Senior Director, General Management and Consulting Careers, Darden School of Business

The University of Virginia Darden School of Business seeks a Senior Director, General Management and Consulting Careers to join its Career Center team. With strong momentum in the residential MBA and professional MBA formats and recent innovations and industry-leading results, the Senior Director joins Darden at an exciting time.  Darden is ranked the #1 Public MBA for Career Prospects (The Princeton Review 2023), #1 MBA education experience in the United States (The Economist, 2011-2019), and #1 US Public MBA Program (Bloomberg BusinessWeek, 2023).

Darden’s Career Center provides over 1,000 graduate business students (Full Time MBA, Part Time MBA, Executive MBA, and Specialty Masters) with one-on-one professional career advising, lifelong career management skills, and exceptional internship and post-degree job search support.  The team empowers students on their job search journey, and its commitment to student success has no bounds.  The department thrives on helping students maximize their employment opportunities.

The Center engages over 150 companies on-Grounds annually that recruit and hire students for careers, across every major industry, including consulting, investment banking, high tech, manufacturing, consumer packaged goods, retail, private equity/venture capital, and others.  Each year, several hundred employers make MBA positions available to Darden talent – often using a suite of recruiting technologies and platforms.  In recent years, the Center managed 1,600 job postings and hosted 400 recruiting events.  Over 450 unique companies employ graduates from our degree programs.  Our employer engagement model helps our corporate partners achieve their full-time and internship hiring goals, including accessing alumni from Darden’s exceptional global network.

This Senior Director has the unique ability to build deep and meaningful relationships with both Darden MBA students pursuing general management and consulting careers and top employers in the industries of manufacturing, logistics, transportation, automotive, and consulting.  Thus, expanding their network and keeping industry knowledge and insights is critical.  A successful Senior Director will interact with students to understand their skills and interests and efficiently advise on how to identify and target employers of interest.

Specifically, the career sectors related to this role include manufacturing, supply chain management, leadership development and rotational programs (LDPs), automotive/transportation, and aerospace/defense.  In addition to this primary sector responsibility, this Senior Director will also provide support to the Managing Director, Cohort Recruiting who oversees the Consulting sector.  Although prior management consulting experience is not a requirement for this position, the successful candidate will demonstrate interest in learning about the consulting industry and related MBA recruiting model and will ideally have experience working with consultants in a professional capacity.

This Senior Director joins a team of 7 sector coaches in consulting careers, investment banking careers, technology careers, financial services/PE/VC careers, healthcare/social/non-profit careers, specialized search careers, and international careers.  This Senior Director will report to the Managing Director, Cohort Recruiting for the Full-time MBA Program.  This position is based in-person in Charlottesville, VA. 

A desired profile for the position may include:

• A seasoned general manager with multi-functional business experience and Profit/Loss ownership at a Fortune 500 company who has a passion for helping Darden students pursue career paths across diverse sectors such as manufacturing, transportation, or consulting.

• An experienced, post-MBA former consultant who transitioned into a corporate position in a related sector such as supply chain, logistics or operations.

• A senior leader in business who looks to bring their time and talents to UVA Darden. 

In short, we are looking for a highly experienced professional who has a strong interest in sharing their experiences with the Darden community and placing the next generation of business leaders with leading companies, simultaneously helping businesses meet their talent needs.

Responsibilities:

• Work as part of a high-impact team of coaches within the Career Center to share industry insights, connect on best practices in advising, and holistically engage with students, employers, and stakeholders.  Partner with our employer engagement team for sector engagement and business development, in order to expand opportunities of interest to our students

• Build and keep a network with alumni and corporate executives and recruiters to gain insight into talent needs, increase the number of jobs sour