Senior Research Analyst

If you’re passionate about building a better future for individuals, communities, and our country—and you’re committed to working hard to play your part in building that future—consider WGU as the next step in your career.

Driven by a mission to expand access to higher education through online, competency-based degree programs, WGU is also committed to being a great place to work for a diverse workforce of student-focused professionals. The university has pioneered a new way to learn in the 21st century, one that has received praise from academic, industry, government, and media leaders. Whatever your role, working for WGU gives you a part to play in helping students graduate, creating a better tomorrow for themselves and their families.

The Research Analyst will support WGU's Academic Portfolio Management by providing critical data-driven insights to guide strategic program development and workforce alignment. This role analyzes real-time labor market trends, employer feedback, and national alumni pathways to ensure WGU's academic offerings are relevant and competitive. Responsibilities include developing comprehensive Workforce Intelligence Reports highlighting high-demand skills, workforce trends, and qualitative employer insights, including executive-level focus groups. 

 

 The analyst collaborates with academic leaders, portfolio teams, and workforce development experts to integrate these insights into program decision-making and discussions with Program Advisory Councils. Additionally, the role involves establishing and tracking performance metrics to measure the impact of workforce alignment on program success, presenting findings to senior leadership, and contributing to best practices for incorporating workforce intelligence into academic strategies.

 

This position is critical in ensuring WGU's programs align with evolving workforce demands, directly influencing student success and program relevance. 

Essential Functions and Responsibilities:

• Extract and manipulate data using SQL. Develop database objects
• Code and perform unit testing of developed code
• Proficient analytical skill set and experience with creating, cleaning, and analyzing large data sets
• Develop and deploy complex reports and dashboards
• Create data-informed processes to resolve business problems and use analytical methods to produce actionable insights
• Manage change requests and troubleshoot data issues
• Complete root cause analysis on KPIs
• Collaborate in the forecasting of key business drivers and KPIs
• Present findings to technical and non-technical audiences, including executive staff
• Design process and business audits for data quality
• Ability to attend to detail, manage multiple tasks and meet deadlines
• Work closely and communicate effectively with business users and stakeholders. Requirements gathering and documentation from stakeholders
• Meet and Consult with the project stakeholders to determine the scope, requirements, final product, and, if needed, ongoing maintenance support
• Represent Institutional Research at meetings and other coordinating events to provide IR insights, perspective, and results
• Assist, train, and guide less experienced members of the team in technical processes
• Performs other related duties as assigned.

Knowledge, Skill and Abilities:

• Advanced Excel & SQL skills
• Understanding of inferential statistics and predictive modeling
• Understanding of time-series forecasting
• Proficiency in visual display of data
• Experience developing and producing reporting using Cognos, Tableau, Power BI, or similar applications
• Experience with working with different file formats such as JSON, XML, and CSV
• Experience in data validation and testing to analyze, debug and fix issues
• Knowledge of qualitative research analysis, methodologies, and best practices
• Experience in KPI development and application
• Expertise in understanding, manipulating, and querying extensive data sets with complex file structures
• Experience and success with creative problem-solving, particularly with respect to innovative data applications
• Ability to bridge communication and action between business user stories and technical requirements
• Ability to explain complex data and research issues professionally with technical and non-technical colleagues
• Excellent communication and documentation skills
• Ability to work well in a team environment
• Professional communication across all levels of the organization
• Experience working with enterprise data warehouses and big data
• Familiarity with ETL techniques
• Demonstrated ability to identify project risks.
• Experience in change management
• Skilled in project design and management.  Can do big-picture project management and detail results delivery
• Skilled in stakeholder facilitation.  Ability to anticipate customer needs and understand customer requirements
• Ability to work independently
• Experience in designing, organizing, and managing multiple complex projects simultaneously and meeting deadlines.

Competencies: 

Organizational Impact:

• Works to achieve operational targets with a significant impact on department, Function, or Office results. May be responsible for managing large projects or processes within the department, function, or office.​
• Performs work as directed with limited oversight.

Problem Solving & Decision Making:

• Responsible for leveraging a systems-thinking approach, making moderate to significant improvements of processes, systems, and plans within the department, Function, or Office.​
• Problems and issues are numerous and challenging and require detailed information gathering and analysis. Problems typically affect multiple areas or specialties.

Communication & Influence:

• Collaborates cross-functionally with employees within and outside of the department. Typically has responsibility for communicating with parties external to the University.​
• Works to influence parties within and outside the department, Function, or Office regarding policies, procedures, and practices. 

Leadership & Talent Management

• Is responsible for providing guidance, coaching, and training to other employees in the department, Function, or Office. Responsible for managing projects involving delegation of work and review of others’ work products.​
• Demonstrates the WGU leadership principles in all aspects of service to students, employees, and partners of WGU.

Job Qualifications:

Minimum Qualifications:

• 5+ years of experience with a bachelor's degree, or 3+ years and a master's degree, or a doctorate or terminal degree without experience​.

Department Specific Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Statistics, Economics, Computer Science, applied mathematics discipline, business, or other related degrees
• 2+ years of experience conducting qualitative research, including executive-level focus groups and interviews, to gather insights on employer needs, industry trends, and skills gaps.
• 4 years experience in data analytics, business intelligence, or information technology
• Experience working with Agile methodology
• Demonstrated experience in project management

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master's degree in statistics, social sciences, data analytics, or other related degree
• Experience working in Higher Education
• Experience working with Salesforce
• Time-series forecasting, machine learning, advanced ETL development, Spark, and big data
• Experience coding in SAS, SPSS, Stata, or other recognized statistical software
• Proficiency in Python, R, or Scala for processing and analyzing data
• Experience creating Machine Learning Predictive Models
• Experience in survey design and sampling methodology
• May have a broad knowledge of project management.

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The salary range for this position takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to skill sets; experience and training; licensure and certifications; and other business and organizational needs.

At WGU, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their position, and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current range is:
 

Pay Range: $80,300.00 - $120,400.00

WGU will accept applications for this position until 12:00 AM ET, 10/21/2024

How to apply: apply online

Full-time Regular Positions (FT classification, standard working hours = 40)

This is a full-time, regular position that is eligible for bonuses; medical, dental, vision, telehealth and mental healthcare; health savings account and flexible spending account; basic and voluntary life insurance; disability coverage; accident, critical illness and hospital indemnity supplemental coverages; legal and identity theft coverage; retirement savings plan; wellbeing program; discounted WGU tuition; and flexible paid time off for rest and relaxation with no need for accrual, flexible paid sick time with no need for accrual, 11 paid holidays, and other paid leaves, including up to 12 weeks of parental leave.

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