Assistant Director - Data Management & Reporting

The Office of Planning and Institutional Research (OPIR), part of the Office of the Provost, supports Columbia’s senior leadership through the collection, analysis, interpretation, and reporting of data on issues of institutional importance. The Assistant Director of Institutional Data & Reporting is an integral member of the OPIR team and will help advance the office’s goals of fostering a healthy data culture, strengthening data integrity, and formalizing institutional data governance.

Working closely with OPIR leadership and stakeholders across the University, the Assistant Director supports compliance obligations and university decision-making by facilitating mandatory federal and state submissions, developing sustainable infrastructure, and establishing reliable standards, documentation, and automation processes. This role will contribute to the development of clean, well-documented institutional data resources used for reporting and analysis, to improve efficiency and reduce manual burdens.

The position requires technical and analytical expertise to access and extract data from the University’s administrative systems-including enrollment, employee, salary, tuition, finance, financial aid, research, facilities, and space systems-and to manage, interpret, and present complex datasets in formats appropriate for executive leadership and other institutional stakeholders. The successful candidate will be a strong communicator with a keen interest in the context of higher education and how it intersects with the flow and use of data.

Responsibilities

Institutional Reporting

• Support the preparation and submission of mandatory federal, state, accreditation, and other institutional reporting requirements for which OPIR is responsible.
• Contribute to publicly available institutional reports such as the Statistical Abstract, Columbia FACTS, and the Common Data Set.
• Develop, maintain, and improve recurring institutional reports, dashboards, and reporting workflows.
• Generate ad hoc reports in response to requests from university leadership and internal and external stakeholders.
• Present information in clear, concise, and actionable formats appropriate for technical and nontechnical audiences (e.g., tables, visualizations, dashboards, etc.).
• Collaborate with OPIR staff to define reporting requirements, establish data standards, and improve reporting consistency across projects and initiatives.
• Stay current with trends and best practices in institutional research and higher education reporting.

Data Management, Governance & Reporting Infrastructure

• Contribute to the design, development, maintenance, and oversight of OPIR reporting databases and related reporting infrastructure.
• Develop sustainable workflows for data extraction, transformation, validation, and reporting using SQL Server and related technologies.
• Support efforts to automate recurring reporting processes and improve reporting efficiency and reliability.
• Maintain documentation of data sources, business definitions, reporting logic, and data dictionaries associated with the OPIR data hub.
• Apply data governance and stewardship principles to support data integrity, consistency, security, and quality control.
• Collaborate with university partners, including CUIT, Human Resources, Finance, and other administrative units, to support reporting and data integration efforts.
• Contribute to the continued development of the OPIR institutional data hub and related reporting capabilities.
• Participate in cross-functional discussions related to institutional data definitions, reporting practices, and data governance.

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in social science, information or data science, statistics, computer science, business analytics, or related field.
• Four years of relevant professional experience preferred.
• Demonstrated success navigating a complex organizational environment, preferably in higher education.
• Demonstrated experience working with relational databases, SQL, data modeling, and reporting infrastructure.
• Experience developing recurring reports, reporting workflows, and validation processes.
• Experience with data visualization and reporting tools such as PowerBI, Tableau, Oracle Analytics Cloud, or similar platforms.
• Ability to manipulate, transform, and analyze data using tools such as Excel, SQL, R, or Python.
• Strong analytical, organizational, and project management skills.
• Ability to communicate complex technical and analytical concepts effectively to diverse audiences.
• Facility with managing multiple priorities and deadlines while maintaining a high degree of accuracy and attention to detail.
• Self-directed and collaborative, with creative problem-solving skills and a collegial work style.
• Ability to exercise sound judgment, discretion, and professionalism in a highly confidential environment.