Director-Postsecondary Education Research
Why you’ll love working for this Department:
You will be joining a Department committed to a culture of TEAMWORK to accomplish our goals together, where we deliver excellence through COLLABORATION with partners and stakeholders, embody ACCOUNTABILITY through trust and professionalism, and embrace WORK-LIFE BALANCE by prioritizing respect, boundaries, and time. While working at DHEWD you will be helping to develop the workforce of the future! Join us as we pursue our vision of “Every Missourian empowered with the skills and education needed for success.”
Main Purpose/Focus of the Position: The Director of Postsecondary Research ensures that Missourians have comprehensive, timely and accurate data to help them make good decisions about education and training. The Director also provides data to support the department, postsecondary institutions and training providers, legislators and other external partners to evaluate and improve education and training across the state. Data this position will work with includes student enrollment, finance, financial aid, outcomes, and other topics as required to support major DHEWD initiatives and to respond effectively to inquiries from internal and external stakeholders.
What you’ll do:
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential function of the job with or without reasonable accommodation.
- Lead the Postsecondary Research unit staff and work activities, including hiring and performance evaluation. Promote innovation and continuous improvement to increase productivity, efficiency and product/service improvements.
- Manage regular and ad-hoc collections of data from public and independent institutions. Provide ongoing technical assistance to reporting institutions. Coordinate closely as needed with staff responsible for collection of data from proprietary institutions.
- Validate collected data and work with reporting entities to improve data quality as needed.
- Provide data to support major DHEWD policy initiatives, communications and outreach products and publications, fiscal and legislative needs, strategic planning, and grants in coordination with other relevant staff.
- Provide reporting in response to relevant DHEWD statutory obligations, including but not limited to the annual High School Graduates’ Performance report, performance funding, the Department’s annual report, budget requests, and Student Right to Know (consumer information).
- Respond to data requests and needs from internal and external stakeholders in an accurate and timely manner.
- Serve as a liaison to other state agencies, national organizations, and other external partners where higher education data are required or discussed.
- Evaluate and provide guidance to the Commissioner and other staff regarding requests for DHEWD data, especially student-level data. Review and manage relevant MOUs in coordination with general counsel and in alignment with data security and privacy laws and best practices.
- Plan, manage, and produce innovative and well-communicated research and reporting that serves customer needs.
- Maintain awareness of major relevant national and regional organizations, trends, laws, and policies related to higher education.
- Plan and facilitate effective work sessions/meetings with internal teams and partner agency staff. Present findings to a variety of stakeholders as needed.
- Perform other related work as assigned.
- Demonstrate regular and reliable attendance.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:
- A Bachelor’s degree in a relevant program; AND four or more years of professional or technical experience in statistical analysis, data analytics, or economic, workforce and/or education research.
- Additional qualifying experience may substitute on a year-for-year basis for deficiencies in the required education.
- An advanced degree may substitute for one year of professional experience.
- Experience using databases and software such as SAS, SQL, and Tableau is preferred.
- Experience with higher education policy issues and data systems such as IPEDS.
More reasons to love this position:
The State of Missouri offers an excellent benefits package that includes a defined pension plan, generous amounts of leave and holiday time, and eligibility for health insurance coverage. Your total compensation is more than the dollars you receive in your paycheck. To help demonstrate the value of working for the State of Missouri, we have created an interactive Total Compensation Calculator. This tool provides a comprehensive view of benefits and more that are offered to prospective employees. The Total Compensation Calculator and other applicant resources can be found here.
The State of Missouri is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.