Dean of Student

About the company

The Dean of Students is a senior leadership position within the Office of Student & Academic Affairs (OSAA), reporting directly to the Vice Provost for Student & Academic Affairs. The role provides strategic and operational leadership across the OSAA portfolio, ensuring effective coordination, execution and continuous improvement across student-facing services, academic support, institutional effectiveness and academic administration.

Your tasks

Working in close partnership with the Vice Provost and the respective directors and functional leaders, the Dean translates institutional priorities into coordinated operational plans, establishes performance monitoring mechanisms, facilitates cross-functional decision-making and drives the timely resolution of complex issues.

The successful candidate will serve as a trusted strategic and operational partner to the Vice Provost, enabling greater focus on institutional strategy, academic leadership and external engagement while ensuring the effective delivery of the Office’s priorities.

Strategic and operational leadership

• Partner with the Vice Provost to translate OSAA’s strategic objectives into annual operating plans, priority initiatives, measurable outcomes and implementation roadmaps.
• Coordinate the execution of priorities across Graduate Education & Student Success, Administrative Affairs, Student Life, Academic Excellence and Academic Affairs.
• Establish effective operating rhythms, including leadership meetings, portfolio reviews, progress reporting, action tracking and escalation mechanisms.
• Monitor the delivery of key commitments, identify operational bottlenecks and interdependencies, and drive timely resolution in collaboration with relevant functional leaders.
• Prepare executive briefings, decision papers, management reports and recommendations for the Vice Provost and other university leadership stakeholders.
• Act as the Vice Provost’s delegate for designated operational matters, meetings and initiatives within the scope of delegated authority.

Integrated student success and experience

• Champion a coherent, student-centered approach across the full student lifecycle, ensuring that services are accessible, responsive, coordinated and aligned with MBZUAI’s academic and research mission.
• Work with relevant teams to improve transitions between recruitment, admissions, onboarding, advising, academic progression, student support, graduation and career development.
• Establish mechanisms for capturing, analyzing and responding to student feedback, concerns, service issues and emerging student needs.
• Coordinate the resolution of complex or cross-functional student cases, ensuring appropriate escalation, clear ownership, timely follow-up and adherence to university policies.
• Work with Student Life and relevant academic teams to promote student engagement, belonging, wellbeing, inclusion and community development.
• Monitor student-success indicators and partner with functional leaders to develop interventions that support retention, academic progression, timely completion and overall student satisfaction.
• Ensure appropriate coordination of student-support services while respecting confidentiality, professional boundaries and the responsibilities of specialist teams.

Portfolio performance and institutional effectiveness

• Develop and maintain a portfolio-wide performance framework, including KPIs, service standards, targets and reporting mechanisms aligned with OSAA’s strategic objectives.
• Establish regular performance reviews with functional leaders to assess progress, identify risks and agree corrective actions.
• Partner with Institutional Research, Institutional Effectiveness and Quality Assurance (IEQA), and other relevant teams to ensure decisions are informed by reliable data, student feedback, benchmarking and institutional evidence.
• Oversee the consolidation and interpretation of portfolio performance data, translating insights into actionable recommendations for the Vice Provost.
• Monitor key indicators relating to student recruitment and progression, student engagement, service delivery, academic administration, quality assurance and operational efficiency.
• Promote a culture of continuous improvement, evidence-based decision-making and accountability for agreed outcomes.

Governance, policy and risk management

• Strengthen operational governance across OSAA by clarifying decision rights, accountability, reporting lines, escalation pathways and cross-functional responsibilities.
• Coordinate the development, review and implementation of policies, procedures, service standards and operating protocols across the portfolio.
• Work with functional leaders to identify operational, student-related, compliance and reputational risks and ensure that appropriate mitigation and escalation measures are in place.
• Facilitate effective coordination of accreditation, quality assurance, academic program development, registrar-related processes and institutional reporting where these activities require portfolio-level alignment.
• Ensure that operational practices align with university policies, applicable regulatory requirements and institutional governance arrangements.
• Support the preparation of management reports, committee papers, audit responses and evidence required for institutional reviews and accreditation activities, in partnership with the relevant functional owners.

Cross-functional collaboration and stakeholder management

• Serve as a central coordination point across OSAA, fostering collaboration among functional leaders and reducing organizational silos.
• Build effective working relationships with academic deans, faculty, research leadership and relevant corporate functions to address shared institutional priorities.
• Facilitate resolution of competing priorities, resource dependencies and operational issues that span multiple teams.
• Represent OSAA in designated institutional committees, working groups and cross-university initiatives.
• Communicate decisions, priorities, progress and emerging issues clearly to relevant stakeholders.
• Promote a collaborative, service-oriented culture focused on institutional outcomes and student success.

Strategic projects and transformation

• Lead or coordinate strategic projects assigned by the Vice Provost, including service redesign, operating model improvements, digitalization and institutional initiatives.
• Develop project plans, milestones, governance structures, resource requirements, risk registers and benefits measures.
• Drive the adoption of effective processes, management information systems and digital tools to improve service quality, transparency and operational efficiency.
• Identify opportunities to simplify processes, eliminate duplication, improve turnaround times and strengthen the student and staff experience.
• Monitor project delivery and ensure that agreed outcomes are embedded into business-as-usual operations.

Resource and team effectiveness

• Work with functional leaders to support effective workforce planning, prioritization and deployment of resources against agreed institutional objectives.
• Identify capability gaps, capacity constraints and opportunities for collaboration across the portfolio.
• Support functional leaders in establishing clear objectives, performance expectations and development priorities for their teams.
• Promote knowledge sharing, leadership effectiveness, change readiness and a culture of continuous improvement.
• Monitor the effective use of approved resources and escalate material budget or capacity pressures to the Vice Provost.

Other duties Perform all other duties as reasonably directed by the line manager that are commensurate with these functional objectives.

Stakeholder management Collaborate with internal and external stakeholders to align community engagement initiatives with the university’s strategic objectives.

Requirements

Academic qualification A doctoral degree (PhD or equivalent) in Higher Education, Education, a relevant academic discipline or another field.

Professional experience: essential

• Significant progressive experience in higher education administration, student affairs, academic affairs, institutional operations or a comparable complex service environment.
• Demonstrated experience leading cross-functional initiatives and coordinating multiple teams, departments or institutional portfolios.
• Proven ability to translate strategy into operational plans, performance measures and measurable outcomes.
• Experience working with senior academic leaders, university executives, faculty and professional services teams.
• Demonstrated capability in performance management, institutional reporting, process improvement and evidence-based decision-making.
• Experience managing complex stakeholder relationships, operational risks and competing institutional priorities.
• Experience leading organizational change, service improvement or digital transformation initiatives.

Professional experience: preferred

• Experience in a research-intensive university, graduate education environment or institution specializing in science, technology, engineering or artificial intelligence.
• Familiarity with academic program development, accreditation, quality assurance, student-success frameworks and institutional research.
• Experience developing student-experience strategies and integrated student support models.
• Exposure to international higher education environments and diverse student populations.
• Experience using institutional dashboards, business intelligence tools and data-driven management practices.

MBZUAI behavioral competencies

• Strategic thinker
• Impactful decision-maker
• Effective collaborator
• Talent nurturer
• Results driver
• Customer advocate
• Transformation enabler
• Innovation explorer

How to apply

To apply for this position, please submit the following items:

• Cover letter
• Curriculum vitae