Data Analyst - External Relations - 104445 - Grade 6

Position Details

External Relations

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £31,396 to £33,966 with potential progression once in post to £38,205

Grade: 6

Full Time, Permanent

Closing date: 24th September 2024

Our offer to you

People are at the heart of what we are and do.

The University of Birmingham is proud to have been a part of the City of Birmingham and the wider region for over 100 years, and we are equally proud to be recognised as a leading global university. We want to attract talented people from across the city and beyond, support them to succeed, and celebrate their success.

We are committed to helping the people who work here to develop through our sector-leading Birmingham Professional programme which provides all professional services staff with development opportunities and the encouragement to reach their full potential. With almost 5,000 professional services jobs in a wide-range of functions in Edgbaston and in our campus in Dubai, there are plenty of opportunities for you to be able to develop your career at the University.

We believe there is no such thing as a typical member of staff and that diversity is a source of strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation, and debate. We warmly welcome people from all backgrounds and are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is at the heart of who and what we are, and how we work.

Supporting our people to achieve a healthy work/life balance is important both to our employees and to the success of the University and, depending on the role, we offer a variety of flexible working arrangements. We therefore welcome discussions on all forms of flexible working. In addition, you will receive a generous package of benefits including 40 days paid holiday a year, one paid day a year for volunteering, occupational sick pay, and a pension scheme. We also have three high quality subsidised day nurseries.

The University is situated in leafy Edgbaston and there are excellent transport links to our beautiful campus, including main bus routes and a train station on site. On campus we have a state-of-the-art sports centre with pool, shops, places to eat and drink, our own art gallery, museum and botanical gardens.

Find out more about the benefits of working for the University of Birmingham

Background

External Relations is the division responsible for delivering the University of Birmingham to the world and prides itself in seizing opportunities that will enhance the profile and reputation of the University. We communicate with many different audiences in order to build purposeful relationships internally, locally, nationally and internationally. We enable those who wish to apply to study on undergraduate and postgraduate courses to make informed choices. 

The Market Insight team provides market research, insight and related expertise to External Relations and the wider University. This includes qualitative and quantitative research, through use of focus groups, surveys, admissions data, UCAS and HESA data products. They also work with a range of external providers for the supply of commissioned and off-the-shelf reports. 

Role Summary

This is an exciting opportunity for a data analyst to contribute as we develop our use of data beyond reporting towards predictive modelling, enhancing our understanding of how to improve the enquirer, applicant, and student journey.

As a team player you will thrive in a collaborative environment where we share our ambition, innovation, openness, and responsibility to achieve our goals. You will build strong relationships with colleagues across the institution, building your understanding of the data and systems landscape, developing our analysis and reporting work, and delivering outputs to colleagues across the University.

Working closely with our Data Engineer, and Market Insight colleagues, you will support and develop the team’s ability to rapidly and accurately gather insight from data. Having a passion for turning data into insight, you will take forward the extensive data reporting landscape on which we rely, refining or redefining it as required. 

Main Duties

• Guided by colleagues across External Relations and elsewhere, develop an understanding of the enquirer, applicant and student journeys, how the key points in these journeys are captured by our IT systems and datasets, and contribute ideas as to how our current systems may be better used to capture the appropriate data in the most usable way.
• Collate, maintain, and develop our library of essential internal and external data, and the analysis and reporting derived from it. This includes data from UCAS and HESA, and data from admissions, CRM (Dynamics) and survey systems.
• Create, maintain, and edit reports using Tableau and/or PowerBI for both expert and lay users, using visualisations as appropriate, including enquirer, admissions and survey data.
• Use tools such as Microsoft SQL Server, Snowflake, PowerQuery, Python or R for data management and analysis.
• Support the Data Engineer in developing and maintaining data models, data lakes, and contribute where appropriate to development of the data warehouse.
• Extract, transform and load data as necessary to prepare it for analysis and reporting either by you or by colleagues.
• Proactively offer ideas and advice to develop and improve the way we deliver insight. 
• Develop a close working relationship with key stakeholders across the University.
• Develop a close working relationship with enabling and dependent departments across the university including IT Services and Business Intelligence, and our external suppliers.
• Comply with data protection regulations and related University policies.
• Promotes equality and values diversity, acting as a role model and fostering an inclusive working culture. 
• Supports the University’s sustainability agenda through resource efficient working. 
• Any other duties commensurate with the grade.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience

