Posted: Mar 13, 2026
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Director of Industry to Campus Connection

Full-time
Salary: $80,000.00 Annually
Application Deadline: Apr 10, 2026
Education

Center for Career & Professional Development (CCPD), reporting to the Division of Student Success, is the university’s centralized career planning and employment assistance service for USF students and alumni. The programs in the CCPD are designed to help students and graduates assess, explore, develop, and implement their career goals, gain employability skills and career-related experiences, prepare for a successful transition into graduate/professional school or the labor market, and connect with employers to obtain part-time jobs, internships, cooperative education, and professional employment. 

In addition, they manage a team of Assistant Directors and coordinators to:
• Serves on the Center for Career & Professional Development leadership team to align office goals with university initiatives and employment trends. Works collaboratively with the entire team to maximize employer activities and engage students.
• Leads the Industry to Campus team to create a strategic engagement plan for industry partners to connect with students and increase the hiring of graduates.  
• Create recruitment policies and procedures to serve as best practices for campus and community. 
• Identify, advertise, and secure sponsorship opportunities for industry connections to brand themselves on campus and create partnerships.
• Work across unit teams to proactively research, identify, plan, and implement existing immersive programs and talent recruitment events. The person in this role must also possess the creativity and drive to innovate new models.
• Oversee student employment and JLD functions of the office.
• Collaborate with the Center for Career & Professional Development leadership team to facilitate external engagement across the University as needed to ensure strategic partnerships, signature programs, key employer relationships, new initiatives, and externally sponsored activities foster new and expand existing relationships across the university and beyond based upon a culture of trust, collaboration and execution, and value creation.
• Work closely with the Assistant Directors of Industry to Campus Connections and Internship Development, Director of Strategic Initiatives, and the Operations and Marketing team to support talent requests from strategic partners. Examples include but are not limited to connections to key faculty, staff, and student organizations, campus Interviews, employer events, information sessions, and access to resume books.
• Host career fairs and participate in the Center for Career & Professional Development events and represent our unit with the Chamber of Commerce and university committees relating to employer development at local, state, regional, and national meetings.
• Facilitate an Employer Summit each summer to provide professional development to community recruiters and foster a connection to USF.
• Promote and utilize Handshake to track contacts and promote employment opportunities and events. 

Responsibilities

  • 50%: Engage with employers and alumni to support efforts to connect with USF students. This includes working with the team to host events, panels, career fairs, and activities for student interaction. Serve in the Chamber of Commerce and other industry-connected groups to connect with Tampa employers.
  • 20%: Supervise the Assistant Director of Industry to Campus Connector, Assistant Director of Internship Development, and Student Employment/JLD Coordinator, and train to accomplish goals outlined by the strategic plan of the office and Director of Industry Connections.
  • 10%: Create policies, goals, and sponsorship opportunities for employer engagement at USF.
  • 10%: Identify ways to assess engagement and impact of industry connections and report findings to leadership and university Deans. Maintain accurate data on student engagement with employers.
  • 5%: Collaborate with the CCPD leadership team to facilitate engagement across the University as needed to ensure strategic partnerships, signature programs, new initiatives, and externally sponsored activities foster new and expand existing relationships across the university and beyond based upon a culture of trust, collaboration, execution, and value creation.
  • 5%: Performs other duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications:

Requires a Bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited institution.
Minimum of 7 years of related exempt-level experience, including 5 years of managerial experience. 
 

Preferred Candidate Experiences: 
• A dynamic leader with excellent organizational and relationship skills who fosters a culture of collaboration and trust around external relationship building and management, and functions with a high degree of professionalism and integrity.

• Possesses a strategic mindset related to achieving goals, able to communicate vision and translate ideas into operational goals effectively.

• Demonstrated ability to work effectively in a fast-paced, process-driven environment while maintaining exceptional attention to detail and accuracy with lean staff support.

• Outstanding written, verbal, and presentation skills and the proven ability to communicate effectively with stakeholders at all levels.

• Demonstrated ability to manage time-sensitive problems in a constructive, positive manner.

Leadership Competencies and Personal Traits:

• Exceptional degree of emotional intelligence and ability to establish credibility, work collaboratively, and influence outcomes with a wide range of stakeholders.

• Outstanding relationship skills and building rapport with internal and external constituents.