about the job
The greatest waste of our time is the waste of talent. There are millions of people who once had the ambition to do great things with their career, but got stuck in jobs that don't make the world better.
The School for Moral Ambition (SMA) helps people turn their ideals into action. We run fellowships, community programs, and campaigns that empower talented people to work on the world's most pressing problems. From ending factory farming to fighting the tobacco industry and advancing tax fairness.
We believe that moral ambition — the drive to be one of the best, but measured by different standards of success — can become a cultural force. We're not driven by guilt, but by enthusiasm: we're simply excited about making the world a wildly better place.
Read more about who we are in our founding principles.
about the role
We're hiring four Campus Recruiting Associates — one embedded at each of Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, and Vanderbilt — to lead on-the-ground recruitment for SMA's University Fellowships this fall. Think of this role the way Teach For America thinks of its campus recruiters: you are SMA's face on campus, responsible for building the relationships and visibility that turn a strong program into a strong applicant pool.
You'll work closely with the Sr. Program Manager, University Fellowships to hit application targets at your campus, but the job lives largely on campus, not behind a screen: tabling at student org fairs, coffee chats with faculty who can point us to standout students, info sessions, and building the kind of word-of-mouth that gets a talented sophomore or junior to actually apply.
Key responsibilities
- Build and manage relationships with student organizations (pre-professional clubs, EA/effective-giving groups, cultural and academic societies) to source high-quality applicants, with an emphasis on groups that have outsized influence on campus culture.
- Cultivate faculty and staff relationships — professors, advisors, career services — who can refer standout students directly.
- Plan and staff on-campus events: info sessions, tabling, coffee chats, and co-hosted events with student groups.
- Represent SMA at existing campus events (career fairs, org fairs, relevant panels) to build visibility.
- Own your campus's application funnel: track outreach, referrals, and conversion, and report progress against targets.
- Coordinate with the Sr. Program Manager and the other three Campus Recruiting Associates to share what's working across campuses.
- Support light logistics for on-campus info sessions and interviews as needed.
What We’re looking for
- Experience with campus recruiting, admissions, or student organizing: TFA campus recruiter, admissions office, Greek life/student org leadership, or similar.
- You're based on or can be reliably on campus multiple days a week. This is an in-person, relationship-driven role, not a remote one.
- Comfort initiating conversations with strangers (students, faculty, administrators) and following up persistently but warmly.
- Organized self-starter: you'll get a target and real autonomy on how to hit it.
- Genuine enthusiasm for SMA's mission and comfort explaining it to a skeptical sophomore in under two minutes.
- Nice to have: existing ties to your assigned campus (recent alum, current grad student, or current staff/faculty).
What we offer
- $46–56/hour, based on experience.
- A self-managing environment with clear roles, autonomy, and structure, in line with the Action principle in Moral Ambition.
- Work with a world-class team led by Rutger Bregman and top talent from tech, media, and philanthropy.
- The chance to help build a movement that reshapes how young people think about their careers, impact, and moral ambition, and to be the face of that movement on your campus.
- Any SMA-hosted event costs (venue, food, printed materials) are covered by SMA; local campus travel is the Associate's own responsibility.
- Network opportunities: touchpoints with the broader School for Moral Ambition community, Fellows, and partners.
Application process
Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis — apply as soon as possible, target start date is ASAP.
We value talent and a can-do attitude above traditional credentials. Even if you don't meet every requirement, and especially if you think we might overlook an aspect that might make you a good fit, we welcome you to challenge us and apply. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and non-traditional career paths.
