Lead Data Analyst

University Overview

The University of Pennsylvania, the largest private employer in Philadelphia, is a world-renowned leader in education, research, and innovation. This historic, Ivy League school consistently ranks among the top 10 universities in the annual U.S. News & World Report survey. Penn has 12 highly-regarded schools that provide opportunities for undergraduate, graduate and continuing education, all influenced by Penn's distinctive interdisciplinary approach to scholarship and learning. As an employer Penn has been ranked nationally on many occasions with the most recent award from Forbes who named Penn one of America's Best Large Employers in 2023.

Penn offers a unique working environment within the city of Philadelphia. The University is situated on a beautiful urban campus, with easy access to a range of educational, cultural, and recreational activities. With its historical significance and landmarks, lively cultural offerings, and wide variety of atmospheres, Philadelphia is the perfect place to call home for work and play.

The University offers a competitive benefits package that includes excellent healthcare and tuition benefits for employees and their families, generous retirement benefits, a wide variety of professional development opportunities, supportive work and family benefits, a wealth of health and wellness programs and resources, and much more.

Posted Job Title

Lead Data Analyst, Graduate Student Affairs, Wharton School

Job Profile Title

Data Analyst D

Job Description Summary

Founded in 1881 as the world's first collegiate business school, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is shaping the future of business by incubating ideas, driving insights, and creating leaders who change the world. With campuses in Philadelphia and San Francisco, Wharton has over 850 staff, a faculty population of more than 235 renowned professors, and 5,000 undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, and doctoral students. Each year, 13,000 professionals worldwide advance their careers through Wharton Executive Education's individual, company-customized, and online programs. More than 104,000 Wharton alumni form a powerful global network of leaders who transform business every day. Wharton is home to a diverse staff population representing a rich array of backgrounds, expertise, and cultures. To learn more, visit .

The Lead Data Analyst role will be an integral part of the Data Science team within Graduate Student Affairs at the Wharton school. Reporting to the Director of Data Science for Graduate Student Affairs, this position will work cross divisionally across academics, admissions, career management, McNulty Leadership Program, student life and financial aid for the full-time, Executive and Global MBA programs. This role will support the School's mission of providing a personalized and student-centric student experience, and will harness the power of data and technology to help inform strategic initiatives aimed at guiding students to optimal outcomes.

Job Description

This position requires advanced skills in data analysis and visualization and an ability to communicate data insights to both technical and non-technical audiences in order to help inform strategy. Proven advanced proficiency in building dynamic and sophisticated dashboards in PowerBI is a strict requirement for this position. The Lead Data Analyst will be the primary owner and developer of a library of cross-divisional PowerBI business intelligence dashboards. The team works closely with staff from across the division to define strategic questions and then address them through dynamic PowerBI dashboards, and the lead data analyst will be our hands-on technical go-to expert for PowerBI Additionally, this role will be responsible for supporting data collection efforts, ensuring quality and integrity of data, and cleaning and processing data for analysis. Intermediate to advanced statistical programming skills in either R and/or Python are required. If the candidate is proficient in only one of Python or R, the willingness and ability to develop one's skillset in the other programming language is strongly preferred, as is a general willingness to constantly learn and improve one's technical skill set. This role also requires the ability to conduct statistical modeling (such as linear and logistic regression) in order to inform divisional strategy, and work with non-technical stakeholders to understand key questions and problems and use a variety of approaches to address them, ranging from data collection, data visualization, exploratory data analysis and statistical modeling.

An understanding of the infrastructure of data warehouses is strongly preferred, as is the ability to query a data warehouse, preferably using SQL; otherwise, a willingness to learn these skills quickly is required. Experience with survey design and analysis, as well as experience with Qualtrics, are strongly preferred. Experience and/or a strong interest in the field of people analytics is preferred.

A key component of this role is to communicate technical and quantitative concepts to a broad, non-technical audience, including senior management, and to train and provide technical support and thought partnership to colleagues. Advanced skills in PowerPoint are strongly preferred.

Additionally, strong collaboration and consultation skills are very important for this role. The Data Analyst will partner with various teams throughout the division to support their data collection and analysis efforts and to provide them with insights that will help inform their strategy and ultimately their ability to better serve students. The Lead Data Analyst will be expected to be able to work both independently and as part of a team, and to contribute to multiple projects at a time.

Qualifications:
•  A Bachelor's Degree (quantitative discipline preferred) and 3+ years of experience or equivalent combination of education and experience is required.
•  Advanced proficiency in PowerBI required. Experience building and managing dashboards and reports in these environments is required.
•  Intermediate to advanced knowledge of statistics/statistical analysis and R/Python, Excel is required (proficient in use of formulas, pivot tables, graphs/charts; macros, etc. preferred).
•  Ability to write production-quality code in Python is strongly preferred; willingness and ability to learn this skill is required. The same leve of proficiency in R can be a substitute, as long as there is a strong willingness to quickly ramp up in Python.
•  Expert data visualization skills and the ability to tell a story with data are required
•  Understanding of data warehouse architecture and the ability to write SQL queries to extract data is strongly preferred; willingness and ability to quickly learn these skills is required
•  Proven ability to use data to inform strategy, including being able to communicate highly technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences
•  Attention to detail is crucial to this position; in particular, ability and willingness to extract and process large amounts of data from various sources, as well as having a keen eye for data integrity and quality issues
•  Clear understanding of FERPA parameters and data integrity.
•  Cross-train within Systems, Data Science and Marketing and Communications teams to carry out responsibilities on an as-needed basis.
•  Ability to perform tasks in a fast-paced environment, with tight deadlines
•  Strong communication skills, both written and oral, are required

Job Location - City, State

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Department / School

Wharton School

Pay Range

$70,500.00 - $97,000.00 Annual Rate Salary offers are made based on the candidate's qualifications, experience, skills, and education as they directly relate to the requirements of the position, and in alignment with salary ranges based on external market data for the job's level. Internal organization and peer data at Penn are also considered.

Equal Opportunity Statement

The University of Pennsylvania is an equal opportunity employer. Candidates are considered for employment without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, religion, creed, national origin (including shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics), citizenship status, age, disability, veteran status or any class protected under applicable federal, state or local law.

Special Requirements
Background checks may be required after a conditional job offer is made. Consideration of the background check will be tailored to the requirements of the job.

University Benefits
•   Health, Life, and Flexible Spending Accounts : Penn offers comprehensive medical, prescription, behavioral health, dental, vision, and life insurance benefits to protect you and your family's health and welfare. You can also use flexible spending accounts to pay for eligible health care and dependent care expenses with pre-tax dollars.
•   Tuition : Take advantage of Penn's exceptional tuition benefits. You, your spouse, and your dependent children can get tuition assistance here at Penn. Your dependent children are also eligible for tuition assistance at other institutions.
•   Retirement: Penn offers generous retirement plans to help you save for your future. Penn's Basic, Matching, and Supplemental retirement plans allow you to save for retirement on a pre-tax or Roth basis . click apply for full job details