Senior Manager, Student Academic Success Faculty of Science

Job Summary

The Senior Manager, Student Academic Success co – reports to the Director of Academic and Career Advising and the Associate Dean Students. The role operates at the Faculty–central interface, coordinating across centralized advising, Faculty leadership, and campus partners (including Enrolment Services, GEO, IPS, DRC, SVPRO, and other student support units) to ensure consistent, policy-aligned, and integrated student support service delivery across the institution.

The position holds delegated authority to lead the triage, review, and resolution of complex student academic cases, applying institutional and Faculty policy frameworks, with escalation of exceptional cases to the Associate Dean. The role contributes to academic decision-making processes and ensures consistency, integrity, and fairness in student outcomes across advising and Faculty systems.

The Senior Manager is accountable for the design, standardization, and optimization of workflows and operational processes (including concessions, progression, graduation, and evaluation processes), ensuring efficient service delivery, reduced administrative burden, and alignment with institutional requirements.

The role uses advanced data, reporting, and Workday system expertise to monitor trends in student progression, identify risks, evaluate service effectiveness, and implement evidence-based improvements to advising practices and student support interventions.

The position contributes to Faculty and institutional planning processes by informing advising policy, service design, and student success strategies, ensuring alignment with broader University priorities and emerging sector best practices.

The Senior Manager demonstrates accountability for embedding equity, diversity, inclusion, anti-racism, and decolonized practice into advising systems and service delivery, ensuring policies, processes, and interventions are inclusive, accessible, and responsive to diverse student needs.

Organizational Status

This position reports to the Director, Academic & Career Advising for day-to-day operational leadership of advising services and practice, and to the Associate Dean for Faculty-related priorities, operating with a high degree of autonomy in both contexts. The role develops and sustains collaborative relationships and partnerships across the Faculty, AVPS portfolio, Enrolment Services, and the Provost’s Office to support integrated planning, coordinated service delivery, and student success outcomes.

Work Performed

Strategic Leadership

• Acts as a senior representative in Faculty governance and planning discussions, contributing to decisions affecting curriculum delivery, progression pathways, and student experience.
• Provides oversight and input into the allocation of advising and student support resources, including staffing models, workload distribution, and operational expenditures, to support effective and responsive service delivery.
• Works in collaboration with the Director to maintain advising standards and best practices aligned with institutional, national, and industry standards, ensuring consistent, high-quality, and policy-aligned service delivery across the unit.
• Advances a comprehensive, integrated communications strategy, in partnership with Faculty and AVPS Communications teams, to ensure consistent messaging, increased awareness, and enhanced engagement with advising and student support services across the institution.
• Provides strategic leadership in collaboration with the Associate Dean and student recruitment and advising teams to develop and implement faculty-specific recruitment strategies aligned with academic priorities and student success objectives.
• Accountable for building and sustaining collaborative relationships with faculty, campus partners, and community stakeholders to advance shared institutional priorities and support student success outcomes.
• Interprets and applies University and Faculty policies related to academic progression, concessions, and advising decisions, ensuring consistent and equitable application across student cases.
• Identifies and mitigates academic and student success risks, particularly in relation to progression, concessions, and complex student cases, ensuring compliance with institutional policy and protecting institutional integrity.
• Works in close collaboration with the Director to support and advance central team priorities by aligning operational activities, contributing to strategic initiatives, and ensuring coordinated implementation of advising and student support goals across the unit.
• Shapes Faculty specific advising practices that connect academic pathways with career outcomes and support student success, retention, and progression.
• Provides strategic leadership in the evaluation of service delivery, using data and trend analysis to identify opportunities for improvement and implement changes that enhance the student experience and service effectiveness.

Faculty Collaboration

• Provides strategic leadership in building and sustaining trust-based relationships with Associate Dean(s), Faculty leadership, Departmental Heads, Program Advisors to support alignment of academic and career advising priorities and advance student success and career outcomes.
• Serves as the primary liaison between the central advising team and assigned Faculty.
• Works closely with the Associate Dean to support broader UBC advising initiatives, such a blueprinting of advising policies, supporting campus mental health initiatives, streamlining processes, and developing policies and procedures to support student mental health and well-being. Provides advice and makes recommendations to other units (e.g. Enrolment Services, International Student Initiative, International Student Development) regarding the impact of policy, process and programming issues that impede Science student success.
• Provides strategic input into Faculty leadership and curriculum discussions, advising on the student impact of proposed academic changes and supporting evidence-informed decision-making.
• Advances the development and delivery of coordinated student communications related to academic requirements, program changes, and progression, ensuring clarity, consistency, and alignment with Faculty priorities and student success outcomes.
• Leads the triage, management, and resolution of complex student cases, exercising sound judgment to determine appropriate outcomes and reduce administrative and casework burden on Associate Dean(s).
• Provides strategic leadership in Faculty-based student success, retention, and progression initiatives, using data-informed approaches and collaboration with Faculty partners to design and implement effective interventions that improve student outcomes.

