Senior Data Analytics Consultant at The Ohio State University

Senior Data Analytics Consultant at The Ohio State University

Job Type
Full-time
Posting Date
August 8, 2019
Location of Position

Columbus, OH

Company Summary

For 144 years, The Ohio State University's campus in Columbus has been the stage for academic achievement and a laboratory for innovation. It's where friendships are forged. It's where rivalries and revelry are born.

The university's main campus is one of America's largest and most comprehensive. As Ohio's best and one of the nation's top-20 public universities, Ohio State is further recognized by a top-rated academic medical center and a premier cancer hospital and research center. As a land-grant university, Ohio State has a physical presence throughout the state, with campuses and research centers located around Ohio.

The Ohio State University College of Dentistry is the fourth largest public dental school in the United States and it is the only public dental school in Ohio. The college is divided into ten divisions with all major ADA-recognized dental specialties represented. The College has approximately 600 students in its undergraduate and graduate programs.

The Ohio State University is proud to be a premier employer that provides an exceptional total rewards package including medical, dental, vision and many other “hidden” benefits. Our competitive benefits package is offered to all eligible faculty and staff in order to attract, develop and retain top performers eager to share their talent, time and success. Our benefits support your health and financial goals and include not only health insurance, but also generous state retirement, tuition assistance for our employees and their dependents, wellness initiatives, and much more. Please visit https://hr.osu.edu/benefits/ for detailed information. Be your best at The Ohio State University!

Duties and Responsibilities

Reporting to the Director, Reporting and Analytics, the Senior Data Analytics Consultant provides fundraising data analysis and reporting services for the executive leadership team of the Development arm of the Office of Advancement.

The Sr. Data Analytics Consultant will be primarily responsible for the development and implementation of measurement and analytics strategies designed to ensure appropriate operational models; to monitor and evaluate applicable metrics to compare and analyze data to support strategic fundraising decisions and process improvement; to ensure communication with senior leadership and synthesize data into useful and insightful information; and to write and automate tools and scripts to increase efficiency and reduce manual efforts.

The Sr. Data Analytics Consultant will design and build data visualizations using diverse data sets and will be instrumental in developing and translating analysis, data modeling and ad hoc decision support to fulfill the needs of the development organization. This includes data analysis and reporting to enhance operational efficiency, encouraging data driven decisions and promoting a higher level of data consumption as well as best practices to improve services and processes of strategic importance to the Development team.

Provides significant data analysis using both descriptive and predictive statistical analysis expertise for the Development leadership team. This work includes, but is not limited to, responsibility for the ongoing design and maintenance of monthly Development performance reports and the fundraising dashboard. It further includes conducting significant data analysis and data mining required to understand the results found and communication of insights to leadership.

This work is accomplished using visual query tools, custom built standard outputs, Microsoft SQL Reporting Services tools, data analysis tools like SPSS or Excel and Tableau.

Position highlights include opportunities to accomplish the following:

Responsibilities:

Data Analysis and Data Mining (40%)

  • Use statistical methods to analyze fundraising data to identify statistically significant patterns and trends that generate actionable insights
  • Provide high-confidence-level forecasts that allow the business to make informed decisions
  • Perform analysis and interpretation of data to demonstrate fundraising outcomes, within specified timeframes and frequencies

Report, Dashboard and Scorecard Creation (40%)

  • Gather requirements, create queries, build reports and dashboards that integrate multiple sources of data, identify actionable insights and conclusions, and translate complex results into simple visualizations that will empower department leaders to take decisive action
  • Develop trend analysis reports that monitor key performance indicators and compares them to internal and external benchmarks and uses this data to assist leadership in decision-making, planning and implementing performance improvement strategies Convene colleagues to share information and best practices.
  • Analyze report results with a focus on explaining changes, inconsistencies and any patters that are identified.

