Senior Research Scientist - Equity Research

If you're passionate about building a better future for individuals, communities, and our country-and you're committed to working hard to play your part in building that future-consider WGU as the next step in your career.

Driven by a mission to expand access to higher education through online, competency-based degree programs, WGU is also committed to being a great place to work for a diverse workforce of student-focused professionals. The university has pioneered a new way to learn in the 21st century, one that has received praise from academic, industry, government, and media leaders. Whatever your role, working for WGU gives you a part to play in helping students graduate, creating a better tomorrow for themselves and their families.

The salary range for this position takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to skill sets; experience and training; licensure and certifications; and other business and organizational needs.

At WGU, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their position, and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current range is:

Job Description

The Institutional Analytics and Research (IAR) team supports and enables most university teams, departments, and colleges to make data-informed decisions that lead to better student outcomes. Our analysts, scientists, researchers, and managers are distributed across several teams: Curriculum and Faculty Analytics, Institutional Research, Outreach Analytics, and Student Success Analytics.

The Senior Research Scientist is responsible for the design and execution of research projects, with emphasis on owning the research plan, selecting appropriate methods, and overseeing research execution. They establish and maintain strong relationships with peers and leaders across IAR, Data Engineering, Machine Learning Operations (MLOps), Product Management, Finance, EdTech, and Faculty staff. They deploy a range of mixed (qualitative and quantitative) methods and tools to produce research supporting fact-based decision-making, disseminating findings across the university and the broader scientific community.

• Drives the documentation of data 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.
• Drives strategic research contributions and leads large-scale, cross-functional initiatives.
• Mentors team members by creating professional development opportunities and providing ongoing coaching.
• Influences institutional decision-making by aligning research outcomes with strategic goals.
• Disseminates findings through professional conferences, external publications, and internal presentations to enhance the institution's reputation.
• Sets and manages expectations about complex research tasks and activities through clear, timely, and effective communication with partners and stakeholders.
• Identifies adequate data sources and data sets to evaluate hypotheses, build forecasts, and support findings of research projects and experiments. Answers complex business questions requiring extensive knowledge of the university's data assets across several domains and departments.
• 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.
• Combines data analysis, visualization, and narrative structures to convey information in compelling ways that instigate deliberate action.
• Plays a prominent role in other team members' development through constructive feedback and sharing of technical and institutional knowledge.
• Conveys information effectively to peers, partners, senior leaders, and, as projects require, external audiences using a variety of resources and formats (synchronous and asynchronous, verbal and written) such as e-mails, presentations, meetings, and workshops. Is open and responsive to feedback to improve work.
• Defines and owns, in collaboration with communications team, as relevant, communication plans for complex projects and programs.
• 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).
• Plays a leading role in the continuous improvement of the university's data management platforms (e.g., data dictionaries, catalogs, etc.), collaborating with Data Engineering and other data and analytics teams.
• Drives tasks, activities, and large-scale projects with high levels of autonomy, confidence, and collaboration with peers and partners. Contributes to organizational discussions and activities to build culture and advance strategic direction.
• Owns the research plan and executes following systematic and structured approaches that ensure the validity, reliability, and meaningfulness of research findings while remaining open to necessary adjustments and adaptations as circumstances require.
• Efficiently organizes, critically reads, and clearly synthesizes across findings and limitations.
• Tracks and reports own progress, dependencies, and challenges diligently. Breaks down complex goals into concrete tasks and activities, and actively supports leader in project planning.
• 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.
• 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.
• Works actively to improve own 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 in the department and at the university.
• Performs other job-related duties as assigned.

Education

• Bachelor's degree in a related discipline

Experience

• 7 years of related experience in Data Analysis, Business Intelligence, Data Science, Statistics, Decision Intelligence, Research, Learning Science, or Behavioral/Cognitive Psychology.

Experience in lieu of education

An equivalent combination of training, experience, credentials, or accomplishments demonstrating the ability to perform the essential functions of this job may substitute for education degree requirements.

Work Location:

• This is a full-time, in-office position at WGU's headquarters in Salt Lake City, UT. You'll work side-by-side with a multidisciplinary team of analysts, researchers, and educators committed to data-informed innovation.

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Position & Application Details

How to Apply: If interested, an application will need to be submitted online. Internal WGU employees will need to apply through the internal job board in Workday.

Additional Information

Disclaimer: The job posting highlights the most critical responsibilities and requirements of the job. It's not all-inclusive.

Accommodations: Applicants with disabilities who require assistance or accommodation during the application or interview process should contact our Talent Acquisition team at recruiting@wgu.edu.

Equal Employment Opportunity: All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to any protected characteristic as required by law.