The Requirements

To be a good fit for the Director, Student Finance Support role, you will have:

• A bachelor's degree.  
• A minimum of 7 years of related experience. The ideal candidate will have strong industry knowledge, financial aid experience, and a track record of success managing and developing a team. 
• Experience managing managers.  Quick question for you - click here
• Experience with Title IV funding and Student Financial Aid processing is highly preferred.
• Multi-site, remote management, and/or regional management experience is a strong advantage.
• The ability to work under moderate to low supervision and monitor/manage multiple functions.
• Strong oral and written communication skills and ability to interact with all levels of management.
• The skill to guide, advise and develop less-experienced personnel.
• Knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite: Word, Excel, and PowerPoint; experience using SharePoint is a plus.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills; the ability to take a high-level strategic view of the financial support function, while understanding the tactical details and how they fit into the bigger picture.  
• A demonstrated ability to fulfill Company Key Behaviors (see the Keys to Success tab for more information on the competencies).
• The ability to work flexible hours as necessary to perform the role effectively, and a willingness to travel between locations is required.

The Role

As Director, Student Finance Support, your mission will be to keep the Colorado Student Finance Support division at two sites -- Colorado Springs and Denver -- running smoothly, in order to provide our clients (colleges and universities) effective and compliant back-office financial aid file processing services. Quick question for you - click here  Our efforts ultimately make a tangible difference in students' lives and their future endeavors. Under minimal supervision, you will directly support our corporate headquarters as you monitor and analyze federal and state financial aid regulations and regulatory changes, and ensure student finance operational processes are compliant, efficient, and operate in the best interest of each student and campus. 
 
More specifically you will:

• Manage and monitor the Colorado Student Finance Support function.
• Monitor, gather, and analyze federal and state financial aid regulatory information in order to maximize compliance, efficiency, and customer service in student finance operations.
• Provide senior management regulatory information and recommendations.
• Manage and monitor internal quality control and audit of operational activities in order to ensure timely, consistent, and compliant advice and assistance is provided to users.
• Prepare presentations for management.
• Maintain effective working relationships with internal and external regulatory bodies.
• Support training and development as needed.

You will work out of the Colorado Springs or Denver office, but frequently travel to the other site. At one site (Colorado Springs) you'll work with a tenured team and established program; of course, the right leader will be able to make a good thing even better. As you come up to speed and learn the team, you'll identify opportunities for growth and improvement and bring your recommendations to senior leadership. At the other site (Denver) you'll enjoy growing and developing a newer team and program. The program is enjoying strong momentum as we add clients, and will require a talented leader with an entrepreneurial spirit and the drive to build the function and team. With both sites you'll be responsible for monitoring service levels, turn around times and maintaining superior service even as we experience strong growth.

Note: this description is intended to give you a general overview of the position and is not an exhaustive listing of duties and responsibilities.

Why SOCLE

Career growth -- this is a high-level senior role that will challenge you to develop very different teams. It will require you to further hone your management skills and leverage the breadth of your business acumen as our client base continues to grow. Prove yourself in this role and you could take on even greater regional responsibilities.

Strong growth, visibility and impact -- your efforts and successes will be visible to senior leaders at the corporate level. Your ability to make an impact will be noticed as we continue to add clients and you're able to develop your teams and processes to smoothly accommodate our strong growth.

Critical position -- financial aid is the key ingredient that allows many students to even pursue higher education in the first place. You'll enjoy the satisfaction that comes with knowing your efforts make a direct impact on the educational goals and lives of students, but at a much higher level than one campus can provide. Because we're supporting multiple colleges and universities, we have a large footprint and you can feel proud knowing your efforts are supporting a multitude of students.  

Socle Education Delivers:

• A fast, low-cost paperless financial aid application system.
• A convenient web-based student interface.
• Efficient electronic document management and file review.
• Valuable Title IV accounting and compliance services.
• Full visibility for management audit purposes.
• Comprehensive implementation team and support services.

“Best of both worlds” opportunity -- you’ll enjoy the entrepreneurial energy of a new, cutting-edge opportunity built on the foundation of traditional student aid. While you’ll leverage your deep industry knowledge, in many ways Socle Education has the excitement of a startup. The financial aid process is becoming more and more difficult for individual schools, but our model allows us to manage those processes in a way that is bigger, faster and more efficient. As such, new clients are joining regularly and we have a robust pipeline. It’s an exciting time to join.

Excellent compensation -- in addition to a competitive salary and bonus opportunity, we offer an excellent benefits package including an employee stock purchase program, comprehensive healthcare program, a 401(k) plan, and more.

Picture: Socle Education was founded by Financial Aid practitioners who believed there had to be a better way to meet the growing challenges of managing Financial Aid. Our goal was to utilize cutting-edge technology and deep industry expertise to develop a solution that provides instant financial aid sophistication to any organization while being flexible to meet the unique needs of each College and University. 
 

Keys to Success

To excel in this role you will leverage your proven leadership skills and strong understanding of financial aid to mentor and guide your team to increased levels of performance. You'll need to be forward thinking, innovative, collaborative and proactive, and consistently model the traits / behavior that your direct reports will need to be successful.
 
Specifically, you will demonstrate:

• Leadership.
• Dependability in your response to requests for service and assistance.
• Teamwork that balances team and individual responsibilities.
• Strong decision making skills.
• Effective and productive communication skills.
• Effective time management and response to deadlines.
• An organized and results-oriented approach, and motivation to perform without extensive direction.
• Accurate, high quality work. 
• An innovative and creative, solution-oriented approach to addressing problems.

About SOCLE

Financial aid management is a challenge for students and academic institutions alike.

With many families hard-pressed to meet the escalating costs of higher education, post-secondary schools of all types must find new ways to provide their students with financial aid programs they can afford and manage long-term. Students must acquire financial literacy so they can make smarter borrowing decisions and successfully manage their debt, especially during the traditionally lean years immediately following graduation.

Socle Education addresses these challenges by providing academic institutions with guidance and support in financial aid engineering and management. Born out of proven national Best Practices, our programs help ensure students get access to the instruments they need to finance their higher education and the guidance they may require to properly manage the debt they accumulate. We help schools like yours maintain their image and regulatory standing with programs that minimize cohort default rates and help ensure access to federal and state education funding.

Headquartered in Santa Ana, Calif., Socle provides proven expertise in financial aid application processing, paperless record keeping, loan default reduction and regulatory compliance to help schools maintain financial stability and meet present and future regulatory requirements.

Socle can help you establish and maintain the solid education, administrative and technical infrastructure that lets your institution increase its internal efficiencies and support sustainable quality and growth.


Pictured: SOCLE is the Roman term for the base that supports a pedestal sculpture or column. Socle Education provides the foundation and expertise upon which great educational institutions are built.