As the official foundation for the California Community Colleges Board of Governors and System Office, the Foundation develops programs and services that save millions of dollars for colleges and students, promotes excellence in education, and provides valuable learning opportunities for students throughout the state. We also support the system through special initiatives, statewide awards, and direct donations to the colleges and the Network of California Community College Foundations.

Our services and areas of expertise include program and grant management, career training programs, systemwide purchasing contracts, information technology solutions, financial services, and resource development. Our programs reach all 115 California Community Colleges and 73 districts, and several of these programs are expanding nationwide.

Since its inception in 1998, our organization has grown to be one of the largest operating foundations in higher education, with over 100 full-time employees and annual revenues of over $30 million. Today, the Foundation has the capacity and expertise to respond quickly to the needs of our colleges and communities. We have secured over $150 million in grants, contracts, and gifts, and provided over $100 million in direct grants, support, and cost savings to colleges. As we enter our second decade as an organization, we remain committed to making California’s Community Colleges the best they can be. We are anticipating the new challenges they may face, imagining the aspirations of the next generation of students, and envisioning the solutions that will change our world for the better.

Remote within California with occasional travel — Full-Time — All Candidates Must Currently Live Full Time in California

Overview Of Role

The California College Guidance Initiative (CCGI) is looking for an experienced data analyst to join the Strategic Impact team. The Data Analyst, Strategic Impact contributes to the development of CCGI’s data visualization and analysis tools and promotes a data-driven approach to CCGI’s work. As a part of the Strategic Impact team, you will be a key collaborator, aiding in the expansion, refinement, and development of CCGI’s data analytics and visualization tools to help advance our organizational mission.

The ideal candidate has extensive experience creating intuitive data products and visualizations that concisely and thoughtfully answer the most critical organizational questions. They must be comfortable using tools like SQL and Python to power analytical dashboards and query our data warehouse to produce reports and analyses. They have extensive experience developing dashboards governed by strong UX/UI best practices, as well as a deep knowledge and/or curiosity about the needs and behaviors of students, educators, and parents. Additionally, the Data Analyst, Strategic Impact is expected to develop comprehensive documentation and resources to support staff and external stakeholders in accessing, using, and interpreting data products.

We work to solve large scale, system-level problems. You must be comfortable working with unknowns and ambiguous solutions, as well as passionate about promoting public education and advancing educational equity. This role reports to the Director, Strategic Impact.

What Will You Be Doing?

Design user-centered dashboards:
-- That answer the questions being posed by end users
-- With intuitive navigation for entry level dashboard users
-- That simply, clearly, and compellingly present data in ways that are accessible to target audiences

• Manage the design process with internal stakeholders submitting new analytics requests, including meeting with users to understand use cases, setting expectations for project timelines, and managing project communications.

Meticulously review and analyze data sets that inform dashboards to:
-- Ensure accuracy
-- Identify patterns and the stories that can be told

Support and adhere to routines that aid in the development, refinement and maintenance of the internal analytics tools which include the following:
-- Tableau dashboards, external data reports, ad-hoc queries and analyses
-- AWS microservices, Snowflake, Airflow, ELT/ETL tools, Python, SQL, and shell scripts

• Assist in the development, refinement and maintenance of the internal analytics tools (Tableau dashboards, Snowflake)
• Make complex and large datasets understandable and accessible to a variety of internal and external stakeholders.

What Technical Skills Do You Need?

• Advanced proficiency designing and developing well thought-out data products (data dashboards in Tableau, etc.) and analyses.
• Ability to conceptualize clear ways of visualizing data that tell stories and provide insights in clear and concise ways.
• Professional experience implementing UX/UI principles and best practices to data visualization projects
• Proficiency with SQL (SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MySQL, etc.) as well as an understanding of relational databases and query authoring and optimization
• Proficiency with scripting languages like Python, R, etc.
• Familiarity with ELT/ETL tools like Matillion, FiveTran, Talend, etc.
• A successful history of manipulating, processing and extracting value from large structured and unstructured datasets.
• Exceptional analytical skills and attention to detail.
• A critical thinker who can independently and collaboratively solve problems
• Experience with Salesforce preferred, or similar Customer Relationship Management tool.

What Intangibles Do You Need?

• Strong decision-making skills and collaborative spirit, with the ability to take abstract brainstorming and generate concrete proposals for action.
• Advance projects without detailed supervision, balancing multiple responsibilities and providing colleagues with actionable proposals for advancing collective efforts.
• Thrive in a fast-paced environment with changing priorities and deadlines.
• Juggle multiple projects of various scopes.
• Meticulous attention to detail.
• Excellent verbal communication skills and the ability to communicate with various levels of professionals.