Assistant Director – Continuing Education | American University of Kuwait

Job Description

The American University of Kuwait (AUK) is seeking an Assistant Director – Center for Continuing Education (CCE) to provide senior operational leadership across the Center’s training and professional-development portfolio.

Reporting to the Director – Center for Continuing Education, the Assistant Director is responsible for translating the Center’s strategy into consistent, high-quality, and financially sustainable delivery. The role leads programme operations, instructor management, client servicing, quality assurance, financial administration, staff supervision, and the internal systems required to support continued growth.

Employer: American University of Kuwait (AUK)
Department: Center for Continuing Education
Location: Hawali, Kuwait
Position: Assistant Director – Center for Continuing Education
Employment Status: Full time
Employment Type: Full-time staff
Career Level: Mid Career
Reports To: Director – Center for Continuing Education
Job Role: Training and Development

Continuing Education Assistant Director – Position Overview

The Assistant Director will oversee the day-to-day operation of CCE’s training portfolio across several business lines, including:

• Open-enrolment programmes.
• Corporate programmes.
• Executive and leadership education.
• Professional certification preparation.
• Contracted government programmes.

The successful candidate will also deputise for the Director in their absence and represent the Center to clients, faculty, instructors, and internal AUK departments.

Programme Operations and Delivery

The Assistant Director will own the end-to-end operational lifecycle of CCE programmes.

Responsibilities include:

• Scheduling.
• Registration.
• Venue and facility allocation.
• Materials production.
• Instructor logistics.
• Attendance.
• Assessment.
• Certification issuance.

The role also includes maintaining the master programme calendar and resolving scheduling conflicts across cohorts, campus facilities, and external delivery venues.

Each programme should launch with a complete delivery pack, including:

• Approved programme outline.
• Contracted instructor.
• Confirmed materials.
• Participant roster.
• Evaluation instruments.

The Assistant Director will also serve as the escalation point for delivery incidents such as instructor absence, participant complaints, or scheduling failures.

Curriculum and Instructor Management

The successful candidate will coordinate curriculum-development cycles with:

• AUK faculty.
• External subject-matter experts.
• Content authors.

Responsibilities include:

• Tracking curriculum deliverables.
• Maintaining the instructor roster.
• Instructor sourcing.
• Credential verification.
• Onboarding.
• Contracting.
• Evaluation.
• Renewal or removal recommendations.

The role also includes administering instructor and content-author agreements in line with institutional policies.

Quality Assurance

The Assistant Director will operate the Center’s quality-assurance cycle through:

• Participant evaluations.
• Classroom observations.
• Pass-rate analysis.
• Completion analysis.
• Improvement recommendations.

Programme content and delivery must remain aligned with the requirements of relevant international awarding and certification bodies.

Corporate and Government Client Management

The role includes operational management of the Center’s corporate and government client portfolio.

Responsibilities include:

• Proposal preparation.
• Contracting support.
• Client onboarding.
• Delivery coordination.
• Post-programme reporting.
• Renewal recommendations.

The successful candidate will also prepare client-facing documentation such as:

• Proposals.
• Statements of work.
• Programme specifications.
• Completion reports.

Business Development and Sales Support

The Assistant Director will supervise the business-development and sales function, including:

• Territory allocation.
• Sector allocation.
• Sales pipeline discipline.
• CRM data integrity.
• Conversion performance.

The role therefore combines programme leadership with commercial and client-management responsibilities.

Partnerships and External Engagement

The successful candidate will support the Director in implementing partnerships with:

• International institutions.
• Certification bodies.
• Corporate clients.
• Government organisations.

Once agreements are signed, the Assistant Director will manage relevant operational and administrative workstreams.

The role also includes representing CCE in internal AUK committees and client meetings when delegated.

Financial and Commercial Management

The Assistant Director will support the financial management of CCE programmes.

Responsibilities include:

• Preparing programme-level costing.
• Developing pricing models.
• Conducting margin analysis.
• Monitoring contribution against target.
• Tracking revenue.
• Monitoring receivables.
• Tracking instructor costs.
• Monitoring direct programme expenses.

The role also supports monthly and annual financial reporting for the Center.

Procurement and Financial Administration

Responsibilities include:

• Procurement administration.
• Purchase requests.
• Invoicing.
• Payment processing.
• Coordination with the Finance Department.
• Maintaining accurate financial records.

The Assistant Director will also support compliance with institutional policies and relevant contractual requirements.

Compliance

The successful candidate will help ensure compliance with:

• AUK institutional policies.
• Kuwait labour requirements.
• Data-protection requirements.
• Client contractual obligations.
• Partner contractual obligations.

Team Leadership

The Assistant Director will directly supervise:

• Programme coordinators.
• Administrative staff.
• Sales personnel.

