Director of Institutional Research, Analytics, and Reporting

Director of Institutional Research, Analytics, and Reporting

Job Summary

Ensign College seeks a Director of Institutional Research, Analytics, and Reporting to guide institutional research, data governance, official reporting, analytics, and evidence-based decisions. This role will help the College understand why outcomes are changing, whether major initiatives are working, and what actions will improve student success and institutional effectiveness.

Reporting to the Assistant to the President for Strategy, Planning, and Assessment, the Director will lead the Institutional Research, Analytics, and Reporting function and directly supervise the Manager of Data and Analysis Services. The Director will provide strategic direction, establish priorities, and maintain accountability for the Data and Analysis Services function. The Director will ensure that official reporting, data definitions, official submissions, and research practices are accurate, consistent, and aligned with institutional priorities, including IPEDS, government reporting, accreditation reporting, Church Educational System reporting, strategic plan measurement, and KPI driver analysis.

Essential Functions

Institutional Research, Evaluation, and Decision Support

• Lead an institutional research agenda aligned with strategic priorities, KPIs, accreditation needs, student success, and executive decision-making.

• Conduct quantitative and qualitative analysis that helps leaders understand what is happening, why it is happening, and what actions can improve outcomes.

• Design studies related to enrollment, retention, persistence, graduation, student learning, employment outcomes, satisfaction, academic momentum, and other priorities.

• Support evaluation of major initiatives by defining outcomes, baselines, comparison groups, leading indicators, success metrics, and decision points.

• Identify underlying metrics and leading indicators that influence KPIs, and translate findings into actionable recommendations.

Data Governance, Definitions, and Official Reporting

• Serve as institutional lead for data stewardship and data governance in collaboration with institutional leaders, data stewards, IT, Registrar, Admissions, Academics, Student Success, Finance, and other areas.

• Establish, approve, and maintain official data definitions, metric standards, documentation, reporting rules, and an institutional data dictionary.

• Own the accuracy, final review and approval, and timely completion of official reporting, including IPEDS, government reporting, accreditation reporting, Church Educational System reporting, board and executive reporting, and other required submissions.

• Direct the Manager of Data and Analysis Services in coordinating with other offices to obtain, validate, reconcile, and document required data using approved definitions and documented methods. Retain accountability for final official submissions.

• Establish processes to identify, escalate, and resolve institutional data quality issues in collaboration with data stewards, IT, system owners, and other responsible offices. Ensure that institutional data is used ethically, accurately, and appropriately.

• Represent Ensign College on the Research Exchange Team and collaborate with BYU-Pathway Worldwide and BYU-Idaho on shared research, reporting, analytics, and data definition needs.

Data and Analysis Services Leadership

• Directly supervise the Manager of Data and Analysis Services and provide strategic direction for the Data and Analysis Services function.

• Establish expectations and quality standards for dashboards, recurring reports, data pulls, and analytical products. Partner with the Manager of Data and Analysis Services, who oversees day-to-day production, to ensure that these products are accurate, consistently defined, meaningful, and responsive to operational and strategic needs.

• Partner with IT, system owners, and data engineering and data architecture leaders to establish the long-term direction for institutional data systems, including the College’s enterprise data warehouse, and to ensure those systems support accurate reporting, consistent definitions, appropriate data access, data quality, and long-term analytics capacity.

Survey Research, Student Experience, and Culture of Evidence

• Lead or coordinate institutional surveys and other feedback methods to understand student experience and outcomes.

• Analyze surveys, focus groups, interviews, and other feedback to better understand belonging, satisfaction, academic momentum, employment preparation, outcomes, and barriers to success.

• Build institutional capacity to use data responsibly by advising leaders and departments on interpretation, research questions, evidence use, and official definitions.

Minimum Qualifications

• Master’s degree in institutional research, higher education, statistics, data analytics, social science, public policy, educational research, business analytics, or a related field.

• Five or more years of progressively responsible experience in institutional research, higher education analytics, assessment, data governance, institutional effectiveness, or a related field.

• Demonstrated experience conducting quantitative analysis and communicating findings to support decision-making.

• Experience supporting official, compliance, accreditation, executive, or external reporting.

Skills and Abilities

• Experience in institutional research, analytics, data governance, official reporting, or related higher education data functions.

• Experience supervising staff or leading cross-functional analytical, reporting, or research work.

• Working knowledge of data governance practices, including definitions, reporting standards, documentation, and data quality processes.

• Familiarity with reporting, statistical, business intelligence, or data analysis tools.

• Ability to communicate complex data, findings, and limitations clearly to executive leaders, nontechnical audiences, and operational teams.

• Ability to work effectively in a mission-driven, faith-based higher education environment.

Requirements for Employment Eligibility

• Membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

• Worthiness to hold and be worthy to hold a current temple recommend.

• Receive clearance from the Church Educational System Ecclesiastical Clearance Office.

• Strict adherence to company policies and procedures.

• Commitment to bring about the purposes of Ensign College.

• Reside in Utah and able to work in person at our downtown Salt Lake City campus.

Ensign College is an equal opportunity employer and does not unlawfully discriminate in its hiring or employment practices on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin, sex (including pregnancy), age, disability, genetic information, or veteran's status. As an educational institution owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Ensign College gives lawful hiring preference to qualified, faithful members of the Church who are in good standing.