Role Overview
The Regional Compliance Manager owns the licensing, authorization, and regulatory health of all assigned schools and programs within a defined multi-state region. This role leads a team of Compliance Specialists and is accountable for ensuring that applications, renewals, regulatory reports, inspections, school changes, and corrective actions are completed accurately, supported by evidence, and submitted on time.
Where the Compliance Specialists prepares and processes compliance work, the Regional Compliance Manager reviews, prioritizes, decides, and owns the outcome. This role allocates work, establishes standards and deadlines, reviews material submissions, manages performance, resolves escalations, and serves as the primary Compliance partner for assigned schools. The Regional Compliance Manager must maintain enough hands-on expertise to step into complex submissions, regulator discussions, inspections, and urgent launch risks when needed.
The Regional Compliance Manager is the single point of accountability to the VP of Compliance for the regulatory status of the assigned region. Risks must be surfaced early, clearly documented, and paired with a recommended path forward.
Mission and Core Values
Zollege’s mission is to eliminate reliance on student loans by delivering scalable, debt-free career training for essential, human-centered jobs. We equip students with the skills, confidence, and career pathways to create lasting change for themselves, their families, and their communities.
By leveraging AI-first practices, industry partnerships, and streamlined, hands-on learning models, Zollege focuses on what truly matters: life-changing student outcomes without accumulating a lifetime of debt. Our goal is to drive U.S. student loan debt below $1 trillion and build a nation where education empowers rather than burdens.
Core Values
- Create WOW
- Hunger for Growth
- Always Take Ownership
- Maniacal Sense of Urgency
- Practice Unity
You are responsible for upholding and modeling the mission and Core Values in all interactions with students, teammates, partner sites, regulators, and other external stakeholders.
Essential Responsibilities and DutiesRegional Licensing and Compliance Ownership
- Own the current and future licensing status of every assigned school and program, including approvals, conditions, restrictions, expirations, deficiencies, open requests, and blocking items.
- Ensure no assigned school or program advertises, solicits, enrolls, or begins instruction before all required final approvals are documented and confirmed.
- Oversee the full regulatory lifecycle, including initial school and program applications, renewals, annual and quarterly reports, staff approvals, assumed-name filings, business licenses, bonds, and other required registrations.
- Manage regulatory changes involving location, ownership, legal entity, school name, tuition, curriculum, delivery method, program scope, directors, instructors, representatives, and other regulated attributes.
- Oversee school closures, teach-out or records obligations, license surrender, and related regulatory notifications when applicable.
- Maintain working knowledge of proprietary-school agencies, dental and medical boards, boards of nursing, workforce agencies, radiation-control authorities, local licensing bodies, and applicable accrediting organizations.
- Maintain a regional compliance calendar with sufficient lead time for document collection, internal review, signatures, payments, submission, and regulator follow-up.
- Prevent licensing lapses, missed filings, and unapproved operations caused by internal delay, incomplete documentation, or unsupported assumptions.
Team Leadership and Performance Management
- Lead, coach, develop, and hold accountable a team of Compliance Specialists and other assigned Compliance team members.
- Set clear individual and team priorities, KPIs, service levels, deadlines, and quality expectations.
- Allocate work based on risk, workload, regulator complexity, school-launch priorities, and team capability.
- Conduct regular one-on-ones, team reviews, coaching, training, and formal performance evaluations.
- Own formal performance management for assigned direct reports, including documented coaching, written warnings, performance improvement plans, and termination recommendations or decisions in partnership with People and Culture and the VP of Compliance.
- Conduct coaching and performance conversations with clarity, respect, and empathy. Hold people accountable to high standards while preserving the individual’s dignity and focusing on correction and development.
- Review and approve material applications, regulatory responses, inspection packages, audit evidence, and corrective-action plans before submission.
- Build subject-matter depth and cross-training so the region is not dependent on a single person for any state, agency, or critical process.
- Recognize strong performance, reinforce the Core Values, and build a team culture defined by accuracy, urgency, ownership, and collaboration.
Regulatory Relationships and Interpretation
- Serve as a primary relationship owner with assigned regulators, licensing agencies, boards, inspectors, and external compliance partners.
- Interpret statutes, regulations, agency guidance, applications, and regulator direction, including requirements that may be unclear or inconsistent across jurisdictions.
- Translate regulatory requirements into clear internal instructions, owners, due dates, deliverables, and evidence standards.
- Represent Zollege in regulatory meetings, board presentations, inspections, and other approval activities.
- Respond to regulator questions and deficiency notices accurately, professionally, and within required timelines.
- Escalate material uncertainty, adverse agency feedback, potential noncompliance, or threats to a school or program launch to the VP of Compliance and appropriate leadership.
