Academic Systems and Analytics Coordinator

Are you looking for a high-impact role where you will be an integral member of an exciting global team? Does building systems, processes and leveraging disparate sources of data to create actionable insights sound like something that you are passionate about? Well then we have an exciting opportunity in a mission driven organisation for you!

Nova Pioneer is looking for a passionate and superstar Academic Systems and Analytics Coordinator. This is an exciting opportunity to work in a hybrid environment (remote and in-person) and to help create a transformative brand with the future of Africa’s youth at stake. 

ABOUT NOVAPIONEER

Imagine a world in which every young person across Africa attends a school that truly sets them up for success in the 21st century. A school that cares about individual students and allows them to explore the world around them. A school that focuses more on developing skills than on memorizing content. At Nova Pioneer, we have done more than just imagine this future, we are bringing it to life. Nova Pioneer is a Pan-African, independent network of schools offering high quality, accessible education from pre-primary through secondary school. Nova Pioneer uses a unique, inquiry-based learning approach that encourages students to ask “why” instead of telling them the “what”. It allows them to form their own thinking through exploration, investigation, and collaboration. Nova Pioneer currently has 16 schools in South Africa and Kenya with a vision to launch 100 schools and reach tens of thousands of students across the African continent in the next decade. To learn more visit www.novapioneer.com. 

ABOUT THE ROLE

The Academic Systems & Analytics Team is part of the broader Academic support function, working to ensure that schools operate with high levels of efficiency, accuracy, and data-driven decision-making. We support school leadership, teachers, and administrative teams by providing data insights, managing key academic systems, and ensuring seamless operations related to student records, grading, attendance, and analytics. The successful candidate will work closely with the Academic Systems and Analytics Manager to execute vital academic processes across multiple regions.

Working at Nova means: 

• Fully embracing Nova’s values and beliefs and promoting them to students, teammates and parents.

• Living the culture principles inside and outside of the school. 

• Working cohesively in a team, being respectful of each person’s contributions and style. 

• Maintaining positive, constructive and professional relationships with students, their families, and teammates. 

• Adapting to change frequently and embracing the gift of feedback
 

How will your day-to-day at Nova look like? 

• Collaborate with the Academic Systems and Analytics Manager, in data collection and analysis of academic assessments, using insights to support educators in refining teaching strategies.
• Collaborate with the Deans of Instruction & Learning (DoIL) and teachers to collect and resolve report card errors, including formatting, comments, and weighted averages.
• Conduct student data cleanup exercises at the beginning of each term to identify anomalies in attendance, student transitions, and data discrepancies, coordinating with School Teams for resolution.
• Update and maintain teacher records, ensuring observation and walkthrough data is correctly captured and synced across platforms.
• Monitor and enforce school compliance with gradebook updates, working subject by subject to align with assessment timetables.
• Track and flag attendance completion daily, notifying homerooms that have not marked attendance by noon to ensure data accuracy for termly analyses.
• Conduct no-attendance audits, ensuring accurate retention metrics by identifying and removing inactive students from the system.
• Lead termly and annual rollovers for all School Information Sites (SIS), ensuring seamless transitions between academic periods.
• Act as the primary line of defense for technical SIS issues, resolving them before escalating to the service provider, reducing reliance on billable support services.
• Oversee the termly locking of gradebooks to ensure assessment integrity and maintain accurate academic records. Conduct post-rollover gradebook cleanups to ensure all subjects and grades transition correctly into the new term.
• Manage the termly publishing and sending of report cards, ensuring timely delivery to parents and students for performance tracking and academic planning.
• Other responsibilities as assigned by your manager.

ABOUT YOU 

Skills and Qualifications required:

• Bachelor's degree in an analytical field is required (Science, business, mathematics or statistics).
• 2+ years of experience in a fast-paced, data/systems analytics, business intelligence, survey methodologist or operations environment, prior experience working in a school is advantageous.  
• Strong analytical ability, able to review / assess / make recommendations as a result of analysis.
• You are an advanced user of microsoft excel/google sheets (required) and may have some prior statistical coding experience in e.g., R or Python especially in terms of data visualization (advantageous).
• You have worked with survey tools, have experience in designing and running survey cycles and are able to create actionable reports.
• Comfortable with presenting to various stakeholders, from junior to C-suite level.
• Kindness is a core value to you.
• You care deeply about your larger team, and are invested in seeing them thrive, removing obstacles in their way, and in general are always willing to be helpful. 
• You must be someone who enjoys a fast paced environment, is comfortable with ambiguity or change, and is quickly able to adapt as needed to meet the changing demands of the organisation. 
• You are a planner and continually monitor your progress towards achieving a goal.
• You enjoy both giving and receiving feedback, and strive for excellence, even in areas you are not familiar with, by implementing continuous feedback.
• You thrive in a remote working environment, and have experience fostering relationships with teammates from afar.
• You have excellent verbal and written communication skills that make you an effective team-player
• You are a go-getter, take initiative, and are passionate about your work, but realise when you need to ask questions to overcome obstacles.
• You strive for excellence in yourself and in others, always holding high expectations.
• You are detail-oriented and goal-focused, taking pleasure in achieving tasks to the best of your abilities.
• You have a growth mindset and are eager to always be learning. You welcome feedback because you know it will help you grow. 

HOW TO APPLY

Does working at Nova Pioneer excite you? If so, then apply now! 

To apply, please complete the form on the right-hand side of this page. We cannot process applications that are emailed to us.

Please note: Where a copy of your resume is required, you are encouraged to attach your resume in PDF format to protect formatting.

All applications will be reviewed and applicants notified of next steps. There are a series of stages in the Nova Pioneer interview process and candidates will be moved forward in the process depending on their success in the previous stage. The process is as follows:

1. Phone interview: a short conversation to understand your skills and experience a little better.

2. Practical demonstration of what you can do: you will complete a written task or a demonstration related to the role you are applying for. Teachers participate in a half-day selection day at one of our campuses as well as deliver a lesson to a class.

3. In-person interviews: at this point, you will visit one of our schools to meet the team and/or participate in a series of in-person interviews.

4. Final interview: you’ll have a final conversation with the hiring manager before decisions are made.

N.B: Should you not receive feedback from Nova Pioneer within 30 days after you have submitted your application, kindly consider your application unsuccessful.

WORKING AT NOVAPIONEER

Nova Pioneer is a place where our people experience tremendous growth, fast! We invest heavily in the growth of our people because it leads to greater mastery in both us and our students. “Novaneers” work harder and work longer hours than most schools but as a result, the growth they experience is extraordinary. We offer consistent and ongoing personal development and provide clear career pathways that ensure that our people are always achieving their personal and professional best. Nova Pioneer has a highly energetic, entrepreneurial environment where our people get to bring their creative and innovative ideas to life. We look for people who are flexible and who are able to adapt and respond quickly to adversity with a positive, can-do attitude (there are no problems, only solutions!). We welcome challenges and roll with the punches because it makes us, and our students, better. There is no problem too big for us! We bring infectious energy and enthusiasm to everything we do because joy fuels our work and learning. Read more about our culture principles here.

Nova Pioneer will never request an application fee from candidates. If you are contacted with a request to pay a fee from someone claiming to be a Nova Pioneer Talent or Recruitment representative, please do not pay them and report it to us immediately on talent.ke@novapioneer.com or talent.sa@novapioneer.com.