Job Description

Job Summary
Rackham Institutional Research is seeking a senior data scientist. The Institutional Research (IR) team provides analytical support on all aspects of the graduate student experience at the University of Michigan, from recruiting through career placement. Our robust data infrastructure and well-established longitudinal research survey of graduate students makes this an exciting position for candidates eager to use their technical skills to investigate current issues in the higher education landscape.

This position will play a critical role in:

developing and producing detailed reports for IR's annual reporting cycles
creating efficient data pipelines
analyzing institutional data in a range of content areas
creating advanced data visualizations for a wide variety of audiences
helping craft narratives that accurately portray complex realities illuminated by data and analysis
building and maintaining technically efficient automated internal processes
applying creating problem solving to make sense of data
nurturing a collaborative team atmosphere
PLEASE NOTE: Rackham is currently offering hybrid work schedules to staff, requiring 2-3 days per week on-site with the remaining time being remote.



To learn more about the Rackham Graduate School visit https://rackham.umich.edu/

Why Work at Michigan?
Being part of something greater, of serving a larger mission of discovery and care that's the heart of what drives people to work at Michigan. In some way, great or small, every person here helps to advance this world-class institution. It's adding a purpose to your profession. Work at Michigan and become a victor for the greater good.

In addition to a career filled with purpose and opportunity, The University of Michigan offers a comprehensive benefits package to help you stay well, protect yourself and your family and plan for a secure future. Benefits include:

Generous time off
A retirement plan that provides two-for-one matching contributions with immediate vesting
Many choices for comprehensive health insurance
Life insurance
Long-term disability coverage
Flexible spending accounts for healthcare and dependent care expenses
Responsibilities*
Job responsibilities include but are not limited to:



Extracting, transforming, and analyzing institutional data from disparate sources to help answer a variety of questions concerning graduate students



Communicating, through visualizations, reports, and other data products, complex data stories to a variety of internal and external audiences



Leveraging modern data science techniques (i.e machine learning, LLMs) to make sense of data and answer questions of interest



Using internal data infrastructure, and expanding as needed, maintaining and creating a range of reports on graduate education



Being a constant learner! Keeping up with knowledge across relevant domains and building expertise methodically and creatively.

Required Qualifications*
Advanced level (8+ years) of progressively increasing experience with data science, including but not limited to data engineering, analysis, and reporting. Demonstrated ability to learn and apply new and emerging data science techniques. Advanced level proficiency with SQL.. Experience visualizing complex data streams in both static and interactive products. Knowledge of the landscape of higher education. Comfort with building, changing, and querying relational databases and ETL processes. Understanding of statistical concepts. Intermediate to advanced proficiency with SAS, R, python, or similar programming/scripting languages. Dedication to maintaining the safety and integrity of confidential data. Ability to document code and work processes and train others in new procedures. Ability to maintain confidentiality, exercise discretion and handle people with diplomacy in stressful situations and in matters of a confidential nature. Strong personal commitment to team collaboration, continuous process improvement, and professional development. Demonstrated commitment to the values and mission of higher education, including expanding the opportunities and accessibility of graduate education.

Desired Qualifications*
Previous experience optimizing data pipelines with complex data types
Previous experience visualizing complex data streams and building efficient data architectures to support this work
Experience with programmatic approaches to analysis and data quality
Advanced statistical knowledge (multi-level modeling, multinomial regressions, path analysis, clustering techniques, etc)