurance
- Paid time off
- Parental leave
- Retirement plan
- Vision insurance
Work Location: In person
