Join Our Team
Dedicated to nurturing faith, cultivating academic excellence, and preparing the leaders of tomorrow, Muhammad Preparatory Academy is building a world-class Islamic leadership academy—and seeks a Founding Director of Recruitment and Enrollment Management to help shape its vision and foundation.
Location: New Carrollton, Maryland
Reports To: Founding Director of Strategy and Development
Status: Full-Time
Start Date: October 5, 2026, or as Soon as Practicable
School Opening: September 2027 | Kindergarten–Grade 8
About Muhammad Preparatory Academy
Muhammad Preparatory Academy (“MPA”) is building an extraordinary Islamic-centered educational institution in New Carrollton, Maryland. MPA will open in September 2027 with Kindergarten through Grade 8 and add one grade each year until becoming a full K–12 institution.
MPA envisions a vibrant, serene campus where sacred educators inspire and guide future leaders. Grounded in Islamic values, the Academy will combine academic excellence, spiritual formation, character development, practical competence, leadership, and service.
Our educational framework is clear: At Muhammad Preparatory Academy, we strengthen the faith, cultivate the character, educate the mind, develop the hands, and prepare the student to lead and serve.
The Opportunity
There will only be one founding class of Muhammad Preparatory Academy.
MPA plans to open in 2027 with 150 students representing roughly 100 founding families, including 105 full-pay students under the Academy’s current financial model.
The Founding Director of Recruitment and Enrollment Management will lead the effort to identify, cultivate, enroll, and welcome those families while building an admissions and enrollment-management function capable of supporting MPA for years to come.
This is not simply an admissions-processing role. The successful candidate will be a relationship builder, market developer, storyteller, strategist, and disciplined operator who can build demand for a new institution and convert that demand into enrollment.
Position Mandate
The Founding Director of Recruitment and Enrollment Management will be responsible for building the relationships, systems, market presence, and family experience necessary to enroll an extraordinary founding class and establish sustained demand for Muhammad Preparatory Academy. The Director will manage the complete enrollment journey from initial awareness and inquiry through application, admission, enrollment, orientation, retention, and re-enrollment.
Essential Responsibilities
Enrollment Strategy & Execution
Lead implementation of MPA’s Founding Recruitment, Enrollment, Admissions & Market Development Plan and maintain primary accountability for opening-year enrollment goals.
Build a prospective-family pipeline significantly larger than available enrollment capacity, including a goal of at least 250 highly interested families.
Develop and execute strategies to achieve approximately 150 students, including 105 full-pay students, and roughly 100 founding families, while operating within approved financial-assistance policies and grade-level capacity.
Monitor enrollment by grade, identify emerging gaps, and adjust recruitment activity accordingly.
Family Recruitment & Market Development
Develop trusted relationships with prospective families throughout Prince George’s County, the broader DMV, Baltimore, Northern Virginia, the Northeast, and selected national markets.
Build relationships with masjids, Islamic organizations, community institutions, professional networks, universities, businesses, community leaders, and other trusted partners.
Work with Board members, Academy leadership, and parent ambassadors to activate personal and professional networks in support of enrollment.
Lead open houses, campus tours, small-group gatherings, webinars, admitted-family events, and other experiences that allow families to understand MPA’s culture and educational philosophy.
Develop targeted outreach to families who may consider relocating to Maryland for MPA.
Admissions & Enrollment Operations
Design and manage a disciplined, transparent, welcoming, and highly responsive admissions process.
Establish admissions timelines, application procedures, family interviews, decision processes, enrollment contracts, deposits, and orientation protocols.
Own the Academy’s admissions CRM and ensure every active prospective family has a documented source, status, next action, owner, and follow-up date.
Manage and improve conversion across the enrollment funnel: Prospect → Inquiry → Engagement → Application → Admission → Deposit → Enrollment → Retention
Ensure no qualified prospective family is lost because of inadequate follow-up.
Tuition, Financial Assistance & Enrollment Economics
Communicate tuition and financial-assistance processes clearly, professionally, and confidentially.
Coordinate financial-assistance administration in accordance with Board-approved policies.
Monitor full-pay enrollment, financial assistance awarded, average net tuition, and projected net tuition revenue in partnership with Academy leadership.
Ensure enrollment strategy supports both meaningful access and long-term financial sustainability.
Marketing, Communications & Community Engagement
Partner with external resources on website content, digital advertising, email campaigns, social media, family communications, videos, print collateral, campus materials, and enrollment events.
Ensure MPA’s public communications consistently express its mission, educational framework, and distinctive value to families.
Partner with external resources to develop the Founding Families of Muhammad Preparatory Academy campaign and help create a strong sense of belonging among the Academy’s first families.
Reporting & Accountability
Maintain a weekly enrollment dashboard for the Executive Team and provide regular reporting to the Board.
Track core measures including prospective families, inquiries, tours, applications, admissions offers, deposits, enrolled students, enrollment by grade, full-pay students, financial assistance, conversion rates, projected tuition revenue, referral sources, and waiting lists.
Qualifications
The successful candidate should bring 7+ years of relevant professional experience in independent-school recruitment, admissions, enrollment management, university admissions, education-sector market development, relationship-driven business development, membership growth, professional services, or another environment involving high-trust, relationship-based decisions.
A bachelor’s degree is required. An advanced degree is welcomed but less important than demonstrated excellence, judgment, and results.
Independent-school experience is strongly preferred, but MPA is open to an exceptional candidate from another sector who has demonstrated the ability to build relationships, create demand, manage a complex pipeline, and achieve measurable growth.
The candidate should also demonstrate:
Exceptional interpersonal and communication skills;
Strong relationship-building and closing ability;
High levels of organization and follow-through;
Comfort with CRM systems, enrollment funnels, data, and forecasting;
Experience planning and executing events and outreach campaigns;
Strong judgment, professionalism, and discretion;
Cultural fluency and the ability to engage families from diverse backgrounds;
An entrepreneurial mindset and comfort building systems from the ground up; and
Deep alignment with MPA’s mission and educational philosophy.
We are looking for someone warm, credible, mission-driven, highly organized, and relentless about follow-through.
Why Join MPA?
Most admissions professionals spend their careers helping steward institutions established by others.
Muhammad Preparatory Academy offers the opportunity to help create one. The Founding Director will help identify the Academy’s first families, enroll its first students, establish its admissions culture, shape its reputation, and build systems that may serve the institution for generations.
Compensation & Benefits
The base annual compensation for this position is $120,000, commensurate with experience. MPA also offers a comprehensive benefits package:
Medical, Vision, and Dental Insurance
401(k) retirement plan
Paid Time Off (PTO)
Paid holidays
Tuition reimbursement and professional development
Employee recognition and appreciation programs
Employee referral bonuses
To Apply
Interested candidates should email a resume and cover letter to AMuhammad@muhammadprep.org with “Founding Director of Recruitment and Enrollment Management” in the subject line. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled.
Questions about the position may be directed to Aaliyah Muhammad at 410-303-1113.