Institutional Effectiveness and Compliance Specialist

Job Description

Job Description

Department: Institutional Effectiveness and Compliance

Reports to: Student Affairs and Administration Officer

Location: Onsite in San Jose, CA

Employment Type: Internship / Part-Time / Full-Time

Work Authorization: CPT, OPT, or other valid U.S. work authorization

About USJ

The University of San Jose (USJ) is a nonprofit private university located in the heart of Silicon Valley. USJ is committed to providing career-focused, technology-enhanced education that connects academic learning with practical industry applications.

The University continues to strengthen its academic programs, institutional operations, regulatory compliance, student services, partnerships, and community impact. USJ is approved to operate by the California Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education (BPPE) and is currently pursuing initial accreditation with the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges (ACCSC).

As a small and growing institution, USJ offers something larger universities cannot: direct exposure to the full accreditation lifecycle, close working contact with senior leadership, and the opportunity to help build institutional systems rather than simply maintain existing ones.

Position Summary

The Institutional Effectiveness and Compliance Specialist supports USJ's accreditation, regulatory compliance, institutional research, program development, and communications initiatives.

This is not a data-entry position. The Specialist will read accreditation standards and regulatory requirements, compare them against what the institution currently documents, identify where the two do not yet align, and help build the materials and systems that close those gaps. Much of the work involves taking information that exists in several places — catalogs, syllabi, faculty files, student records, meeting minutes — and organizing it into a coherent narrative that an external reviewer can follow.

The Specialist will also help develop institutional content and marketing materials that clearly communicate USJ's programs, achievements, and development initiatives.

USJ is candid about the nature of this role: as a growing institution, we have documentation and process gaps, and identifying them is an explicit part of the job. Issues that are found are logged, prioritized, and worked through with the support of leadership. Candidates who are comfortable raising problems directly, and who want them resolved rather than deferred, will do well here.

This role is well suited for an analytical and detail-oriented candidate with strong English writing skills and an interest in higher education administration, institutional development, compliance, and communications.

Key Responsibilities

Accreditation and Compliance Support

• Assist with preparation of accreditation, regulatory, and program-approval materials, including the ACCSC Self-Evaluation Report, appendices, exhibit packages, and BPPE filings.
• Research and interpret applicable accreditation standards and regulatory requirements, including the ACCSC Standards of Accreditation and California requirements under CEC §94800 et seq. and 5 CCR §71000 et seq.
• Compare current institutional documentation against applicable standards and identify gaps, inconsistencies, and missing evidence.
• Collect and organize institutional policies, academic records, program information, supporting evidence, and application documents.
• Review materials for completeness, internal consistency, and accuracy across the catalog, website, enrollment agreement, and submitted materials.
• Draft supporting narratives, document checklists, evidence files, reports, tables, and submission packages.
• Maintain a compliance issue register tracking each identified gap, its owner, remediation plan, and target completion date, and provide regular status reporting to leadership.
• Maintain accurate submission records, document histories, and version control.
• Track deadlines, review comments, outstanding items, renewals, and follow-up actions.
• Coordinate with faculty, administrators, consultants, and external organizations to obtain required information.
• Support coordination of on-site evaluation visits and follow-up responses.

Institutional Effectiveness and Research

• Collect, verify, and organize institutional data, including retention, graduation, and graduate employment outcomes, in the formats required by ACCSC and BPPE.
• Maintain the underlying documentation that substantiates reported figures so that any number submitted can be traced to a verifiable source.
• Support program reviews, student and graduate surveys, outcomes tracking, and institutional reporting.
• Maintain spreadsheets, project trackers, shared folders, and internal databases, including records in the Populi student information system.
• Research higher education trends, comparable institutions, academic programs, and workforce needs.
• Help prepare summaries, presentations, dashboards, and reports for institutional planning.
• Assist with monitoring progress toward institutional and departmental goals.
• Support the development and updating of policies, procedures, templates, and standard operating documents.

Institutional Communications and Marketing Support

• Assist with creating and editing content for the USJ website, newsletters, brochures, presentations, announcements, and social media platforms.
• Develop clear and professional descriptions of academic programs, institutional initiatives, events, partnerships, and student services.
• Help communicate institutional achievements, program updates, and community-impact stories.
• Coordinate with faculty, students, alumni, and partners to collect program highlights, testimonials, photos, and event information.
• Assist with promotional materials for academic programs, scholarships, information sessions, partnerships, and institutional events.
• Review public-facing materials to ensure consistency with approved program information, the official catalog, and institutional policies.
• Support basic outreach campaigns and track inquiries, engagement, and event participation.

Project Coordination and Administrative Support

• Coordinate projects involving Academic Affairs, Student Services, Operations, Marketing, faculty, and external partners.
• Schedule meetings, prepare agendas, take meeting notes, and track action items.
• Follow up with responsible team members to support timely completion of documents and projects.
• Prepare weekly and monthly status updates.
• Organize institutional files so that materials are accurate, current, and easy to retrieve.
• Support special projects related to institutional development and academic operations.
• Perform other related duties as assigned.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent education or professional experience.
• Current students seeking CPT or OPT opportunities are welcome to apply.
• Demonstrated ability to read dense regulatory, legal, or technical documents and apply them accurately to a specific set of facts.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills in English. The role involves drafting narrative sections offormal submissions to regulatory bodies.
• Strong analytical, organizational, research, and follow-up skills.
• Ability to write, edit, review, and format professional documents.
• Willingness to raise problems and unfavorable findings directly and promptly.
• Sound judgment and discretion in handling confidential student, faculty, and institutional records.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office and Google Workspace, including document version control.
• Ability to organize data and prepare spreadsheets, reports, and presentations.
• Ability to manage multiple assignments and meet deadlines.
• Experience or coursework in education, business administration, public policy, communications, legal studies, data analysis, or a related field is preferred.
• Experience with accreditation, compliance documentation, institutional research, academic administration, audit support, marketing content, or project coordination is a plus.
• Familiarity with a student information system (Populi preferred), Canva, website content management, surveys, or data-visualization tools is a plus.
• Bilingual ability in English and Mandarin is a plus.

Ideal Candidate

• Reads carefully, notices when two documents contradict each other, and is not satisfied until the reason is clear.
• Comfortable telling a supervisor that something is not in order.
• Would rather build a system that prevents a problem than repeatedly fix the same problem by hand.
• Able to turn complex information into clear and professional materials.
• Comfortable working with both structured compliance documents and public-facing content.
• Proactive in collecting information and following up with stakeholders.
• Comfortable working independently and collaborating across departments.
• Interested in how institutions are governed and held accountable, and eager to learn the accreditation process from the inside.
• Quick to learn new standards, systems, and processes; dependable and flexible as institutional priorities evolve.

What Success Looks Like

• Within 90 days: familiar with the ACCSC Standards of Accreditation and applicable BPPE requirements; the institutional document repository is organized and current; the compliance issue register is established and populated.
• Within six months: independently drafting sections of accreditation and regulatory submissions requiring only substantive review; open compliance items tracked to closure on schedule; submission deadlines met without escalation.