Director of Education | Competitive Salary | Calgary, Alberta
Full-time, Permanent | On-site
Are you an experienced education leader who knows how to lead other leaders, raise standards and build a high-performing academic team?
NIWE Academy is looking for a Director of Education to take ownership of its education function, leading Lead Mentors and instructors while ensuring every programme delivers excellent student outcomes and remains fully compliant.
NIWE Academy is a licensed private career college in downtown Calgary, established in 2012, with more than 3,500 graduates across hairstyling, barbering, esthetics, clinical aesthetics, nails, massage and advanced certificate programmes.
The role
This is a senior leadership position with a strong focus on people. You will lead the education team through the Lead Mentors, establish clear standards and accountability, and create the systems needed for programmes to run effectively without day-to-day involvement from the Dean.
Key responsibilities
- Lead, coach and develop Lead Mentors and the wider instructor team
- Establish clear objectives, scorecards, regular 1:1s and performance reviews
- Recruit, onboard and develop high-quality instructors
- Handle performance issues, difficult conversations and team conflict confidently and fairly
- Manage instructor scheduling, workloads and classroom coverage
- Ensure all licensed programmes remain compliant and audit-ready
- Maintain accurate curriculum, academic, attendance, assessment and graduation records
- Support regulatory reporting, audits and apprenticeship requirements
- Lead programme amendments, regulatory submissions and implementation
- Manage the development and launch of new programmes
- Oversee third-party curriculum and instructional design partners
- Monitor retention, graduation and graduate employment results
- Use academic data to identify and address performance issues early
The person
You will need:
- 5+ years' senior academic or operational leadership experience within a licensed or accredited post-secondary institution
- 3+ years' experience leading teams of 15+ people, including managing other managers or leaders
- Strong experience hiring, coaching and performance managing employees
- Practical experience of regulatory compliance, audits and programme approvals or amendments
- A bachelor's degree in education, adult education, educational leadership or a related subject, or equivalent relevant experience
- Experience using learning management systems and academic performance data
Experience within Alberta's private career college sector, vocational education, apprenticeship programmes, beauty or wellness education, or launching new academic programmes would be a strong advantage.
The leader we need
This position suits someone who is comfortable setting expectations and holding people accountable. You should be able to give direct feedback, resolve difficult issues early and create processes that enable teams to perform without becoming dependent on you.
This is not primarily a teaching or curriculum-writing position. Your focus will be leading people, maintaining academic standards, managing programmes and protecting compliance.
Benefits
- Competitive salary plus performance-related bonus
- Health benefits
- RRSP match after three years
- Paid birthday
- Device care fund
- Professional development support
What's next?
Apply with your resume and a short cover note explaining the hardest people decision you have made as a leader, what action you took and what happened as a result.
NIWE Academy is an equal opportunity employer.