Leadership responsibilities include:

• Setting objectives.
• Conducting performance reviews.
• Developing staff capability.
• Maintaining performance standards.

Systems and Process Improvement

The role includes developing and maintaining:

• Standard operating procedures.
• Templates.
• Documentation.
• Registration systems.
• CRM processes.
• Reporting systems.
• Records-management processes.

The successful candidate will identify systems improvements that reduce manual effort, improve accuracy, and strengthen delivery quality.

Service Culture

The Assistant Director is expected to promote a service culture in which:

• Client responsiveness.
• Delivery reliability.
• Quality.
• Accountability.

are treated as essential operating standards.

Acting Authority

During periods when the Director is absent, the Assistant Director will assume delegated operational authority within defined limits.

This includes responsibility for:

• Programme operations.
• Staff supervision.
• Approved expenditure.

Institutional strategy, new partnerships, pricing policy, and staff appointment or termination remain reserved to the Director.

Required Education

Applicants must hold a:

• Bachelor’s degree.

A:

• Master’s degree in Business, Education, or a related field

is strongly preferred.

Experience Requirements

Applicants must have:

• A minimum of five years of progressive experience in training operations, executive education, professional development, or a comparable service-delivery environment.
• At least two years of staff-supervision experience.
• Experience managing multiple concurrent programmes or projects to schedule, budget, and quality standards.
• Working knowledge of programme costing, pricing, and margin management.
• Experience managing external contractors, instructors, or vendors.
• Prior experience within a university, professional institute, or accredited training provider.

Government and GCC Training Experience

Candidates should have experience delivering training to:

• Kuwaiti government entities, or
• GCC government entities.

The role requires understanding of associated contracting and reporting requirements.

Certification and Awarding Bodies

Familiarity with international certification and awarding bodies is expected.

Examples identified for the role include:

• CFA Institute.
• CISI.
• ACCA.
• PMI.
• CIPD.
• SHRM.
• Lean Six Sigma.
• ISO/IEC 17024 accredited certification bodies.

Systems and Technology

Applicants should have strong command of standard business systems.

Familiarity with the following is an advantage:

• Student information systems.
• CRM platforms.
• Reporting tools.

Language Requirements

Applicants must demonstrate:

• Excellent written English.
• Excellent spoken English.

In addition:

• Professional Arabic is strongly preferred, particularly because of the Center’s government and corporate client base.

Key Competencies

The successful candidate should demonstrate:

Operational Execution

Ability to convert plans into consistently delivered programmes and close the gap between commitments and actual delivery.

Quality Discipline

Ability to maintain consistent standards for instructors, content, and programme delivery.

Commercial Awareness

Understanding of programme costs, pricing, margins, and profitability.

Client Orientation

Ability to anticipate client requirements, communicate proactively, and respond effectively when problems occur.

People Leadership

Ability to set expectations, develop staff, and manage performance.

Judgement and Escalation

Ability to resolve operational matters appropriately and escalate issues requiring Director-level decisions.

Institutional Integrity

Ability to apply institutional policy consistently and maintain accurate records.

Performance Indicators

Performance will be assessed through areas including:

• On-time and on-specification programme delivery.
• Programme contribution margin.
• Participant satisfaction.
• Certification pass rates.
• Client retention.
• Repeat engagement.
• Sales pipeline conversion.
• CRM data integrity.
• Instructor quality and availability.
• Accuracy of operational reporting.
• Accuracy of financial reporting.
• Staff performance and development.

Recommended Professional Development

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About the American University of Kuwait

The American University of Kuwait (AUK) is an independent, private, coeducational liberal arts institution of higher education in Kuwait.

Its educational and administrative structure is based on the American model of higher education, and English is the language of instruction.

Job Summary

Employer	American University of Kuwait (AUK)
Department	Center for Continuing Education
Location	Hawali, Kuwait
Position	Assistant Director – Center for Continuing Education
Employment Status	Full time
Employment Type	Full-time staff
Career Level	Mid Career
Job Role	Training and Development
Reports To	Director – Center for Continuing Education
Required Qualification	Bachelor’s degree
Preferred Qualification	Master’s degree in Business, Education, or related field
Experience Requirement	Minimum 5 years progressive experience, including at least 2 years supervising staff
Core Areas	Programme operations, instructor management, client servicing, quality assurance, financial management and team leadership
Commercial Responsibilities	Costing, pricing, margin analysis, revenue, receivables and programme expenses
Systems	Business systems; SIS, CRM and reporting tools advantageous
Language Requirement	Excellent English; professional Arabic strongly preferred
Preferred Sector Experience	University, professional institute, accredited training provider, Kuwait/GCC government training
Residence Location	Kuwait
Application Deadline	Not stated