Become an established Subject Matter Expert within the Organization (20%)

  • Work collaboratively with Development leadership to understand and design analytical approaches to open-ended strategic business problems and communicates the findings to key stakeholders through reports, presentations, storytelling and thoughtful discussion;
  • Collaborate with the Development leadership team in order to identify trends and opportunities to improve and maximize fundraising revenue
  • Serve as a technical and educational resource to others on fundraising data and benchmarks, modeling, data acquisition and rapid analysis for insight generation

Performance Objectives

First 1-3 months

  • Demonstrate basic knowledge and understanding of the higher education advancement industry, with particular emphasis on the major gift fundraising component in particular.
  • Demonstrate intermediate level understanding of the t-SQL language, SQL Server Reporting Services and Tableau.
  • Demonstrate basic understanding of the advancement data warehouse.

First 3-6 months

  • Demonstrate intermediate knowledge and understanding of higher education major gift oriented fundraising.
  • Assume technical responsibility for the monthly fundraising suite of reports and being transition of existing t-SQL extract – Excel legacy reports to SSRS and / or Tableau.
  • Assume technical responsibility for the existing SSRS based Fundraising Dashboard and all linked reports.

First 12 months

  • Demonstrate intermediate knowledge and understanding of the higher education advancement industry.
  • Assume analysis responsibility for monthly fundraising performance analysis.
  • Assume business evolution responsibility for monthly reports and the fundraising dashboard.

Why Join Ohio State Advancement Now?

In 2016, The Ohio State University concluded the most successful fundraising effort in its history, with contributions from what is believed to be the most donors ever to a higher education campaign. The But for Ohio State Campaign raised over $3 billion from more than 750,000 donors, shattering the goal of $2.5 billion. Ohio State is now six months away from the public kickoff of the next campaign which coincides with the celebration of the university’s 150th birthday. All members of Advancement are part of creating an inclusive culture that inspires an exceptionally diverse and talented team and are measured on their adherence to the following core competencies:  leadership, continuous improvement, teamwork and collaboration, and communication/interpersonal effectiveness.

More about Advancement Reporting and Analytics
Reporting and Analytics (R&A) is one part of the Business Intelligence and Data Science department totaling 15 full-time staff within Advancement. R&A is comprised of 10 staff members with nearly 100 years combined experience working in the Advancement and Enterprise Reporting professions. We are an extremely collaborative group possessing particular technical expertise in t-SQL, SSRS and Tableau. The larger BI team also then possesses extensive experience in Market Research and Data Sciences. Those groups are similarly collaborative in their approach and give the larger BI team experience in market research and advanced statistical techniques. Finally our in group project manager is guiding us in the implementation of the Agile Project Management approach.

Position Requirements

Experience Requirements

The selected candidate for this position must have demonstrated success in several areas, including:

    • Bachelor’s degree in Data Analytics, Statistics, Applied Math, Computer Science, Computer Information Systems or Management Information Systems, Marketing, Psychology or related field; or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
    • 5 years’ experience in a data analyst role.
    • Experience with enterprise reporting tools (i.e. MS BI Suite).
    • Two years of experience using SQL with preference to Microsoft T-SQL.
    • 2 years of experience with statistical analysis using statistical packages for analyzing datasets (Excel, SPSS, R, SAS etc.).
    • 2 years of experience visualizing and presenting data.
Required Experience

Desired requirements include:

  • Master’s degree in Statistics, Business, Computer Science, Economics, Engineering, Mathematics or other quantitative disciplines.
  • Experience in the non-profit fundraising space.
  • Familiarity with statistical algorithms such as linear and logistic regression, decision trees, neural networks, etc.
  • 2 years of project management/consulting experience.
  • Experience working in an Agile SCRUM environment.
  • 2 years’ experience building dashboards.
  • 2 years of experience conducting forecasting models.
Apply Here

Please visit www.advancement.osu.edu to find out more about University Advancement.
Questions may be directed to Greg Bright, Recruiter, at bright.159@osu.edu.

You Need To Know

Aside from the unparalleled benefits of working for The Ohio State University and working in the diverse, smart, safe, fun and growing city of Columbus, Ohio, this opportunity will provide exceptional rewards that arise from working for a land grant institution where you will truly feel the impact of your work. Learn more here:  https://hr.osu.edu/careers/.

Closing Statement

The Ohio State University is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation or gender identity, national origin, disability status, or protected veteran status.