Director of Institutional Research and Analytics

The Director of Institutional Research & Analytics will lead the Office of Institutional Research & Analytics (OIRA), a core function of the Office of the Provost that supports Harvard’s leadership by providing institutional data analysis and reporting. OIRA serves as a trusted resource for implementing best practices in data synthesis and translation and supports a broad set of university functions. 

In this role, the position will direct the development and execution of a portfolio of strategic analytics projects for the University in partnership with the Associate Provost for Institutional Research & Analytics and the Associate Director for Analytics. The Director will also provide guidance and strategic management of the office’s institutional reporting function. The Director will manage both the Institutional Research and Strategic Analytics teams within OIRA. 

The Director will be responsible for working with stakeholders across the University on institutional research, survey, and analytics consulting projects that leverage existing data resources, encourage the integration of multiple data sets across traditional organizational boundaries, and involve rigorous and robust statistical methods. 

The Director is an expert in research design, statistical analysis, and data visualization, with a proven ability to communicate complex findings to various audiences. This position reports directly to the Associate Provost for Institutional Research & Analytics and is a highly visible role within the University’s analytics community.

Job-Specific Responsibilities:

The Director of Institutional Research & Analytics will play a pivotal role in OIRA by identifying ways to improve efficiency in the institutional reporting function and by managing the office’s growing set of analytics and consulting projects. Outlined below are the primary focus areas for this position. However, the expectation is that as OIRA’s portfolio expands, the responsibilities of the Director of Institutional Research & Analytics may evolve. 

Analytics Strategy Development & Execution

• Collaborate with the Associate Provost and Associate Director for Analytics to develop an analytics portfolio strategy and technical infrastructure to support effective communication.
• Lead the execution of the analytics strategy.
• Curate and manage the portfolio of analytics projects, ensuring projects remain within scope and within established timelines.
• Provide leadership on emerging institutional analytics trends and technology.

Analytics Consulting Leadership

• Lead discovery and scoping efforts on new analytics consulting projects.
• Advise stakeholders on the most effective design for the analytics consulting project. 
• Advise and align with stakeholders on timelines for project milestones and completion, and ensure effective communication with stakeholders throughout the lifecycle of projects.
• Oversee and provide subject matter expertise to the Strategic Analytics team on consulting efforts. 
• Allocate consulting project work amongst team members to ensure efficient use of resources and time.
• Conduct reviews of outputs and deliverables for analytics consulting projects.

University Reporting Leadership

• Oversee the reporting function of OIRA to ensure the office responds to requests for data in an efficient and timely manner.
• Identify ways the Strategic Analytics team can effectively support the Office's reporting needs and priorities.
• Collaborate with University partners to identify and refine data collection processes and tools to support the OIRA reporting team.

OIRA Team Management

• Create, maintain, and iterate on an effective learning and development approach for the OIRA team.
• Establish metrics to measure the effectiveness of the OIRA team’s efforts.
• Collaborate with the Director of Data Strategy & Governance on opportunities for OIRA staff to contribute to developing the University’s data strategy. 
• Stay abreast of opportunities, challenges, and emerging trends relating to data at the University.

Accreditation Coordination

• Collaborate with the Associate Provost for Institutional Research & Analytics on accreditation coordination, as well as internal and external communications.

Data Literacy & Community Building

• Serve as a leader for the University on analytics best practices and methodologies, and share these practices via university-wide collaboration.
• Support analytics and institutional research community-building efforts across the University.
• Partner with the Director of Data Strategy & Governance on data literacy initiatives and other data-related community-building efforts.