SUMMARY The Senior Director, Safety and Security, leads the safety and security systems, infrastructure, and programs for STCL Houston, a vibrant independent law school campus located in downtown Houston, Texas, serving approximately 1,000 students and 275 employees. The director is responsible for the law school’s safety and security programs, systems, personnel and training. The director also oversees the compliance of the law school’s fire life safety systems and programs. This position directs the Security Department operations, and emergency response while ensuring compliance with local, state, and federal regulations. The director serves as Incident Commander during emergencies, including weather-related matters, supervises the law school’s security guard force contractors and vendors, and serves an active member to the law school’s CARE Team for wellness intervention and emergency removals. The director serves as the primary point of contact with law enforcement agencies and is responsible for building and maintaining relationships with law enforcement partners. The director acts as an Investigator as needed on behalf of law school administration, handling investigations of discrimination, harassment, security incident after-action reviews, and conduct violations. This function/position has been designated as “essential.” This means that when the law school is faced with an institutional emergency, employees in such positions may be required to remain at their work location or report to work to protect, recover, and continue operations at the law school. The Senior Director is also responsible for managing the maintenance and operations of the access control and CCTV systems, fire life safety equipment, and the management/oversight of the contracted armed security officer operations and training.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES include the following. Other duties may be assigned.
· Provide leadership for campus safety and security operations, including patrol, parking, investigations, fire life safety, and crime prevention.
· Develop, implement, and enforce policies related to safety, risk management, employee conduct, Title IX, Title VII, and Clery Act compliance.
· Lead emergency preparedness and response planning; coordinate with law enforcement, Fire, EMS, and victim services.
· Oversee the locks and keys for the building.
· Serve as Incident Commander during emergencies and manage campus closure decisions for inclement weather.
· Oversee investigations related to discrimination, harassment employee/student misconduct, workplace violence, property damage, theft, and travel emergencies.
· Conduct threat assessments in collaboration with senior leadership.
· Develop and deliver prevention and training programs (Active Shooter Response, First Aid, CPR.
· Maintain confidentiality, professionalism, and compliance with law school policies and external audits.
· Participate in professional development and represent the law school with local, state, and federal partners.
SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES
Up to 1-2 internal Security Department employees and all security-related independent contractors, approximately 10 armed guard force personnel.
QUALIFICATIONS To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
· Degree in a security-related field or the equivalent in years of experience.
· Professional certifications in safety/security, law enforcement, emergency management, or higher education administration.
· Prior experience with investigations and compliance reporting.
· Knowledge of Title IX, Title VII, Clery Act, OSHA and higher education policies.
· Background in working with local, state, and federal law enforcement and emergency response agencies.
EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE
· A minimum of 10 years of experience in safety/security leadership in higher education or a comparable corporate or governmental entity.
· Knowledge of campus security operations, fire life safety building and operational requirements, and urban safety and security best practices.
· Knowledge of departmental budget forecasting, and requirements on submitting a budget to higher authority for approval.
· Strong leadership and management skills with the ability to make sound decisions under pressure.
· Supervisory experience with armed guard force personnel.
· Experience developing and leading training programs for employees and other stakeholders.
· Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to build and maintain stakeholder relationships and speak in a public forum if needed.
· Proficiency with Microsoft Office.
· Ability to work independently, prioritize tasks, and manage sensitive investigations and information with confidentiality.
LANGUAGE SKILLS
Proficient in both spoken and written English. Ability to effectively and professionally communicate in one-on-one and small group situations to students, alumni, faculty, and other employees of the organization.
MATHEMATICAL SKILLS
Ability to perform basic to intermediate math is essential.
REASONING ABILITY
Ability to define routine problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions to solve routine problems and/or deal with a variety of variables in situations. Ability to interpret a variety of instructions furnished in written, oral, diagram, or schedule form.
PHYSICAL DEMANDS The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.
Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit and talk or hear. The employee is regularly required to stand and walk. Ability to lift up to 20lbs. is required. Lifting from floor level, at waist, and above shoulders required. Infrequent bending and stooping necessary. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision in order to accurately input data and proofread; distance vision in order to recognize and assist visitors to the department.
WORK ENVIRONMENT The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job.
Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
Extremely fast paced, multi-tasking, non-smoking work environment. Must be able to work the general business schedule of the law school (9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.) plus ability and willingness to travel and work evenings and weekends as necessary, and to staff events.
Required Skills
Required Experience