Associate Director, Data Operations

About Understood

Understood is a social impact nonprofit like no other. Our cause is to support the 70 million people in the United States who have learning and thinking differences like ADHD and dyslexia. And we’re passionate about our work. By taking an innovative digital-first approach, we create tools, content, and experiences that help people discover their potential, take control, find community, and stay on a positive path.

Come be part of an organization with an entrepreneurial spirit that’s helping to make an impact in shaping the world for difference.

To learn more about us, please visit: www.understood.org

About the role

As the lead of the Data Operations team, the Associate Director, Data Operations will be responsible for leading and developing a team of engineers who build trusted sources of truth for how we measure and manage our business.

Reporting into the Head of Analytics and Insights, this team sits at the intersection of business teams, Analytics and Data Engineering, and is responsible for bringing robust, efficient, and integrated data models and products to life. You’ll be an integral part of developing our data modeling and analytics data product strategy, inherently helping implement scalable solutions that expedite Understood’s capability to use data to make decisions.

Our stack currently consists of various data engineering pipelines for extracting and loading, snowflake, dbt, and looker. We are looking for someone with expertise in building and managing these tools.

About You

You are curious, passionate about data, and are able to speak the language of both business and technical teams. You can translate business questions into data requirements. The successful candidate will be able to blend business and technical expertise and be able to seamlessly work between business strategy and data development. You can also help lead and develop a team of skilled analytics engineers who are passionate about making data actionable at scale.

Responsibilities

• Manage a team of analytics engineers who provide a glue between analytics and data engineering
• Drive the design, building, and launching of new data models in production
• Establish and maintain best practices to coding formats, naming conventions, and version control
• Create and maintain high impact dashboards in Looker that serve teams across the organization
• Collaborate with product, marketing, engineering, and other key business stakeholders to understand each team’s data needs and translate that into data products
• Proactively contribute to long-term data strategies
• Regularly present highly impactful data products and visualizations to leadership using concise and powerful narrative

Qualifications

• 6-8 years of experience in BI and analytics
• Experience leading and managing 3+ person teams
• Bachelor’s degree in math, statistics, economics, computer science, or engineering preferred
• Expert SQL proficiency with proven competencies in designing well-architected data models, optimizing for query performance, and clearly documenting code
• Experience with implementing and/or owning enterprise BI tooling (Looker preferred)
• Experience with DBT
• Understanding of Python/R

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Comfortable leading the technical execution of business and analytics related projects of large scope and complexity
• Top-notch organizational skills and ability to manage multiple projects in a fast-paced environment
• Excellent communication skills to work with stakeholders to translate business needs and ideas into scalable data products
• Possesses relationship-building skills
• Analytical and curious thinker
• Able to independently drive projects forward
• Stay updated on industry best practices and trends in fundraising data analysis and reporting
• Committed to embodying and being a steward of our commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging

The base salary range for this role is minimum $165,000 - $190,000  maximum, depending on years of experience and qualifications. We offer a comprehensive benefits package that supports our team member's and our family's wellness. You can learn more about our offerings here.

Please note: Understood requires all new hires to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 within six weeks of their hire date as a condition of employment unless you qualify for a reasonable accommodation. For additional information on our policy, please reach out to Salome Brant, Senior Manager, HR Operations.

Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Understood  encourages individuals of all learning styles, ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic backgrounds, including those whose life experiences may include the challenge of access due to a disability, to apply for this position. We are committed to maximizing the diversity of our organization, as we want to engage all those who can contribute to supporting this work.

Understood is an equal opportunity employer and considers all applications without regard to race, color, religion, creed, sex, national origin, ancestry, age, alienage or citizenship status, marital or familial status, domestic partnership status, caregiver status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, change of sex or transgender status, genetic information, medical condition, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, physical or mental disability (where the applicant or employee is qualified to perform the essential functions of the job with or without reasonable accommodation), any protected military or veteran status, or status as a victim of domestic or dating violence, sexual assault or offense, stalking, or any other characteristics protected by federal, state, or local law or that of persons with whom that individual associates, or any other legally protected characteristics.

For additional information on learning and attention issues, including ADD/ADHD, dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, dyspraxia, executive functioning issues, nonverbal learning disabilities, processing issues, and more, please visit www.understood.org.

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