Job Details

Business Intelligence Data Analyst, Data Insights

Position Number: 7157915
Location: Dallas, TX
Position Type: Institutional Research and Planning

Business Intelligence Data Analyst, Data Insights

Salary Range:

Salary commensurate with experience and qualifications

About SMU

SMU's more than 12,000 diverse, high-achieving students come from all 50 states and over 80 countries to take advantage of the University's small classes, meaningful research opportunities, leadership development, community service, international study and innovative programs.

SMU serves approximately 7,000 undergraduates and 5,000 graduate students through eight degree-granting schools: Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences, Cox School of Business, Lyle School of Engineering, Meadows School of the Arts, Simmons School of Education and Human Development, Dedman School of Law, Perkins School of Theology and Moody School of Graduate and Advanced Studies.

SMU is data driven, and its powerful supercomputing ecosystem - paired with entrepreneurial drive - creates an unrivaled environment for the University to deliver research excellence.

Now in its second century of achievement, SMU is recognized for the ways it supports students, faculty and alumni as they become ethical, enterprising leaders in their professions and communities. SMU's relationship with Dallas - the dynamic center of one of the nation's fastest-growing regions - offers unique learning, research, social and career opportunities that provide a launch pad for global impact.

SMU is nonsectarian in its teaching and committed to academic freedom and open inquiry.

About the Department:

The Office of Institutional Effectiveness (IE) at Southern Methodist University (SMU) plays a central role in promoting a culture of continuous improvement, strategic alignment, and institutional accountability. Its core responsibilities include managing university-wide assessment processes, supporting accreditation compliance-particularly with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC)-and leading strategic planning efforts.

IE facilitates data-informed decision-making by evaluating student learning outcomes, academic and administrative effectiveness, and aligning unit goals with SMU's broader mission. The office also gathers, analyzes, and reports data on career outcomes for graduates, working collaboratively across campus to enhance post-graduation success.

In addition to its core functions, IE contributes to the university's internationalization efforts, promotes the effective and strategic management of academic space, and undertakes special projects that support innovation and institutional excellence.

About the Position:

This role is an on-campus, in-person position.

The (Senior) Data Analyst - Data Insights supports the Office of the Assistant Provost for Institutional Research and University Decision Support by translating complex institutional data and research into clear insights that inform institutional understanding and strategic discussion.

Reporting to the Assistant Provost, this role advances the office's mission by synthesizing analytical findings and identifying meaningful patterns. The person in this role translates these data points into high-level briefing materials, data informed narratives, and visual materials suitable for senior leadership and Board of Trustees communications. The role also provides insight narratives that support strategic conversations with university leadership and stakeholders.

The successful candidate will be comfortable working with data and analytics but will spend a significant portion of their time interpreting findings, synthesizing insights, and preparing clear analytical narratives that support the work of the Office of Institutional Research and University Decision Support.

Job level and compensation will be determined based on the selected candidate's experience and qualifications.

Essential Functions:

Analytical Briefings & Insight Development

Prepare analytical summaries, briefing materials, and presentation-ready content supporting the work of the Office of Institutional Insights and Intelligence.
Translate complex analyses into clear narratives accessible to non-technical audiences.
Support the preparation of insight summaries and analytical talking points that may inform discussions with university leadership.
Contribute to analytical narratives used in presentations, reports, and institutional communications.
Develop Board-ready briefing materials, integrating Power BI visuals and KPI-driven narratives to support institutional oversight and strategic discussion.

Stakeholder Collaboration

Serve as a liaison between technical analytics teams and communications, marketing, or external partners/stakeholders to help ensure analytical findings are clearly understood.
Engage with colleagues across academic and administrative units to understand institutional context related to data and analytics.
Collaborate with BI analysts, institutional research staff, and technical teams to interpret analytical outputs.
Support coordination of analytical work aligned with institutional priorities.

External Intelligence & Institutional Perception Analysis

Assist in interpreting analyses related to institutional visibility, reputation signals, and digital discovery across public information environments.
Translate findings from external analytics studies examining public discussion, search behavior, and emerging discovery environments into clear institutional insights.
Support synthesis of intelligence related to institutional narratives, sentiment patterns, audience engagement, and reputation signals.
Help contextualize insights across different stakeholder audiences including prospective students, current students, alumni, faculty, and broader community stakeholders.

