Role Overview

The Registrar & Director of Academic Records is the senior institutional leader accountable for the design, construction, and ongoing integrity of every registrar function at Meritus College, from the student information system and academic catalog to degree audit, conferral, transfer credit, FERPA administration, and accreditation-facing reporting.

This is a founding role in the literal sense. There is no legacy SIS configuration to maintain, no catalog to reprint, no degree audit to run, no policy manual to inherit. There is a first cohort, an accreditation timeline, a competency-based academic model that does not map cleanly onto conventional registrar practice, and a blank page. The Registrar decides and then documents, defends, and operationalizes how academic progress at Meritus College is measured, recorded, awarded, and reported.

The role carries three horizons simultaneously: keeping the current cohort running cleanly, building infrastructure that will hold at ten times the enrollment, and producing the evidence base that will withstand accreditation and federal scrutiny. The Registrar supports the college leadership team, and is the institution’s definitive authority on the student record.

What makes this role unusual

• Full functional ownership: All registrar functions. The person in this seat sets the standard rather than administering someone else’s.
• Design authority, not just execution authority: The policies, definitions, calendars, and data structures do not exist yet. This role writes them and shepherds them through governance.
• Challenging technical problems: Translating a competency-based, mastery-progression model into a credit-hour-defensible, auditable, federally reportable record is one of the more interesting unsolved problems in the field. This role owns it.
• Permanence: The architecture built in the first eighteen months will govern this institution’s records for decades.

Core Responsibilities

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. Build and Lead the Office of the Registrar: Draft the institutional policy stack. Draft, socialize, and shepherd through governance the full body of registrar policy: registration and enrollment, grading, academic standing, satisfactory academic progress, engagement and attendance, leave and withdrawal, transfer credit and prior learning, degree conferral, records retention, and transcript issuance.
2. Own the Institutional Data of Record: Establish the institutional data dictionary for student records. Define and implement what constitutes enrollment, active status, the unit of academic progress, completion, and good standing, so that no two teams report different numbers for the same thing.
3. Registration, Academic Progress, and Conferral: Own the academic calendar. Set and publish registration, add/drop, census, withdrawal, grading, and conferral dates across all programs and terms, and align them with financial aid, coaching, instruction, marketing, and enrollment operations.
4. Accreditation and Regulatory Reporting: Produce the registrar’s contribution to accreditation. Author the relevant self-study sections, assemble and maintain the evidence file, and serve as a named institutional respondent in site visits, interim reports, and substantive change filings.

Skills and Competencies

We recognize that individuals from marginalized backgrounds, including women, people of color, and those with disabilities, are often less likely to apply when they don’t meet 100% of the job qualifications. Don’t let that be the reason you miss out on this opportunity. Your unique skills, experiences, and perspectives are valuable, and we encourage you to apply if you can demonstrate many of the skills and competencies below.

Must Haves

• Experience: Eight or more years of progressively responsible experience in a registrar’s office, academic records, or academic operations function in higher education, including at least three years at the associate registrar level or above.
• Demonstrated ownership of core registrar systems and processes having personally led at least one substantial build or rebuild, such as an SIS implementation or migration, a degree audit build, a catalog or curriculum-of-record system, or a transcript and credentialing redesign.
• Policy authorship experience. A track record of writing academic policy and moving it through institutional governance.
• Accreditation experience. Direct participation in self-study, evidence preparation, site visits, substantive change filings, or annual reporting.

Nice To Haves

• Comfort using AI tools to accelerate policy drafting, documentation, and research, with judgment about where they help and where they don't.
• Experience in emerging, start-up programming, colleges or universities.

Other Logistics

Location: Remote

Salary: $112,000

We take care of our employees by providing the following perks and benefits (please note that some of the benefits do not apply to temporary employees): Medical, Dental and Vision insurance (100% Paid Employee Only Coverage), Flexible Spending Account and Health Savings Account, Dependent care Flexible Spending Account, Health Reimbursement Account fully funded by Merit, Education & personal development reimbursement, Catalog of courses for professional learning and development, Short and long-term disability, Flexible PTO (after a 90-day introductory period), Paid Parental Leave and Adoption benefits (after 1 year of employment), 11 federally recognized holidays, 2 week holiday office closure in December/January, 401(k) retirement plan with automatic Merit contribution, Wellness Benefits/Wellness Resources, Discount perks at work program, Phone/technology stipend, Home office setup stipend, Affinity groups and community building via virtual, in-person, and/or regional meetups.

Remote Work & Sponsorship

Candidates must reside within the 50 states or District of Columbia and have full authorization to work in the 50 U.S. states & the District of Columbia (international work abroad, including the U.S. territories (Puerto Rico, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands, and other islands are excluded). In addition, Merit America doesn't offer employment visa sponsorship.

Equal Opportunity Statement

Building an inclusive, high-performing team that is diverse across lines of personal identity is integral to our success and we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. This means we do not discriminate against any job applicant or employee because of their race, ethnicity, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. This applies to all terms and conditions of employment. We actively strive and evolve to develop and maintain workspaces that are fully inclusive. We encourage candidates from underrepresented groups to apply.

Still excited about our work?

You can learn more about our work in this video we made with our founding partner, Google.

Fair Chance Ordinance

Applicants who have arrest or conviction records and are in unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County will be considered in accordance with the state’s fair chance ordinance law. Employment under the ordinance includes part-time work, seasonal work, contract work, contingent work, work on commission, and work through the services of a temporary or employment agency.

E-Verify Statement

This employer participates in E-Verify and will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the U.S. If E-Verify cannot confirm that you are authorized to work, this employer is required to give you written instructions and an opportunity to contact Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or Social Security Administration (SSA) so you can begin to resolve the issue before the employer can take any action against you, including terminating your employment. Employers can only use E-Verify once you have accepted a job offer and completed the I-9 Form.