- Distinguish conditional, preliminary, or pending status from final authorization and communicate operating restrictions clearly to affected teams.
Inspections, Audits, and Corrective Action
- Lead preparation for initial, renewal, periodic, annual, and closure inspections, including document collection, file audits, readiness reviews, logistics, and internal coordination.
- Ensure school files, catalogs, enrollment agreements, student records, instructor and director records, required postings, policies, and operating practices align with approved requirements.
- Maintain an evidence-based regional compliance program in which each material compliance status is supported by current, retrievable, school-level documentation.
- Conduct or assign routine audits of student files, staff approvals, school postings, websites, catalogs, enrollment agreements, regulator portals, and other required records.
- Document findings with a risk level, owner, due date, required corrective action, and closure evidence.
- Drive corrective actions to verified completion and implement training, process changes, or additional controls needed to prevent recurrence.
- Identify patterns across schools or states and convert them into regional or company-wide improvements.
- Maintain continuous inspection readiness rather than preparing only after an inspection is announced.
Records, Reporting, and Controls
- Maintain accurate, current information in Zollege’s compliance trackers, Google Drive structure, regulatory portals, and other systems of record.
- Ensure submissions, approvals, licenses, correspondence, inspection records, and supporting evidence are stored consistently and can be retrieved quickly.
- Reconcile tracker status to source documentation and regulator portals rather than relying on unsupported status labels.
- Provide recurring regional reporting on approval status, renewal deadlines, launch blockers, open deficiencies, inspection readiness, issue aging, workload, and team performance.
- Maintain a clear record for every open compliance item showing the responsible owner, next action, due date, regulator deadline, risk level, and supporting evidence.
- Establish quality-control checks for applications, payments, signatures, legal names, addresses, dates, attachments, and required supporting documents.
- Keep the VP of Compliance and affected leaders informed of material risks, delays, decisions, and changes in expected approval timing.
Cross-Functional Partnership and Process Improvement
- Partner with Business Development and Operations to identify regulatory pathways, lead times, dependencies, and risks for new schools and programs.
- Partner with Academics and Student Operations on curriculum, instructor qualifications, student records, catalogs, enrollment agreements, disclosures, and outcome-reporting requirements.
- Partner with Marketing and Admissions to ensure public statements, program information, and recruiting practices are consistent with regulatory approvals.
- Coordinate with Finance and Legal on fees, bonds, legal entities, assumed names, ownership disclosures, contracts, financial reporting, and regulator responses.
- Develop, maintain, and enforce state-specific and process-specific SOPs, templates, checklists, training materials, and quality standards.
- Train internal teams on regulatory requirements that affect their work and verify that changes are implemented.
- Recommend tools, automation, and workflow improvements that strengthen visibility, reduce cycle time, and improve quality without weakening controls.
- Support Compliance & Licensing Internal Review Board preparation and follow-up by ensuring assigned submissions, evidence, risks, owners, and due dates are current.
- Escalate risks early with context, options, and a recommendation.
- Perform other duties as assigned.
Required Qualifications and Skills
- Bachelor’s degree in business, education, healthcare administration, legal studies, public policy, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and directly relevant experience.
- Minimum five years of progressively responsible experience in licensing, state authorization, regulatory affairs, accreditation, compliance, or a closely related field.
- Experience working across multiple states, agencies, locations, or regulated programs.
- Minimum two years of direct people leadership, team-lead, or formal work-review responsibility.
- Demonstrated experience preparing, reviewing, or managing regulatory applications, renewals, reports, audits, inspections, or corrective-action responses.
- Strong critical-reading, analytical, and business-writing skills, including the ability to interpret requirements that are not always explicit.
- Proven ability to manage high-volume work, competing priorities, and fixed regulatory deadlines without sacrificing accuracy.
- Strong judgment, integrity, professionalism, and willingness to raise concerns early.
- Ability to build constructive relationships with regulators and collaborate effectively with executive and operating teams.
- Strong project-management, documentation, quality-control, and follow-through skills.
- Proficiency with Google Workspace, Smartsheet or comparable tracking systems, regulatory portals, and modern collaboration tools.
- Ability and willingness to travel up to 25%, including occasional overnight travel for inspections, board meetings, school openings, and company meetings.
- Valid driver’s license, reliable transportation, and current auto insurance when driving is required for assigned duties.
- Demonstrated alignment with Zollege Core Values: Create WOW, Hunger for Growth, Always Take Ownership, Maniacal Sense of Urgency, and Practice Unity.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience in proprietary, career, vocational, or postsecondary education.