• Educated to Degree level (or equivalent qualifications) in Maths, Statistics, MORSE, Information Systems or similar, or relevant technical qualification and relevant experience - where no equivalent qualification is held, extensive proven practical and technical experience in a similar role will be required.
• Strong understanding of applied statistics.
• Strong understanding of the principles of databases and data analytics.
• Strong general IT skills.
• Excellent organisational and time-management skills with real attention to deadlines and detail. 
• Ability to prioritise and simplify stakeholder requirements.
• Ability to work effectively under pressure and deliver to targets.
• An analytical mind set with a creative, innovative approach to problem solving and the energy to drive change.
• The resilience to deal with and work around the limitations of legacy systems, and to adapt to the team’s migration from old to new systems. 
• The ability to develop close working relationships and build the trust of colleagues across the University.
• A high standard of communication.
• Evidence of literacy and numeracy, with the ability to write clearly, and to analyse information and data.
• Comfortable working alone or in a small team, sometimes with little supervision.
• Ideally, a passion for learning and an understanding of Higher Education.
• Knowledge of the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010, and how to actively ensure in day-to-day activity in own area that those with protected characteristics are treated equally and fairly.

Role context 

Roles at this at this level will require proven specialist knowledge of technical, IT or scientific practices, methods and procedures gained through either experience and/or formal qualification and this knowledge should be deployed in the provision of a range of high-level technical support activities. You will have the opportunity to exercise a high degree of personal responsibility and initiative which you will use to resolve issues; you will use your judgement to deal with unforeseen problems and circumstances, all with limited guidance/supervision. 

Core competencies/transferable skills

Working at this level, you will be able to develop and successfully use the core competencies/transferable skills outlined in each of the areas shown below. As appropriate for the level, our Birmingham Professionals will take ownership for getting things done. You will be expected to be flexible as required in supporting your department and wider University. 

Planning and organising 

• provide high level technical support, specialist analysis or advice to others;
• prioritise and schedule work and resources to ensure on time and (where applicable) on budget delivery; 
• set priorities and quality standards for a wide range of tasks and duties; 
• liaise with staff, students and technical colleagues to anticipate and understand needs/provide advice/guidance;
• as applicable, manage a team of staff who are carrying out similar kinds of work.

Problem solving and decision making 

• anticipate, diagnose and resolve problems within their own working area;
• test and implement new approaches, services or systems;
• develop and implement improvement programmes within own local, school or service area.

Organisational understanding 

• quickly develop an understanding of their working area and how it contributes to the success of the University;
• display an interest in how the University operates beyond own working area; develop and share this knowledge with others.

Relationships and communication

• work collaboratively with colleagues to understand their requirements, discussing and reinterpreting requests as necessary, and ensure solutions are developed to meet these;
• provide specific support and advice; 
• analyse problems and summarise the key points to others, including non-specialist staff;
• demonstrate collaborative working at all times, including with others outside the immediate work area.

Informal enquiries to Emily Hayward, email: e.hayward.2@bham.ac.uk 

View our staff values and behaviours here 

We believe there is no such thing as a 'typical' member of University of Birmingham staff and that diversity in its many forms is a strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation and debate at the heart of University life. We are committed to proactively addressing the barriers experienced by some groups in our community and are proud to hold Athena SWAN, Race Equality Charter and Disability Confident accreditations. We have an Equality Diversity and Inclusion Centre that focuses on continuously improving the University as a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. We are also committed to sustainability, which is a key part of our strategy. You can find out more about our work to create a fairer university for everyone on our website.