Complex Case Management

• Exercises delegated authority to make determinations on complex student academic and career advising cases within established Faculty and University frameworks, escalating only exceptional cases to the Associate Dean.
• Serves as a primary escalation point for advisors and delegates, conducting Faculty-level case review and exercising sound judgment to determine appropriate resolutions and escalation decisions in alignment with policy and Faculty standards.
• Leads the identification, assessment, and mitigation of institutional risks related to complex student cases, ensuring decisions uphold academic integrity, policy compliance, and institutional standards while protecting the University’s reputation and student success outcomes.

Process Improvement

• Leads the design, implementation, and optimization of advising and Faculty workflows, including concessions, sessional evaluations, graduation adjudication, and student communications, to ensure efficient, consistent, and policy-aligned service delivery.
• Participates in and contributes to UBC-wide student support initiatives and institutional governance committees beyond the Faculty level, influencing the development of advising frameworks, policies, and integrated student support strategies across the University.
• Leads the mapping and standardization of academic processes across the Faculty, ensuring consistent service delivery while respecting Faculty-specific requirements and governance structures.
• Identifies operational inefficiencies and implementation of process improvements to streamline workflows, reduce administrative burden, and improve student support service delivery timelines.
• Leads collaboration with Faculty leadership and campus partners to ensure clear roles, responsibilities, and decision-making structures that support effective governance and coordinated service delivery.

Data-Informed Decision Making & Systems Leadership

• Holds accountability for key performance indicators (KPIs) related to student success, retention, and progression, using data and outcomes reporting to monitor performance, identify gaps, and implement targeted improvements to enhance student outcomes.
• Leads the monitoring and analysis of trends in student progression, concessions, and service utilization to identify risks and opportunities and support proactive interventions that enhance student success and retention.
• Provides functional leadership as a Workday expert within the faculty for process optimization, and effective application of student data systems.
• Provides functional leadership in the design, optimization, and continuous improvement of Workday-supported advising and student lifecycle processes in collaboration with enrollment services.
• Leads the development of reporting tools and dashboards to support data-informed decision-making, operational effectiveness, and service planning for student support with individual faculty.

Supervision & Staff Development

• Provides leadership in the recruitment, supervision, and development of a team of student support assistants, ensuring effective performance management and high-quality service delivery.
• Works in collaboration with the Director to recruitment and supervision, academic and career advisors that are co-funded by the faculty, ensuring effective performance management and high-quality service delivery.
• Responsible for fostering a collaborative, inclusive, and high-performing team environment that supports staff engagement, development, and service excellence.

Strategic Initiatives & Continuous Improvement

• Engages with national advising associations, professional bodies, and sector networks to contribute to external benchmarking, share institutional practice, and inform the continuous improvement of advising and student support services in alignment with emerging sector standards.
• Leads faculty projects related to advising transformation, systems enhancement, and process improvement to improve service delivery and support student success outcomes.
• Contributes to the development and implementation of institutional, Faculty, and departmental strategies related to student success through leadership of assigned initiatives and alignment with strategic priorities.
• Leads the identification of opportunities to strengthen cross-campus collaboration and integration to support coordinated service delivery and institutional priorities.
  

Consequence of Error/Judgement

The incumbent represents the University, its students, Faculty, and the AVP Students portfolio and must exercise sound judgment, tact, and diplomacy in interactions with diverse internal and external stakeholders. These include senior administrators, faculty, staff, students, alumni, and representatives of other post‑secondary institutions and professional associations. The role requires strong attention to risk management, with responsibility for minimizing risk to students. Given the confidential nature of the information handled, the incumbent must uphold strict standards of confidentiality and privacy. Errors in judgment or decision making may adversely affect program effectiveness, student experience, and the reputation of both the unit and the University.

Supervision Received

Works under the direction of the Director, Academic & Career Advising, and the Associate Dean. Operates with a high degree of autonomy, relying on strong judgement and relationship management to navigate complex institutional dynamics.

Supervision Given

May manage a group of professional and support staff.

Minimum Qualifications

• Undergraduate degree in a relevant discipline.
• Minimum four to five years of related experience, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Demonstrated experience supervising and developing staff
• Experience managing complex student cases, graduation adjudication, and interpreting academic policy
• Proven ability to build and manage relationships with diverse stakeholders, including senior academic leaders
• Demonstrated willingness to respect diverse perspectives, including perspectives that may differ from one’s own.
• Demonstrated commitment to enhancing personal awareness, knowledge, and skills related to equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in a centralized advising model within a post-secondary environment
• Strong understanding of academic policies
• Experience using Workday or similar student information systems
• Experience designing or improving workflows and administrative processes
• Knowledge of UBC systems, policies, and academic structures is an asset
• Demonstrated commitment to social justice, equity, inclusion, and health equity, including advancing the educational aspirations of people with disabilities.
• Excellent interpersonal, oral, and written communication skills, including experience with public speaking.
• Strong organizational, administrative, analytical, and problem solving skills.
• Proficiency in the use of computer operating systems and communications technologies in a networked environment.
• Ability to work both independently and collaboratively in a complex organizational setting.
• Ability to travel occasionally within British Columbia and nationally or internationally, and to work evenings and weekends as required.