To be considered, please submit a resume and cover letter expressing what makes you interested in the position and how your skills and capabilities align with the job requirements along with your online application. Application review will begin the week of January 15th.
Unit Description:
The Office of Institutional Research and Decision Support (IR&DS) aims to be the first-choice provider of timely, high-quality, accessible information and analysis for informed decision-making at Stanford. We analyze and report on data from all of Stanford’s major administrative systems, including student, faculty, course, research, and financial data. Our team provides Stanford extensive expertise in analysis, statistics, survey research, assessment, data warehousing, data governance, reporting, and visualization. On behalf of university leadership, departments, and central offices, we perform and facilitate complex analyses that drive organizational change. Collaborations with university stakeholders and with peer universities ensure we can collect and provide relevant data, dashboards, and reports. We pride ourselves on our exceptional client relationships, our ability to clearly communicate with and about data, and on our efforts to foster an environment where IR&DS staff work effectively, efficiently, and collaboratively. Learn more about us at https://irds.stanford.edu/about
Position Summary:
The Institutional Research (IR) team within IR&DS is seeking a Senior Research Analyst to lead the unit in deploying Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) and other complex analytical and statistical methods. In this role, you will answer leadership questions (e.g. complex what-if scenarios), evaluate educational initiatives (e.g. major accessibility), investigate long-standing institutional questions (e.g. on course trajectories), and support work requested by faculty senate committees. You will identify, collect, and analyze data using appropriate methodologies and will turn the results into actionable information that can guide university decision-making. You will operate under minimal supervision and will contribute to both novel and ongoing projects.
This position is expected to work in a hybrid work arrangement, with a minimum of two days onsite.
CORE DUTIES:
- Maintain familiarity with the evolving literature on AI, ML, and other related methodologies, including how these methods are applied in the higher education context. Attend institutional research, higher education research, and methodological conferences to stay up-to-date in these cutting edge methodologies. Determine the tools and techniques that would be most fruitful for IR&DS team members to learn and assist colleagues in adopting these techniques in their work as appropriate.
- Respond to questions from the university community, including senior leadership and faculty committees. Conduct research on issues and work with relevant stakeholders to develop effective project plans. Identify modeling approaches most appropriate to the needs of the project.
- Develop maintainable and well-documented processes that meet university analytic needs.
- Independently perform complex analyses that best answer stakeholder questions; as necessary and appropriate, provide recommendations for future action.
- Communicate clearly and effectively about methodologies used and conclusions drawn using the appropriate level of detail for the audience. Disseminate results using written memos/reports, oral presentations, static slide decks, interactive Tableau dashboards, and other methods.
- Interact with and influence senior leaders, faculty, and/or senate with written summaries and/or presentations.
- Reconcile university business practices with the extraction, transformation, and loading of university data both as assigned and as independently determined to be appropriate. Communicate clearly about possibilities and limitations of current data and systems. Propose workable solutions to issues encountered.
- Drive the extract, transformation, loading, and retrieval of data necessary for modeling work. Partner with the internal IR&DS data warehouse Decision Support Services (DSS) to set up data collections that will enable the unit to more easily and accurately answer questions from the university community.
- Proactively seek and locate data, including outside benchmarks or comparative data, to support or refute proposed decisions. May need to collaborate with other organizations to gather data.
- Assist the IR team in responding to general stakeholder requests for information, develop and maintain public and private dashboards, and perform other typical IR work as assigned.
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:
Education & Experience:
Bachelor’s degree and seven years of extensive, relevant experience or combination of education and relevant technical field experience solving analytical problems using quantitative approaches. Master’s degree or PhD in related field preferred.
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
- Extensive experience in and strong passion for empirical research and answering hard questions with data.
- Facility in manipulating and analyzing complex, high-volume, high-dimensionality data from varying sources.
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills. Ability to effectively convey findings to a variety of audiences and to positively influence senior leadership & faculty.
- Demonstrated experience querying, processing, manipulating, analyzing, storing and reporting on large data sets. Ability to use data retrieval and manipulation tools such as Python, SQL, OBIEE, etc.
- Familiarity and experience with advanced statistical concepts and methodology; proficiency with statistical software such as R, Stata, SPSS or similar tools.
- Demonstrated experience using Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and other emerging techniques to answer questions about real-world data. Experience using these techniques in a higher education setting preferred.
- Ability to tell visual stories with data using Tableau or other data visualization software.
- Flexible analytical approach allowing for results at varying levels of precision; ability to craft multiple options with supporting arguments for the same goal.
- The ability to:
- Facilitate meetings to achieve the desired outcome and manage projects within time constraints.
- Work independently within basic guidelines and parameters and with minimal supervision.
- Communicate with precision and clarity in writing and orally.
- Manage complex projects and meet critical deadlines.
- Establish & maintain effective collaborative working team relationships.
- Work effectively on several projects simultaneously.
- Engage in proactive and creative problem solving.
- Knowledge of, or the desire to learn about, higher education, university data systems, the structure and organization of various university functions, and the internal and external pressures facing universities.
Certifications and Licenses:
None
Why Stanford is for You
Imagine a world without search engines or social platforms. Consider lives saved through first-ever organ transplants and research to cure illnesses. Stanford University has revolutionized the way we live and enrich the world. Supporting this mission is our diverse and dedicated 17,000 staff. We seek talent driven to impact the future of our legacy. Our culture and unique perks empower you with:
- Freedom to grow. We offer career development programs, tuition reimbursement, or audit a course. Join a TedTalk, film screening, or listen to a renowned author or global leader speak.
- A caring culture. We provide superb retirement plans, generous time-off, and family care resources.
- A healthier you. Climb our rock wall, or choose from hundreds of health or fitness classes at our world-class exercise facilities. We also provide excellent health care benefits.
- Discovery and fun. Stroll through historic sculptures, trails, and museums.
- Enviable resources. Enjoy free commuter programs, ridesharing incentives, discounts and more
