Western Governors University · 23 hours ago
Sr. Data Scientist
United States
Full-time
Remote
Senior Level
$140K/yr - $217K/yr
7+ years expWestern Governors University is committed to expanding access to higher education through innovative online programs. The Sr. Data Scientist will lead complex analytics projects, manage data quality, and collaborate with various stakeholders to enhance the university's data management and decision-making capabilities.
Higher Education
Responsibilities
Documents data, analytics, and research needs in projects of high complexity with a student and equity-centered lens, collaborating with peers, cross-functional partners, faculty staff, and leaders. Leads the translation of user stories into technical requirements
Sets and manages expectations about complex analytics tasks and activities through clear, timely, and effective communication with partners and stakeholders
Answers complex business questions requiring extensive knowledge of the university’s data assets across several domains and departments
Identifies adequate data sources and data sets to evaluate hypotheses and produce forecasts
Analyzes very large data sets from both structured and unstructured sources and develops statistical and predictive models
Collaborates with Data Engineering in the development of complex ETL/ELT processes and data pipelines
Identifies, investigates, and solves complex data issues, contributing to the accuracy, completeness, consistency, timeliness, and validity of the university’s data
Collaborates with Data Engineering and other data & analytics partners to define standards and best practices that increase data quality across the university
Utilizes software, scripts, and algorithms to perform complex data-related tasks (e.g., importing, cleaning, transforming, analyzing, displaying) without human intervention
Combines data analysis, visualization, and narrative structures to convey information in compelling ways that instigate deliberate action
Conveys information effectively to peers, partners, and senior leaders, using a variety of resources and formats (synchronous and asynchronous, verbal and written) such as e-mails, presentations, meetings, and workshops
Creates and organizes information about processes, projects, operations, data assets, and insights from analyses and research, making it accessible in ways that increase the university’s knowledge and efficiency
Writes and interprets technical documentation (e.g., Entity-Relationship, Conceptual, Logical, and Physical data models)
Contributes actively to the development of the university’s data management platforms (e.g., data dictionaries, catalogs, etc.)
Plays a prominent role in other team members’ development through constructive feedback and sharing of technical and institutional knowledge
Tracks and reports own progress, dependencies, and challenges diligently. Breaks down complex goals into concrete tasks and activities, and actively supports leaders in project planning
Drives tasks, activities, and medium-scale projects with high levels of autonomy, confidence, and collaboration with peers and partners
Designs medium-scale solutions and collaborates effectively with other technical specialists (e.g., data engineers) in the construction of data products, systems, and applications
Supports leadership in strategic planning and contributes to operational excellence across the department
Understands and abides by the relevant policies and methods to access, use, transform, store, and delete data in responsible, secure, and compliant ways. Identifies data security risks when dealing with concrete data sets and takes adequate mitigation actions
Works actively to improve skills and knowledge through internal and external, formal and informal, structured and unstructured learning. Is a lifelong learner and embodies a growth mindset. Stays abreast of innovative developments in their area of work and plays an active role in deploying them at the university
Performs other job-related duties as assigned
Qualification
Required
Bachelor's Degree in a related discipline
7 years of related experience in Data Analysis, Business Intelligence, Data Science, Statistics, Decision Intelligence, Research, Learning Science, or Behavioral/Cognitive Psychology
Advanced knowledge in accessing, retrieving, manipulating, inserting, and deleting data from structured and unstructured databases
Advanced SQL proficiency, with experience writing queries and subqueries, modifying data (INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE), creating views, and knowledge of the different join types, filtering, sorting, aggregation, window functions, common table expressions (CTE), and performance tuning
Ability to interpret and design models that describe how data relate to one another and to the properties of the real-world entities they represent. Understands conceptual and logical data modeling, and has experience with dimensional models, star schema, and snowflake schema
Familiarized with versioning tools in the context of CI/CD (e.g., Github) and deploys models using the university's machine learning operations (MLOps) self-service capabilities
Highly proficient and experienced in using tools like Tableau and Power BI to present data and information utilizing charts, graphs, and maps, in ways that make it easy to understand trends, patterns, and outliers
Subject matter expert in the selection and deployment of a variety of mathematical models, forecasting methods (e.g., time series, inferential, regression), descriptive statistics, and classification algorithms to make predictions and identify relationships based on limited sets of data
Considerable experience using Python, R, and/or Natural Language Processing in an ML environment, requiring little to no supervision
Highly skilled at selecting and deploying methods and techniques like A/B Testing
Comfortable with common project management methodologies and frameworks (e.g., Waterfall, Agile, SDLC)
Proficient in the MS Office suite, including advanced Excel knowledge
Proficient in flowchart and diagramming tools like Miro, Visio, Lucidchart, and similar applications
Ability to apply sound judgment, systems-thinking, and analytical skills to assess risks, perform root-cause analyses, make recommendations, and drive cross-functional decisions that contribute to the achievement of the university's objectives
Ability to perform with very high levels of autonomy, reliability, self-direction, and with a bias for action. Manages conflicting and concurrent activities with minimal need of supervision
Knowledge of the university's most relevant KPIs, the drivers that affect them, and plays an active role in their definition and tracking
Benefits
Bonuses
Medical, dental, vision, telehealth and mental healthcare
Health savings account and flexible spending account
Basic and voluntary life insurance
Disability coverage
Accident, critical illness and hospital indemnity supplemental coverages
Legal and identity theft coverage
Retirement savings plan
Wellbeing program
Discounted WGU tuition
Flexible paid time off for rest and relaxation with no need for accrual
Flexible paid sick time with no need for accrual
11 paid holidays
Other paid leaves, including up to 12 weeks of parental leave
Company
Western Governors University
Western Governors University focuses on improving lives by creating pathways to opportunity for its students.
5001-10000 employees
H1B Sponsorship
Western Governors University has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (6)
2024 (4)
2023 (12)
2022 (30)
2021 (17)
2020 (37)
Funding
Current Stage
Late StageTotal Funding
unknownKey Investors
Kauffman Foundation
2025-05-08Grant
Leadership Team
Stephen Herzig
Vice President of Enterprise Solutions
Kacey Thorne
Senior Director, Academic Strategic Initiatives
Recent News
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