Director of Data & Analytics

Director of Data & Analytics

$76000 - $96000 per year | Battle Creek, MI | On-site | Permanent

We are an established public higher education institution serving thousands of students across multiple locations in Southwest Michigan. Our organization has a long history in the community and is focused on student success, workforce development, accessibility, continuous improvement, and responsible stewardship of institutional resources.

We are currently making a significant investment in the future of our technology and data environment. The organization is in the early stages of a multiyear cloud migration while simultaneously redesigning its institutional research, reporting, analytics, and compliance function. This is not simply a replacement hire. Retirements created an opportunity to step back, rethink the structure, and build a team designed around where the institution is going next.

• Build rather than inherit:
  Join a newly reorganized team and help define how institutional research, reporting, data governance, and compliance operate going forward.
• Major transformation underway:
  Play a leadership role during a multiyear cloud migration and modernization of legacy/manual reporting processes.
• Real institutional visibility:
  Partner with executive leadership, academic departments, student services, financial aid, IT, and other areas across the institution.
• Meaningful technical work:
  This is not a director role where you simply manage people and attend meetings. The organization wants a leader who understands the underlying data, systems, reporting, and analytics work.
• Ownership of data governance:
  Establish clearer data definitions, ownership, stewardship, quality controls, and reporting standards across the organization.
• Mission-driven environment:
  The work directly influences student success, enrollment strategy, program effectiveness, compliance, planning, and resource decisions.
• Strong work-life balance:
  Primarily onsite with one work‑from‑home day per week, Summer Fridays, a mid‑winter break, and a culture that is intentional about employee wellbeing.
• Exceptional benefits:
  Comprehensive health coverage, employer-provided dental and vision, retirement options, generous leave, and tuition benefits.
• Stability:
  Low employee turnover and the security of an established public institution.

The Director of Institutional Research & Compliance will provide strategic and hands‑on leadership across institutional research, data management, analytics, regulatory reporting, and data governance.

This person will be accountable for the quality, consistency, accessibility, and usefulness of institutional data while ensuring required federal and state reporting is completed accurately and on time.

The Director will work across academic, administrative, technology, student services, and leadership teams to turn complex information into actionable insight while also helping modernize how data is collected, integrated, governed, reported, and used.

This is a highly technical leadership role. The organization can provide time to learn its specific environment, culture, and processes, but it needs someone who already understands the fundamentals of institutional research, reporting, analytics, databases, data quality, and compliance.

• Lead the collection, validation, analysis, and interpretation of institutional data.
• Ensure leaders have accurate, accessible information for planning, assessment, budgeting, resource allocation, and operational decision‑making.
• Use advanced analytical methods to identify…