Vice President Chief Data and Analytics Officer

Are you looking for more than just a job and want to make difference? If so, then join the National Student Clearinghouse talent community and discover your impact today!

We are a nonprofit, nongovernmental organization and the leading provider of educational reporting, data exchange, verification, and research services. Serving the education, workforce and learner communities has been at the heart of our mission for over 30 years. Our work - performed in a trusted, secure, and private environment - provides numerous time- and cost-saving benefits to students, schools, administrators, and requestors. Education leaders rely on the Clearinghouse's unique national student data resources to better understand student pathways and outcomes in order to help students succeed, and our research better informs practitioners and policymakers about student educational pathways and enables informed decision making.

As the Vice President, Chief Data and Analytics Officer (CDAO), you will be a key senior leader responsible for the development and execution of the Clearinghouse's data and analytics strategy. Reporting directly to the Chief Technology and Information Officer (CTIO), you will leverage your extensive experience in driving the vision, governance, and utilization of data as a strategic business asset, ensuring the company leverages analytics to enhance decision-making, operational efficiency, and customer experiences. You will lead collaboration across departments to foster a data-driven culture, enable innovation, maximize the value of data and emerging technologies as a competitive advantage. If you thrive in a dynamic environment, enjoy hands-on technical work, and have a passion for transforming culture and evolving the Clearinghouse into a Data-as-a-Service company, this role is for you.

Currently, this is a remote-first position, and this position may be required to periodically work on-site at our office and the frequency would depend on the department/division's requirements. Therefore, candidates must reside within a reasonable distance to commute to our office when required.

Leadership Competencies:

Demonstrate the Clearinghouse's competencies, which align with our corporate values.

• Senior Leadership Competencies include: Balances Stakeholders, Cultivates Innovation, Drives Vision and Purpose, Strategic Mindset, and Understanding the Business.

Balances Stakeholders:

• Deal effectively with conflict, reach agreement without damaging relationships, and find win-win solutions.
• Develop and foster a partnership relationship with a diverse group of stakeholders at all levels of the organization.
• Pragmatically and proactively partner with stakeholders, balance the needs of stakeholders without overcommitting and underdelivering, focusing on delivering value added solutions and services.

Cultivates Innovation:

• Work closely, drive and lead key internal resources that will drive new business/solutions.
• Encourage and support creativity, ideation and innovated thinking by staff and proof of concept work that is well thought out and grounded. Views failures as opportunity to learn.
• Moves beyond traditional ways of doing things and pushes past the status quo.

Drives Vision and Purpose:

• Lead by example with a high level of emotional intelligence and demonstrate a positive and intellectually curious demeanor about the Clearinghouse's mission, vision, values, and opportunities for the Clearinghouse to provide value to the education community and learners.
• Communicate the vision and strategy to staff in a clear, relatable, and optimistic manner.
• Demonstrates and instills our cultural values and transparent communication philosophies.

Strategic Mindset:

• Review trends, anticipate future needs, and create a vision of possibilities for sustainable value and opportunities.
• Sees the big picture, constantly imagines future scenarios, and creates strategies to sustain competitive advantage.

Understanding the Business:

• Develop, maintain, and demonstrate a strong working knowledge of the Clearinghouse, its environment, including its mission, services, and key stakeholders and how each organizational unit contributes to that mission.
• Actively seeks opportunities for efficiencies and cost-effective technologies that reduce costs and optimize investments.
• Expertly represent the Clearinghouse externally.

People and Technical Leadership

• Build and transform a chief data and analytics office (CDAO) team with the capabilities and skillsets required to help the Clearinghouse transform itself into a Data-as-a-Service company.
• Provide thought leadership to drive identification, definition, and ongoing vision of new data products and services.
• Provide matrixed leadership for enterprise-wide data and/or technology initiatives.
• Leverage extensive people leadership experience to cultivate a culture of teamwork and innovation.
• Establish healthy relationships with leaders and stakeholders inside and outside of the CDAO organization.
• Make hands-on contributions to Clearinghouse data and technology initiatives, where needed
• Provide end-to-end ownership and active management of data vendors and solution providers, with a cost-efficiency mindset.
• Coach and mentor CDAO leaders and individual contributors.

Data Strategy and Governance

• Develop and lead a comprehensive data strategy that encompasses data collection, storage, processing, and utilization.
• Establish and enforce data governance policies, ensuring compliance with privacy regulations and ethical data practices.
• Ensure data quality and accuracy across all Clearinghouse datasets.
• Participate in cross-organization bodies and collaboration with business and technology stakeholders to maintain data privacy.

Analytics and Insights

• Build/Lead a center of excellence team of business intelligence analysts and data scientists.
• Create and implement an analytics framework to extract actionable insights from educational data emanating from Clearinghouse products and services.
• Enable data trends, patterns, and correlations analysis to drive informed decision-making.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to identify product pain points and optimize educational processes.
• Identify data patterns and investigate anomalies for clarity, understanding, and improvement.

Stakeholder Collaboration

• Represent the Clearinghouse in key external conferences and stakeholder meetings.
• Partner with schools, colleges, and other stakeholders to understand their data needs.
• Collaborate with C-suite executives to align data initiatives with business goals.
• Foster a culture of data literacy and evidence-based decision-making through education and training.

Education and Workforce Data Policy and Compliance

• Collaborate with Legal and compliance teams to shape data policies specific to education and workforce domains.
• Stay informed about evolving regulations (such as FERPA, GDPR, and CCPA) and their impact on our data practices.
• Develop clear guidelines for data handling, sharing, and retention within the context of educational institutions and employers.
• Ensure that stakeholders understand their responsibilities in safeguarding sensitive information.

