Director of Strategic Analytics & Insights

Senior Administration - Institutional Research No Regular Day Shift (United States of America) No University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Vice Provost for Planning https://oir.uark.edu/ The Director of Strategic Analytics & Insights will be an action-oriented leader who brings the University of Arkansas’s data to the next level of strategic use through application of the incumbent’s experience, knowledge, leadership, and collaborative skills in business intelligence, data science, and higher education institutional research and assessment.

The Director partners with university leaders to support institutional decision-making capability through data driven change leadership, relationship building, senior leadership, compelling communication, and reliable analytics and reporting. The incumbent mobilizes institutional effectiveness and change by supporting high levels of understanding, analyzing, and using data for strategic decision making throughout the organization.

The ideal Director uses curiosity to drive probing questions, complex problem solving, and critical reviews leading to actionable deliverables within campus units. The Director also leads the strategic analytics and insights team (formerly Institutional Research and Assessment or “INRS”) to deliver high-quality capabilities and solutions in an agile way. This leader builds relationships with unit partners across the institution, offering data-driven insights, sharing ownership of unit strategies and meaningful outcomes.

This leader is a compelling communicator that balances what resonates with audiences with what supports operations, builds a mindset of excellence and adaptability, and fosters trust with stakeholders. The director shapes the team's mission-critical capabilities such as project leadership, client engagement, and resource and risk management. The position also ensures external stakeholders and data collection is managed effectively and proactively shares analysis of external reporting/survey with leaders to assess performance, goal attainment, or altered strategic directions.

Working closely with the Provost and VCFA as well as other Vice Chancellors as necessary, the Director ensures leadership alignment on all strategic data services; supporting response to information requests by internal and external constituents such as academic units, the Arkansas Legislature, and the Arkansas Department of Higher Education; and serving as the University’s representative to external data collection and analytics entities.

Responsibilities include:
Developing productive and collaborative relationships with partners across academic and finance unit operations, including development of deep understanding of their operations and their expectations and readiness for and around data-informed decision-making. Oversees the development of deliverables that are relevant and actionable for partners.

Leading the development and sustainability of a data and analytics capability within academic affairs, finance and administration, and throughout the University including: (1) within the first year of the position, developing plans for optimizing the data and analytics division and the talent required to execute strategies within these fields/disciplines; (2) assessing the organization's analytics needs and working closely with UITS to develop data governance best practices; and (3) collaborating with stakeholders to develop a clear vision for the team and identification of the resources necessary to achieve the vision in the near and long-term.

In close collaboration with UITS, general counsel, and internal audit, defining, managing, and advancing enterprise information management principles, policies and programs for stewardship, advocacy and custodianship of data and analytics, including compliance with applicable data law and regulation.

Ensuring all regulatory and compliance programs, including all accreditation and compliance activities, are supported with high-quality, accurate data analytics and reporting. Assures timely completion of all mandated external reports and voluntary consortia, including IPEDS and higher education surveys. Also, emphasizes quality and consistency of all institutional data reporting by coordinating state and national reporting. More specifically, coordinates and oversees: the collection, organization, submission, and distributes results/analytics of all annual IPEDS surveys; the preparation and submission of unit level data on students, classes, and instructors to ADHE; the preparation and submission of other files required annually or on an ad hoc basis to ADHE; and any national and regional surveys by serving as the primary contact. Supports and advocates for the strategic analytics and insights team in getting responses from relevant university departments and then receiving, analyzing, and distributing the results.

Proactively applies broad-based data and analytics knowledge and skills to identify and understand opportunities and threats.
Providing direct supervision over the strategic analytics and insight team leads to develop business intelligence reporting and analytics. Supports analysis and reporting for academic units as needed to maintain accreditation activities, understand student success, and maximize faculty success.
Collaboratively developing management dashboards to provide actionable and timely business insights for each operating area of the academic units.
Leading the strategic analytics and insights unit, comprised of highly qualified professionals, grows the unit’s capabilities through ongoing team development and project leadership.
Championing the University’s evolution towards a data-driven culture, promoting data capabilities and literacy across the enterprise.

• At least 5 years of experience in business administration, business intelligence or field of science (computer science, mathematics, engineering, statistics, clinical/hospital discipline, or administration, etc.)
• At least 3 years of proven project leadership experience
• At least 3 years managing and directing employees
• At least 3 years data visualization experience using Power BI, Tableau, or similar tool
• Experience in two or more of the following: Data Warehouse technologies, Extract Transform Load tools, SQL Syntax
• Excellent project management, communication, and interpersonal skills

• Experience setting and managing budgets
• At least 3 years of advanced knowledge of higher education data management and reporting systems

Commensurate with education and experience Cover Letter/Letter of Application, List of three Professional References (name, email, business title), Resume Proof of Veteran Status Eva Cordero, Director Academic HR, ecordero@uark.edu Criminal Background Check, Sex Offender Registry N/A N/A N/A Yes