Senior Career Advisor

Western Governors University • Full-time • Remote (Remote from United States of America) • $60,300 - $90,500 / year • 1d ago

Fast Facts

WGU is seeking a Senior Career Advisor to provide project and innovation support focused on enhancing career services for a diverse, online learner population. This role emphasizes scalable technologies, advising training, and limited student consultations to ensure high-quality career support.

Responsibilities: Key responsibilities include leading projects to implement new technologies, designing training resources for advisors, and providing high-level career coaching to students with complex needs.

Skills: Candidates should possess strong project management, organizational, and communication skills, along with expertise in career services and a solid understanding of labor markets and digital technologies.

Qualifications: A Master’s degree and at least 4 years of relevant experience in career services, along with strong knowledge of AI applications in career development, are required.

Location: This position is remote, with the office located in the United States, and may involve occasional travel for events or training.

Compensation: $60300 - $90500 / Annually

If you’re passionate about building a better future for individuals, communities, and our country—and you’re committed to working hard to play your part in building that future—consider WGU as the next step in your career.

Driven by a mission to expand access to higher education through online, competency-based degree programs, WGU is also committed to being a great place to work for a diverse workforce of student-focused professionals. The university has pioneered a new way to learn in the 21st century, one that has received praise from academic, industry, government, and media leaders. Whatever your role, working for WGU gives you a part to play in helping students graduate, creating a better tomorrow for themselves and their families.

The salary range for this position takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to skill sets; experience and training; licensure and certifications; and other business and organizational needs.

At WGU, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their position, and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current range is:

Grade: Professional 306Pay Range: $60,300.00 - $90,500.00

Job Description

Senior Career Advisors provide comprehensive project and innovation support in a collaborative, student-centered, and team-focused environment to advance the mission of Career & Professional Development (CPD). This role focuses on piloting and implementing scalable technologies, supporting departmental initiatives, and leading projects aligned with organizational OKRs. This role also contributes to advisor training and change management efforts, helping build the team’s capacity to deliver high-quality, technology-enabled career services. In addition, this position provides limited, high-level student support for escalated referrals or to ensure service continuity during periods of increased demand.

Diversity Equity & Inclusion- Our Foundation for Student Success 

We believe in the inherent worth of every individual. We strive to provide a space for employees to feel comfortable being their authentic self while offering opportunities for personal and professional growth. We are committed to promoting inclusion, belonging, respect for differences, equal opportunity, and diversity in our workplace. We believe in the power of education and the value of expanding access and opportunity to all individuals.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities

Career Services Innovation and Projects

Support the career leadership team in piloting and implementing new technologies that expand CPD offerings and improve user experience; work with Ed Tech to support launch of products.
Lead or co-lead projects that align with department OKRs, ensuring deliverables, timelines and metrics are met.
Serve as a champion for change management strategies, acting as a role model, and actively participating in the implementation of change initiatives across the team.
Support the development of scalable career programs, tools, and systems that reach a diverse, online learner population.
Contribute to research, design, and testing digital resources that enhance advising and career readiness.
Create documentation and resource materials to guide adoption and ensure consistency across teams.
Become a product expert on CPD’s core platforms – including Handshake, uConnect, Big Interview, and Jobscan, to inform best practices, training, and process improvements.

Career Advisor Training / Mentorship

Assess CPD team needs to design effective training and resources that drive continual improvement of services.
Support advisor training and change readiness as new tools, systems, or processes are introduced.
Partner with advising leadership to develop training modules, job aids, and knowledge resources for advising team.
Facilitate training(s), workshops, and learning opportunities to build confidence and capability in adopting new technologies.
Create and pilot new webinar content to test innovative approaches to career education; once proven effective, train career advisors to integrate and circulate these webinars into ongoing operations.
Act as a change champion, modeling adaptability, and helping others navigate transitions effectively.

Student Advising / Consultations

Provide individualized career coaching forhigh-level student referrals and escalated cases, supporting students with complex or sensitive career challenges.
Serve as a backup career advisor when needed to ensure service continuity during periods of high demand or limited team availability.
Offer limited, strategic advising focused on insights that inform scalable solutions, training, or process improvement efforts.