Workforce Management

• Build a team-based environment that aligns with company values, ways of working, and competencies.
• Recruit and select the best talent to help optimize skills and experiences and motivate and manage staff to maximize productivity and efficiency.
• Develop and manage career development and advancement opportunities at the Clearinghouse through MAPS conversations, developing and reporting on performance and goals, and defining and monitoring training and development plans to ensure job and career satisfaction.
• Ensure staff are adequately trained and provide guidance as needed.
• Monitor employee performance and conduct appraisals.
• Reward employees using formal and informal methods.

Position may be required to perform other duties as required. These essential functions are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the job. Reasonable accommodations will be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these essential functions.

• Bachelor's degree in data science, computer science, business analytics, or a related field.
• Minimum 15+ years of direct, progressive experience in providing leadership across data management, business intelligence, platform development, Data-as-a-Service environment, with at least 5 years in an executive or senior leadership capacity. A combination of education and experience, including through military service, will be considered.
• Minimum 5 years of data regulatory and policy experience to include working knowledge of data privacy, cybersecurity best practices, and ethical AI considerations.
• Demonstrated experience in leading organizations to successfully build and launch new data products and/or services, including requirements gathering, development, deployment, and change management phases)
• Demonstrated experience in effectively influencing technology and business stakeholders and teams across the enterprise, particularly in high-paced and challenging environments.
• Proven track record of developing and executing enterprise data strategies, data governance, and leading digital transformation initiatives.
• Experience in successfully leading teams to leverage high volume and wide variety of datasets to make data driven decisions.
• Demonstrated, extensive experience in building and transforming cohesive teams, including coaching and mentoring, toward the successful execution of enterprise-wide initiatives that have produced favorable results for the business.
• Proven ability to effectively establish and maintain effective relationships with senior leadership.
• Excellent communication, collaboration, and strategic thinking abilities.
• Must live within a commutable distance to Herndon, VA.
• Must be at least 18 years old.

Additional Desired Requirements:

• Graduate degree preferred.
• Familiarity with pertinent education privacy laws such as FERPA, COPPA, etc., is a plus.
• Experience with leading a wide variety of data and technology functions (data engineers, software engineers, web developers, business analysts, etc.) is a plus
• Demonstrated ability to provide hands-on contributions to data and/or technology solutions (when necessary) is a plus
• Proficiency in related skills like programming, SQL, Predictive Analysis, Machine Learning (ML), and Artificial Intelligence (AI), and R is a plus.
• Experience with routine presentations to Board of Directors is a plus.

Physical requirements

Standard:

• Use of a computer for 8 or more hours a day.
• Use of a copy machine, fax machine, and telephone.
• Frequently required to sit for 7 or more hours per day in close proximity to others in an open office environment.
• Occasionally required to use hands and fingers to operate, handle, and reach.
• Vision abilities include close vision and the ability to adjust focus.

Travel & support:

• Must be flexible to do out-of-town assignments and travel via car, train, and/or airplane when needed (up to 15%).
• Must be flexible to work after business hours and on weekends when necessary.

The National Student Clearinghouse provides a robust benefit program designed to help meet the needs of each employee and their family, both now and in the future. We offer comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance, as well as life and disability insurance benefits, for employees and their qualified dependents. Health care, dependent care, and limited purpose flexible spending accounts, as well as a health savings account, are options available for employees to set aside pre-taxed dollars for certain qualifying expenses. We offer a very generous 401k matching contribution program with the opportunity to defer pre-tax and Roth contributions, as well as catch-up contributions for those who are eligible! We are proud to offer a competitive paid leave program consisting of vacation, sick, and personal time, as well as paid holidays, up to 3 weeks of paid parental leave during a 12-month period, and up to 5 days of paid military leave per calendar year. Vacation time will accrue based on length of service, and new full-time hires can accrue up to 13 days of vacation and up to 10 days of sick time per year. On an annual basis, new employees may use up to 32 hours of accrued sick time as personal time. Additionally, the Clearinghouse observes at least 11 paid holidays per year.

Another perk is that employees have the option to get reimbursed for basic wholesale company and roadside assistance memberships (e.g., Costco and AAA) and to request a buy back on portions of unused accrued vacation based on tenure and certain other qualifications. Employees can further their education and professional development by using our Employee Education Assistance Program, which establishes reimbursement for qualified education expenses upon successful completion of the program, and leveraging the enterprise-wide LinkedIn Learning subscription. There are additional employee benefits too, including but not limited to, mental health and well-being benefits. To find out more, please request a copy of our Benefits at a Glance!

Additionally, we reasonably believe that the salary range for this position is between $300,000 and $330,000. Bonus eligible.

The requisition will be open for a minimum of three days, and applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.

Internal Candidates: If you feel that you qualify and meet the requirements of the job, we highly encourage you to apply and focus on preparing for the application process. Once the final candidates are selected, they can anticipate a review of the compensation prior to any offer made.

Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities: The National Student Clearinghouse is proud to be an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer that does not discriminate on the basis of actual or perceived race, creed, color, religion, alienage or national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, age, disability or handicap, sex, marital status, veteran status (or known to have a spousal, family, business, social or other relationship or association with a protected veteran), sexual orientation, genetic information, arrest record, natural hairstyle, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws. Our management team is dedicated to this policy with respect to recruitment, hiring, placement, promotion, transfer, training, compensation, benefits, employee activities and general treatment during employment.

Pay Transparency Notice: The National Student Clearinghouse is a federal contractor that abides by all applicable equal opportunity laws and regulations. Under these laws, companies doing business with the federal government must provide applicants and employees with certain policies, including the following information. The contractor will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor's legal duty to furnish information. 41 CFR 60-1.35(c)