Senior Career Counsellor

About the role

Ajman University is hiring a Senior Career Counsellor, open to all nationalities. The role is the specialist practitioner in career counselling and career assessment, providing individual and group counselling that helps students make informed career decisions and build pathways aligned with their academic programs. It also develops and maintains the counselling methods, assessment practice and content used by MASAR Career Excellence, working closely with faculty, academic advisors and MASAR colleagues.

Key responsibilities

• Deliver individual and group career counselling on career exploration, decision-making and multi-stage pathway planning, and manage a caseload including complex cases, referring students to counselling and wellbeing services when needed.
• Maintain the unit's counselling model (intake, triage, session frameworks, follow-up, referrals) and develop and update the Early Career Readiness Toolkit content.
• Select, administer and interpret career assessment tools, recommend them, ensure ethical use and train colleagues and academic advisors.
• Design and deliver experiential career workshops and group programs, and turn UAE and international labour market information into practical student guidance.
• Advise faculty on integrating career learning outcomes into courses, deliver in-class sessions and provide case consultation.
• Analyse counselling data to evaluate service effectiveness, propose early-engagement initiatives and share outcome data with the Career Data and Engagement Officer.
• Maintain confidentiality, professional boundaries and adherence to counselling and coaching ethics, and keep professional knowledge current.

Required profile

• Bachelor's degree in Psychology, Counselling, Education or a related field; a Master's in Career Counselling, Counselling Psychology, Educational Psychology or a related field is preferred.
• Recognized career development or coaching credential (e.g. GCDF, ICF, BCC, CCC, CCSP, CMCS, EMCC or equivalent) and certification or training in the assessment tools used; candidates without a credential must obtain one within 12 months of appointment.
• At least 5 years of relevant experience, including at least 3 years delivering one-to-one career counselling and using career assessments, preferably in a university setting.

Required skills

• In-depth knowledge of career development theories, counselling models and coaching techniques.
• Advanced knowledge of career assessment and psychometric tools, their validity and ethical use.
• Knowledge of UAE and international labour market trends and graduate destinations.
• Advanced counselling, active listening and facilitation skills, with sensitivity to diverse cultural backgrounds.
• Ability to design and deliver hands-on learning programs, and to advise and influence faculty and colleagues without direct authority.
• Excellent written and verbal English; Arabic is an advantage.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office and student or career management systems, and discretion with confidential information.

The position reports to the Senior Manager, Career Advising Unit. Work is normally in an indoor office environment but may include evenings, weekends and university events such as career fairs and orientations.