Director of Engagement and Student Belonging, Boston University Hillel

Role Overview

The Director of Engagement and Student Belonging at BU Hillel will lead a campus-wide strategy to deepen one-on-one relationships, strengthen peer-to-peer connection, and build a comprehensive pillar of care for students. This person will be a thoughtful leader, organizer, and relationship-builder who uses human-centered design to listen to students, prototype supportive practices, and scale meaningful programs that help students find friends, receive practical support, and feel cared for in all moments of campus life. This role is part of a student engagement team of 8-10 staff, reports to the Executive Director, and receives coaching and support from the CEO, COO, and Campus Rabbi.

 

Key Responsibilities

• Relational Strategy: Lead strategy and vision for one-on-one student relationships across BU Hillel—define goals, measure impact, and iterate on approaches to create consistent, high-quality 1:1 care.
• Student Leadership: Supervise, recruit, train, and grow the “Coffee Crew” peer-to-peer team (10–20 student interns). Build a scalable model for peer outreach, mentoring, and follow-through.
• Community Design: Design and implement systems to help students find friends and social circles (intentional matching programs, small group creation, community-building events, and onboarding pathways for new students).
• The Pillar of Caring: Create and operationalize a “Pillar of Caring” that includes logistical and emotional supports: enabling students to host life-cycle and milestone events (birthday parties, celebrations, memorials) through Hillel, coordinating care for sick or isolated students, and organizing volunteer support networks.
• Emergency Assistance: Establish and manage emergency and short-term aid processes (food assistance, travel/homebound support, small grants) including fundraising pathways, eligibility guidelines, and partner relationships.
• Relational Staff Presence: Develop practices and expectations for staff engagement in 1:1 care—encourage and coordinate staff attendance at student concerts, shows, presentations, and other meaningful moments; create staff training and time-allocation plans that prioritize relational presence.
• Campus Integration: Coordinate with university wellness, counseling, disability services, and student affairs partners to create warm handoffs and integrated care plans for students with complex needs.
• Evaluation & Budget: Create measurement and evaluation tools for relationships and caring work (surveys, touchpoint tracking, impact reports) and report outcomes to leadership and funders. Manage budgets and resources for fellowships, care funds, and event logistics.