- Experience supporting dental assisting, medical assisting, CNA, LVN, phlebotomy, nursing, or other allied-health education programs.
- Familiarity with state proprietary-school agencies, dental or medical boards, boards of nursing, workforce agencies, radiation-control requirements, and accreditation processes.
- Experience with ACCSC, CODA, THECB, TWC, state boards of nursing, state dental boards, or comparable regulatory and accrediting organizations.
- Experience leading a regulatory inspection, board presentation, accreditation visit, or complex corrective-action response.
- Experience opening new training locations, launching new programs, or managing location, ownership, tuition, or program changes.
- Experience building SOPs, quality-control processes, team scorecards, and scalable compliance tracking systems.
- Compliance, regulatory, paralegal, project-management, or related professional certification.
- Experience operating in a fast-growing, multi-location organization.
Working Hours and Conditions
- Full-time, exempt position with weekday availability during normal business hours and additional availability when needed for regulatory deadlines, inspections, board meetings, and urgent launch or operating issues.
- This role may be performed remotely or from a Zollege office, subject to company needs and the employee’s approved work arrangement.
- Travel of up to 25% may be required, including school visits, inspections, regulator or board meetings, launches, and company meetings. Mileage and pre-approved travel expenses are reimbursed under Zollege’s travel and expense policy.
- Work is performed primarily in an office or remote-work environment, with periodic work in classroom, lab, partner-site, and regulatory-meeting environments.
- The role requires frequent computer use, reading, writing, video meetings, phone communication, and review of detailed records for extended periods.
- During school visits or inspections, the role may require standing, walking, speaking, and reviewing physical records or facilities for extended periods.
- Occasional lifting and moving of files, supplies, or equipment weighing up to 25 pounds may be required, with or without reasonable accommodation.
Success in This Role Looks Like
- Every assigned school and program has a clearly documented, current regulatory status supported by school-level evidence.
- Applications, renewals, reports, payments, staff approvals, and required changes are submitted accurately and before the applicable deadline.
- No assigned school or program begins regulated activity before final authorization is confirmed.
- Licensing risks and launch blockers are identified early enough for leaders to make informed decisions.
- Inspections and audits are organized, evidence-based, and managed with professionalism and urgency.
- Corrective actions are completed on time, verified, and translated into stronger processes that reduce repeat findings.
- Compliance Specialistss are clear on priorities, well trained, accountable for results, and developing in their roles.
- Internal teams receive practical regulatory guidance and timely, accurate status updates.
- The VP of Compliance has a complete, unfiltered view of regional risk, workload, deadlines, and recommended actions.
- The region demonstrates the Zollege Core Values through accuracy, ownership, urgency, service, and teamwork.
Measured By
- 100% of assigned renewals, reports, and required regulatory filings submitted by the internal deadline and before the regulator deadline.
- 100% of assigned schools and programs supported by current approval evidence in the designated system of record.
- Zero avoidable license lapses or unauthorized starts caused by an internal missed deadline, incomplete submission, or unsupported status assumption.
- 100% of material applications and regulator responses receive documented quality review before submission.
- 100% of inspection and audit corrective actions assigned an owner and due date within three business days and closed by the approved deadline.
- 95% or more of routine tracker and document updates completed within three business days of a material event or regulator communication.
- 100% of material risks and launch blockers escalated with context, options, and a recommendation.
- Regional compliance reporting delivered on the required cadence with accurate status, aging, ownership, and next actions.
- Team one-on-ones, coaching, performance reviews, and required training completed on schedule.
- Repeat preventable findings and overdue corrective actions decrease over time.
Conditions of Employment
Employment is contingent upon satisfactory completion of a criminal background check and upon providing and maintaining any documentation, credential verification, or site-specific clearance required by Zollege, applicable state regulators or accreditors, or partner sites.
Equal Employment Opportunity
Zollege is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.
Reasonable Accommodation
The physical, scheduling, and environmental requirements described above are representative of those that must be met to perform the essential functions of this role. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform these essential functions. To request an accommodation, contact People and Culture at .
Acknowledgment
This job description is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities, qualifications, or working conditions associated with the position and may be modified at any time at Zollege’s discretion. This document does not create an employment contract or alter the at-will nature of employment.
Pay: $65,000.00 - $85,000.00 per year
Application Question(s):
- Do you have five years of progressively responsible experience in licensing, state authorization, regulatory affairs, accreditation, compliance, or a closely related field?
- Do you have a bachelor’s degree in business, education, healthcare administration, legal studies, public policy, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and directly relevant experience?
- Do you have at least wo years of direct people leadership, team-lead, or formal work-review responsibility?
Work Location: Hybrid remote in Austin, TX 78718
