Chief Strategic Enrollment Officer

Job Description

Job Description

Who we are?

Ethical Culture Fieldston School is a progressive PreK-12 independent school that has been serving students from throughout New York City and the surrounding suburbs since 1878. ECFS offers a rich curriculum in the arts, sciences, and humanities. A co-ed, nonsectarian school, it serves an inclusive community of about 1,700 students on two campuses -- one in the Riverdale section of the Bronx and the other in Manhattan.

What is essential about working at our school?

The Ethical Culture Fieldston School has a long history of inclusion and belonging deeply rooted in our mission and the educational philosophy of our founder, Felix Adler. We embrace all aspects of an individual, including their ancestry, family, identity, culture, and beliefs. We affirm both our differences and commonalities and strive to balance individuality and community. In keeping with our progressive tradition, we are dedicated to increasing our students’ cultural literacy to help them understand multiple perspectives and see the world beyond the self.

We expect members of our community to engage in open dialogue about living and learning in an inclusive environment inside and outside the classroom. We see this work, with its creative tensions, as a catalyst for individual and collective growth. On a daily basis, we are committed to making this vision of a democratic, pluralistic, and progressive school a reality.

Position Summary
Ethical Culture Fieldston School (ECFS) seeks its inaugural Chief Strategic Enrollment Officer (CSEO) to begin in July/August 2026. A newly created executive role reporting to Chief Executive Officer, the CSEO will design and implement a unified, relationship-oriented, data-informed enrollment strategy across four divisions and PreK–12, steward a $20.1 million financial aid program, and shape how ECFS tells its story to the next generation of New York families through a multiyear plan integrating recruitment, retention, financial aid, and market positioning.

The full-time salary range for this position is $275,000-$325,000. The starting salary is based upon, but not limited to, several factors which include years of experience, education background, and expertise.

Opportunities and Challenges will include:

Lead the creation and implementation of a comprehensive Strategic Enrollment Management Plan. The Chief Strategic Enrollment Officer will design and deliver a strategic enrollment plan that is grounded in data and simultaneously aligned with the larger institutional goals for the School. The ECFS brand, enrollment funnel, financial aid program, and compositional goals will all be part of this plan and will require a visionary leader who is as comfortable developing dashboards as they are with building and aligning teams to deliver on these goals.

Unify enrollment efforts across four divisions. ECFS boasts a talented and long-serving admissions team. At the same time, the admission and enrollment efforts for Ethical Culture, Fieldston Lower, Fieldston Middle, and Fieldston Upper have operated somewhat independently of each other. Bringing true collaboration across these four areas will result in clarity of messaging and improved communication and outcomes. In addition, attention to unifying the team around common goals and expectations will support the culture of professional growth and development.

Strengthen and clarify messaging about the ECFS difference. The School’s work on clarifying programmatic outcomes and developing visionary guideposts such as the Portrait of a Graduate and Academic Program Arc help to tell a compelling story for prospective families. The new CSEO will have the opportunity to leverage this work to share a more complete and informed picture of the benefits of an ECFS education and build a deeper understanding for families about the meaning of progressive education. Working across departments, the CSEO will enhance alignment between Admissions and Marketing & Communications and promote clarity and shared accountability in support of attracting and retaining mission-appropriate students.

Develop systems and processes that use data to inform strategy. Examining both the systems upon which the admission work operates, as well as the data that is captured within those systems, the CSEO will build a modern and strategic enrollment management function with deep funnel analytics, predictive modeling, financial aid optimization, and applicant research. Increased attention to funnel composition, applicant experience research, and yield events will help shape the admissions work and allow the team to strategically compose a mission-aligned class.

Build partnerships across school leadership. The new CSEO will ensure that enrollment strategies are clearly aligned with the goals of senior school leadership. Serving on the Executive Leadership Council, the CSEO will be a high-level strategic thinker who understands the interconnectedness of enrollment, retention, student experience, and long-term sustainability. The successful candidate will ensure consistent messaging, shared ownership of enrollment goals, and coordinated execution across departments while serving as a confident thought-partner to the CEO.

A full search description of this high-profile opportunity may be viewed at: - content/uploads/2026/05/EC -Fieldston-05.12.pdf

Qualifications

The ideal candidate will be a seasoned and proven leader with deep experience in all aspects of enrollment, marketing, and admissions. Ethical Culture Fieldston School strives to hire people committed to the School’s mission and values. The following qualifications are sought in the ideal candidate:

• Demonstrated track record of leading a complex strategic enrollment operation.

• Experience designing and executing a comprehensive, multiyear strategic enrollment management action plan aligned with institutional mission and financial objectives.

• Significant experience gathering and using data to inform strategic enrollment management decisions and to communicate with various constituencies, including school leadership, board members, faculty, and staff.

• Experience aligning enrollment strategy with financial aid philosophy and institutional sustainability goals.

• Ability to partner effectively across divisions and departments to strengthen brand positioning, messaging, and campaign-based recruitment efforts.

• Experience collaborating with senior leadership and Board of Trustees on enrollment strategy, institutional positioning, and long-term planning.

• Strong operational acumen, including workflow design, dashboard development, and systems implementation.

• Commitment to fostering an equitable and inclusive community and demonstrated skills and experience working with families of all backgrounds.

• Demonstrated experience with building a culture of change management that is mission-aligned and visionary.

• Skilled manager who enjoys identifying and developing talent and consistently creates high-functioning teams and a welcoming atmosphere within the department.

• Excellent communication skills including written communication and public speaking.

• Superior public relations skills, with a warm and authentic relational style.

• A commitment to confidentiality and good judgment on sensitive matters.

• Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s degree preferred.

• Minimum 5 years of admissions/enrollment management leadership experience and a strong understanding of the budget drivers that impact school finances.
  

Personal Attributes

• Confident and courageous, willing to engage in deep dialogue and make difficult decisions when necessary.

• Highly relational with strong social intelligence, able to build trust across teams, faculty, staff, families, and senior administrators.

• Compelling storyteller able to convey the complexities of an ECFS education to a wide variety of audiences.

• Collaborative and self-assured, with the judgment to both support and challenge colleagues in pursuit of the School’s mission and objectives.

• An effective manager of adults, skilled at clarifying expectations, strengthening collaboration, and fostering professional growth.

• Self-starter who experiments, innovates, and leads change.

• Passionate about being present on campus and involved in the daily student experience.

• Ability to manage multiple complex tasks, meet tight deadlines, and adapt to changing demands.

• Ability to cultivate a welcoming culture in which all members of our community feel valued and appreciated.

To apply
Carney Sandone has been retained by Ethical Culture Fieldston School, to conduct a national search for a Chief Strategic Enrollment Officer. Interested and qualified candidates are invited to contact the consultants in confidence. Candidates will ultimately need to submit the following materials as separate PDF documents:

• A cover letter expressing their interest in this particular position;

• A current résumé;

• A list of five professional references with name, relationship, phone number, and email address

• of each (references will not be contacted without the candidate’s permission) to:

Charlotte Brownlee, Consultant, View email address on ziprecruiter.com
Bill Leahy, Consultant, Enrollment Management Search & Consulting Practice Leader View email address on ziprecruiter.com

EEO
ECFS is an equal opportunity employer. We seek to be a welcoming community of professionals that broadly reflects the people of the metropolitan New York City area, our students, and families. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment and will not be discriminated against on the basis of race, color, religion or religious practices, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, citizenship status, national origin, age, ability status, military status, unemployment status or any other category protected by applicable local, state, or federal laws. We are committed to hiring practices that ensure all candidates are given fair consideration in alignment with our institutional mission and goals.