Associate Director of the Office of Institutional Research and Analytics
Colby College

Job DescriptionDepartment:Institutional Research - StaffPay Rate Type:SalaryEmployee Type:Job Summary:The Office of Institutional Research and Analytics is the hub for organizational intelligence about Colby College, supporting decision making at levels of the institution and serving as the authoritative source of statistical information about the college. The associate director plays an integral role in fulfilling the office's goals and objectives. The position is responsible for managing and maintaining the office's reporting database, overseeing external reporting for the college, responding to ad hoc requests for data, developing reports and dashboards, and analyzing and presenting data to a variety of constituencies.

Essential Functions

To perform successfully in this position, an individual must be able to perform essential duties satisfactorily as well as possess education/experience, employ the knowledge, skills, and abilities as listed in representative fashion. Colby College actively supports the Americans with Disabilities Act and will consider reasonable accommodations to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the position. This listing of essential duties is not all-inclusive, but representative; other duties may be assigned.

Data Management:

• Maintain the Office's official reporting database by importing files from source enterprise systems each term, ensuring data integrity, and updating fields as necessary.

• Support data governance processes and initiatives at the College by serving on relevant committees and helping to address and resolve data governance-related issues as they arise.

• Assist with the administration and management of various institutional surveys to collect data on issues of importance to the College.

Reporting:

• Manage external reporting (IPEDS, CDS, AAUP, college rankings/guidebook surveys, etc.).

• Respond to ad hoc requests for data and analysis from internal constituencies and, when appropriate, external parties.

Analytics & Data Visualization:

• Develop and/or maintain reports and dashboards with official reporting and operational data for the institution, senior management team, and campus units/departments.

• Conduct and/or support the Director in conducting analysis of issues of importance to the College.

Administration:

• Support the director in representing the office on various campus committees and provide analytical support to other offices as required.

• Assist in supervising junior staff and/or student workers in the office.

• Assist in developing, reviewing, and implementing office policies.

• Manage operations of the office when the Director is absent.

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor's Degree in a related field with coursework in statistics, research methods, or data science required.

• Five to seven years of experience in institutional research or a closely related field.

• Experience and expertise in working with large-scale relational databases, including the ability to extract data and write reports from such databases using SQL.

• Proficiency in an analytical software package and/or language, such as R, SPSS, or Python.

• Solid understanding of fundamental statistical concepts and training in more advanced techniques (regression, clustering, dimension reduction, etc.).

• Experience and expertise with data visualization tools, preferably Tableau.

• Experience with survey software, survey design, administration, and analysis.

• Ability to present and visualize data in ways that are compelling and appropriate.

• Strong attention to detail, balanced with the ability to see and understand the "big picture."

• Strong written and oral communication skills, including the ability to communicate technical information to individuals of various backgrounds.

• Collaborative and communicative approach to working with individuals and offices at all levels of the institution.

• Ability to work independently, manage multiple projects, and meet deadlines.

• Flexible and open to new approaches to projects, while adhering to standards of the institutional research profession.

Preferred Qualifications: Experience:

• Master's Degree in an Analytic field.

Physical/Mental Demands

The physical demands and work environment characteristics described herein are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform essential functions of this position and/or may be encountered while performing essential functions. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• To successfully perform the essential functions of this position, an employee must be able to maintain appropriate confidentiality with regard to employee data, documents, issues, etc., and respect privacy needs of employees and past employees with regard to the same.

• The ability to comply with highly inflexible deadlines is required to successfully perform the essential functions of this position; there will be multiple occurrences of sudden, urgent task completion required.

• There may be occurrences of employees, past employees, members of the general public, and others who express opinions, may exhibit strong emotions, which will require the employee to interact professionally, diplomatically, and appropriately in such situations.

• While performing the essential duties of this position, an employee would frequently be required to move around the office space as well as within hallways, meeting rooms, and other parts of the campus facilities.

• There may be multiple/daily instances of prolonged personal computer use which would include keyboard and/or mouse usage as well as viewing a computer monitor.

• An employee must frequently lift and/or move up to 10 pounds and occasionally lift and/or move up to 35 pounds to perform essential position functions.

• Specific vision abilities required by this position include close vision, distance vision, and ability to adjust focus.

• The overall work environment requires the mental ability to shift focus quickly due to interruptions; an employee must be able to mentally track multiple projects and tasks as well.

• The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate; however, there may be unexpected instances of somewhat loud sounds.

To Apply:

Interested candidates should apply electronically by clicking the "Apply Now" button on the Colby

College website. Please upload a cover letter and resume to your application.