Administrative

Collaborate and work with colleagues that are “student obsessed” and keep the student in mind for every decision we make
Attend virtual staff meetings, trainings, and other departmental related virtual gatherings
Follow up and complete required university administrative tasks such as required training, performance reviews, etc.
Seek out educational and professional development opportunities using LinkedIn Learning, NACE, ACE, NCDA, and more
On occasion, this position may be assigned other duties needed to help drive to the vision, fulfill the mission, and uphold WGU’s and the department’s organizational values and leadership principles

Knowledge and Abilities:

Demonstrated knowledge of the business, IT, healthcare and education industries.
Possess the ability to increase student engagement in career counseling, coaching, and advising through a variety of formatted including on-demand interactions, appointments, workshops, and self-service resources.
Assess incoming resumes for proper formatting, layout, sentence structure and bullet construction.
Ability to communicate feedback in an encouraging manner.
Accountable to maintain understanding of regional and national job/labor markets and able to advise students and alumni appropriately in their job search and recommend career-related resources.
Ability to demonstrate influential skills with staff and students.
Demonstrated project management, time management, organization, and team coordination skills.
Proficiency in metric measurement, data collection, reporting, and analysis.
Must have excellent computer skills (Word, Excel and Access, Internet and additional software utilized in the Career Development profession)and to quickly learn other programs as needed.
Writing and editing skills necessary in handling correspondence and revision of communications, trainingsand resources.
Team player and demonstrated ability to work in a collaborative work environment.
Flexibility with hours, especially during periods when services/programs may extend outside of regular work hours, including limited weekend work.
Excellent interpersonal, verbal, writing and listening skills with ability to work effectively with other university departments, with all levels of management and diverse groups of people; ability to present information to large and small groups of employees and/or students.
Sound judgment and decision-making ability.
Ability to perform well under pressure while maintain composure and leadership authority.
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
Ability to work independentlywith only minimal management oversight, and exercise broad independent judgement.
Strong ability to be attentive to detail. Ability to work cross functionally with other university departments.
Ability to multitask and maintaina high level of organization in day-to-day processes.
Additionalduties asassigned by supervisor.

Qualifications:

Required Education & Experience:

Master’s degree
4+ years' experience in career services and/or recruiting, sales, employer relations, business development, human resources, university development, alumni relations or other related marketing and program management experience.
Experience assessing team needs and designing effective training opportunities to support professional development and enhanced delivery of coaching services.

Preferred Qualifications:

5+ years’ experience preferred in career services and/or recruiting, sales, employer relations, business development, human resources, university development, alumni relations or other related marketing and program management experience.
Strong knowledge of AI and its applications to enhance career services and outcomes.
Familiarity with digital technologies, with experience in writing business requirements; experience with EdTech platforms a plus.
Experience with career services platforms and tools to support student engagement and career development is highly desirable.

Working Conditions:

Travel required,approximately 3-5 times per year for events, meetings, or professional development.

Disclaimer: This Job Description has been designed to indicate the general nature, essential duties, and responsibilities of work performed by employees within this classification. It does not contain a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications that are required ofthe employee to do this job.Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice. This Job Description does not constitute a contract of employment and the University may exercise its employment-at-will rights at any time.

Position & Application Details

Full-Time Regular Positions (classified as regular and working 40 standard weekly hours): This is a full-time, regular position (classified for 40 standard weekly hours) that is eligible for bonuses; medical, dental, vision, telehealth and mental healthcare; health savings account and flexible spending account; basic and voluntary life insurance; disability coverage; accident, critical illness and hospital indemnity supplemental coverages; legal and identity theft coverage; retirement savings plan; wellbeing program; discounted WGU tuition; and flexible paid time off for rest and relaxation with no need for accrual, flexible paid sick time with no need for accrual, 11 paid holidays, and other paid leaves, including up to 12 weeks of parental leave.

How to Apply: If interested, an application will need to be submitted online. Internal WGU employees will need to apply through the internal job board in Workday.

Additional Information

Disclaimer: The job posting highlights the most critical responsibilities and requirements of the job. It’s not all-inclusive.

Accommodations: Applicants with disabilities who require assistance or accommodation during the application or interview process should contact our Talent Acquisition team at recruiting@wgu.edu.

Equal Employment Opportunity: All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to any protected characteristic as required by law.