Institutional Benchmarking & Comparative Analysis
Assist in interpreting comparative analyses that benchmark institutional performance, visibility, or narrative positioning relative to peer and aspirational institutions.
Support synthesis of comparative insights that help contextualize institutional trends within the broader higher education landscape.
Contribute to the development of baseline indicators that help track institutional visibility, engagement, and reputation signals over time.

External Analytical Partnerships

Assist in interpreting analyses produced by external research organizations, analytics vendors, or institutional partners.
Support translation of findings from external studies into clear institutional insights.
Help integrate externally generated analytics into institutional discussions and analytical briefings.
Assist in synthesizing findings from external analytical engagements that examine institutional reputation, audience engagement, or digital visibility.

Analytics Communication & Narrative Development

Translate analytical outputs and dashboards (such as Power BI) into narrative explanations that clarify the meaning of KPIs, trends, and institutional performance relative to the strategic plan, including materials tailored for senior leadership and Board audiences.
Contribute analytical insight that may support institutional reporting, presentations, and data-informed storytelling.
Work with communications, strategy, and operational teams to ensure data used in institutional materials is appropriately interpreted and contextualized.

Continuous Improvement

Stay current on emerging trends in higher education analytics, institutional research, and data-informed decision-making.
Monitor evolving patterns in how institutions are discovered, discussed, and evaluated across digital and AI-enabled information environments.
Identify opportunities to improve how institutional analytics are interpreted and communicated.
Contribute to the ongoing development of institutional insights capabilities within University Decision Support.

Qualifications

Education and Experience:

Bachelor's is required. Master's degree preferred. A degree in Data Analytics, Statistics, Economics, Public Policy, Information Systems, Business Analytics, Data Science, Business Administration, Higher Education Administration, or related field preferred.

A minimum of four years of work experience in analytics, institutional research, decision-support, consulting or related analytical roles is required.

The following experience is also required:

Experience supporting analytical briefings or insight summaries for senior leadership audiences.
Experience collaborating with technical analytics teams and operational stakeholders to understand and accurately interpret data implications.
Experience interpreting analytical reports produced by external organizations or research partners.

Experience working with and creating dashboards, analytics reports, or institutional datasets, including developing or refining dashboards in tools such as Power BI and aligning visualizations to KPIs and strategic priorities, preferred.

Experience preparing data visualizations and briefing materials for executive audiences (e.g., President's Cabinet, Board of Trustees, or equivalent governance bodies), desired.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

Candidate must demonstrate strong interpersonal and verbal communication skills, with the ability to communicate broadly across the University and develop and maintain effective relationships with a wide range of constituencies. Must also demonstrate strong written communication skills with the ability to synthesize complex information into concise summaries for executive messaging or communications. Demonstrated experience translating data and analytical outputs into clear insights for non-technical audiences is essential.

Candidate must possess strong problem-solving skills with the ability to identify and analyze problems, as well as devise solutions. Must also have strong organizational, planning and time management skills. A strong focus on attention to detail and strong project management skills are essential.

Candidate must be an expert in the use of Microsoft tools such as Excel, Word, Powerpoint, etc. Experience creating dashboard or data sets using tools such as SQL, tableau or power BI or D3, highly preferred. Some programming knowledge/skills, such as Python, Java, R., preferred. Experienced with social media tools is a plus.

Physical and Environmental Demands:

Sit for long periods of time

Deadline to Apply:

The position is open until filled.

Priority consideration may be given to submissions received by May 26, 2026.

EEO Statement

SMU is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, sexual orientation, or gender identity and expression.

Benefits:

SMU offers staff a broad, competitive array of health and related benefits. In addition to traditional benefits such as health, dental, and vision plans, SMU offers a wide range of wellness programs to help attract, support, and retain our employees whose work continues to make SMU an outstanding education and research institution.

SMU is committed to providing an array of retirement programs that benefit and protect you and your family throughout your working years at SMU and, if you meet SMU's retirement eligibility criteria, during your retirement years after you leave SMU.

The value of learning at SMU isn't just about preparing our students for the future. Employees have access to a wide variety of professional and personal development opportunities, including tuition benefits.

Primary Location: USA-TX-Dallas

Job: Administrative Managers & Professionals

Organization: Provost - Other

Schedule: Regular

Shift: Staff

Employee Status: Individual Contributor

Job Type: Full-time

Job Level: Day Job

Travel: No

Job Posting: May 13, 2026, 8:58:28 PM

To apply, visit https://smu.taleo.net/careersection/ex/jobdetail.ftl?job=PRO00000367&tz=GMT%2B00%3A00&tzname=UTC