Sr Director Data Insights and Analytics (Remote or Hybrid in MN)

Senior Director, Data Insights and Analytics (Remote or option for Hybrid in Bloomington or St Peter, MN)

Are you passionate about making a difference? Would you like to spend your working hours changing lives and building a better world? Do you want to help eliminate barriers to higher education for students in need? Consider joining the amazing team at Scholarship America, where we're hard at work creating brighter futures for students-and growing our impact so we can do even more.

The Senior Director, Data Insights and Analytics is responsible for leading the organization's enterprise data strategy, operations, solutions (including data architecture), governance, and execution. This role oversees a multidisciplinary team and manages analytics platforms, data architecture, and data governance processes to enable data-driven decision-making across the organization. The director collaborates with internal stakeholders and external partners to deliver actionable insights, support strategic initiatives, and maintain high standards for data integrity, performance, and security.

This role requires a unique combination of technical proficiency, strategic thinking, and communication finesse. The ideal candidate is not only analytically rigorous and detail-oriented but also deeply curious, proactive, and collaborative. They are adept at navigating ambiguity, identifying key business questions, and delivering insights that influence outcomes. With a passion for innovation and continuous improvement, the Data Insights and Analytics leader serves as a trusted advisor and thought partner to cross-functional teams, helping to embed a culture of data literacy and evidence-based decision-making throughout the organization.

This position drives accountability, efficiency, effectiveness and relentless execution to deliver on time, in scope and on budget ways of working (w.o.w), through day-to-day tactics that deliver on the divisional and organizational goals. The Senior Director works very closely and collaboratively with the Product and R&D, Enterprise Solutions and Security and Infrastructure, and Product/IT Operations units within the division, external partners and all functions within the organization in delivering, supporting, and maintaining innovative student-centric business solutions.

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:

• Perform and ensure managerial functions, including developing and managing budgets, setting department and individual team goals, providing ongoing performance feedback, and developing/executing employee engagement strategies in a timely and competent fashion.
• Drive execution with attention to timelines, documentation, and outcomes.

• Define and implement the organization's data strategy, aligning with strategic goals.
• Conduct in-depth analysis of large, complex, and often unstructured datasets from multiple sources to uncover meaningful trends, correlations, and anomalies
• Oversee the development of dashboards, scorecards, and self-service tools using platforms such as Tableau, Power BI, and Looker.
• Apply statistical analysis, segmentation, forecasting, and predictive modeling to support business decisions.
• Support the execution and delivery of solid go-to market strategies that may include pilot initiatives that explore promising new products and technical solutions

• Translate complex data into actionable insights for varied audiences.
• Deliver performance reports, monitor KPIs, and recommend data-driven improvements across business units.
• Partner with stakeholders in marketing, finance, product, and operations to prioritize analytics efforts.
• Exceptional ability to synthesize business, functional, and technical requirements into effective solutions, supported by schematics and design artifacts

• Establish and maintain standards for data quality, architecture, access, retention, and security.
• Ensure compliance with data regulations (e.g., GDPR, CCPA) in collaboration with legal and Product/IT.
• In collaboration with the organization's Vendor Manager, lead the organization's vendor data governance processes and periodic data audits.

• Evaluate and implement advanced analytics tools and methodologies, including machine learning and real-time analytics.
• Lead the design and execution of controlled experiments (e.g., A/B tests, multivariate tests) to validate hypotheses, optimize user experiences, and measure the impact of changes.
• Analyze test results using statistical rigor and communicate findings with clarity
• Partner with product and R&D teams to explore data-as-a-service (DaaS) offerings.

• Serve as the primary liaison for data and analytics across functions.
• Drive a culture of data literacy, curiosity, and evidence-based decision-making.
• Lead change management efforts and support the rollout of new data tools and processes.

• Select and manage analytics vendors and consultants to ensure delivery of value and alignment with internal capabilities.
• Evaluate partnerships for cost-effectiveness, performance, and strategic alignment.

REQUIRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

• A passion for improving student outcomes and a commitment to serving marginalized students of need
• Bachelor's degree in data science, statistics, computer science, economics, or a related field
• Minimum of 10 years of experience leading enterprise data initiatives, preferably in the education or nonprofit sector
• Prior experience leading and managing high performer teams
• Proven track record of defining, managing and delivering successful data operations, insights, analytics and technical solutions, in partnership with product and business stakeholders
• Proficiency in SQL, Python, R, or similar programming languages
• Strong experience with data visualization tools (e.g., Tableau, Power BI)
• Experience managing enterprise data platforms (e.g., Snowflake, AWS, BigQuery)
• Excellent analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills
• Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional teams and drive organizational change
• Ability to travel for business meetings and customer-facing engagements

PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

• Master's degree in a related field
• Experience in digital analytics (e.g., Adobe Analytics, Google Analytics)
• Familiarity with statistical tools (e.g., SAS, SPSS) and experimentation platforms (e.g., Optimizely)
• Cultural awareness to appreciate varied lived experiences and the potential impact on educational achievement
• Professional experience with tools such as Jira, GitHub, Microsoft Azure, and centralized logging platforms
• Understanding of education-related data systems or student-focused analytics

Full Pay range: Exempt, $114,200 - $142,800 - $171,400

Reports to: Chief Product and Technology Officer

Department: Product/IT

Application deadline: Tuesday, September 9 (by 11:00 pm CT)

At Scholarship America, our team members are motivated by our core values: Student Impact, Teamwork, Inclusion and Curiosity. Our vision is to empower an America where those with the most need have the opportunity to thrive through equitable pathways to education and training, and we are seeking fantastic team members to make that happen.

We know the best person for the job could be anywhere, and that's why this position can work remotely within the continental United States or in a hybrid manner from either our office in Bloomington or Saint Peter, MN. Our employees enjoy a team-based, flexible work schedule, allowing them to flex around our core hours of Monday-Friday from 8:00 am - 4:30 pm Central Time. Scholarship America is committed to our team's work/life balance, and our strong learning and development culture supports knowledge growth and professional development for all employees across foundational and job-specific skills.

This position is only open to candidates who reside in the United States during their employment. Applicants outside the U.S. will not be considered.

Scholarship America offers employees a robust total rewards package, focused on supporting their health and well-being now and in the future. We offer comprehensive choices for the following:

• Insurance (medical, dental, vision, basic life)
• Disability (short-term & long-term)
• Flexible spending accounts (medical & dependent care)
• 403(b) retirement fund with a 3% company match

In addition to schedule flexibility, we also provide paid time away from work (vacation, sick, personal, up to fifteen paid holidays annually), plus employee & dependent educational reimbursement programs which support our overall mission.

Details on our company mission, vision, values and goals can be found at www.scholarshipamerica.org.

We are an equal opportunity employer and believe in the power of a diverse workplace to better serve a broad range of student needs. All qualified candidates who meet the minimum requirements are encouraged to apply and will receive consideration for employment regardless of their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, parental or marital status.

With $5 billion in distributions to students since 1958, Scholarship America is the leading administrator of private scholarships in the United States.