Director Innovation Jobs in Tennessee (NOW HIRING)

Title: Senior Director of Data and Analytics

Employee Classification: Other Professionals

Institution: System Office

Department: Policy & Strategy

Campus Location: Tennessee Board of Regents System Office

Job Summary

TBR—The College System of Tennessee serves community colleges and colleges of applied technology across the state. The Office of Research and Innovation works at the front lines of TBR’s efforts to support innovation that advances postsecondary access and student success.
Through the Office of Research and Innovation, TBR turns data, research, and field-based learning into actionable information for system leaders, colleges, and partners. The office is organized around three interconnected labs: the Policy Lab, the Innovation Lab, and the Data Lab. Together, these labs support data-informed decision-making across the TBR system.
Within this structure, the TBR Data Lab stewards the system’s data infrastructure and develops analytics, data tools, and insights to support strategic decision-making. The Data Lab leads and supports work related to system-wide data strategy, data collection, and reporting. It also partners closely with the Policy Lab and the Innovation Lab to develop analytical tools and resources that support policy analysis, innovation pilots, strategic planning, and student success initiatives.
The Senior Director of Data and Analytics serves as the leader of the TBR Data Lab and provides strategic leadership for TBR’s analytics and data-informed decision-support efforts. This role supervises the Data Lab team, including staff responsible for data strategy, workforce data, and business intelligence.
In this role, the Senior Director works closely with the Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation, TBR system leaders, college partners, and research collaborators to identify emerging data needs, develop analytic approaches, and translate complex data into clear, useful, and timely insights. The Senior Director also plays a central role in strengthening collaboration across the Policy Lab, Innovation Lab, and Data Lab by ensuring that TBR’s data infrastructure and analytic capacity support policy research, innovation projects, and evidence-based decision-making across the system.
This position may have the opportunity to work remotely within the state of Tennessee, with periodic visits to the TBR System Office (Nashville, TN) at the employee’s expense, and potential travel to TBR colleges in Tennessee.

Job Duties

• 15% - Lead the TBR Data Lab, including supervision of staff responsible for data strategy, business intelligence, and special data projects. Establish priorities for the lab’s project portfolio, align staff work with system goals, and ensure timely project completion. - (Essential)
• 10% - In partnership with the Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation, set the strategic direction for TBR’s analytics and reporting tools. - (Essential)
• 10% - Provide leadership and oversight for system-wide data strategy, data collection, data standards, and data infrastructure, ensuring these functions are coordinated and responsive to system and college needs. - (Essential)
• 15% - Develop analytical approaches that transform TBR data into actionable insights for system leaders, colleges, and partners, with a focus on student access, progression, completion, and workforce alignment. - (Essential)
• 10% - Work with system and college leaders to identify emerging data needs and guide the development of analyses, tools, and resources that help leaders understand trends, opportunities, and areas for improvement. - (Essential)
• 10% - Oversee the development, maintenance, and continuous improvement of dashboards, public-facing reports, and analytic products that support decision-making across the system. Strengthen the use of data storytelling, visualization, and communication strategies to make complex data clear, timely, and useful for technical and non-technical audiences. - (Essential)
• 10% - Partner with the Policy Lab and Innovation Lab to develop analytic tools, dashboards, evidence resources, and data supports for policy analysis, innovation pilots, strategic planning, and student success initiatives. - (Essential)
• 10% - Build strong working relationships with colleges, system office divisions, institutional research and effectiveness staff, state agencies, and external partners to support effective data use and shared analytic priorities. - (Essential)
• 5% - Identify opportunities to use automation, artificial intelligence, and emerging technologies to strengthen data capacity, improve analytic workflows, and expand access to timely, actionable information. - (Essential)
• 5% - Perform other duties as assigned. - (Marginal)

Minimum Qualifications

• Graduate degree in higher education, public policy, data analytics, statistics, economics, or a related field.
• Five or more years of progressive professional experience in data analytics, research, or a related field.
• Experience working with higher education data or other similar data environments.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience serving in a leadership role within institutional effectiveness, research, analytics, education policy, or data strategy teams.
• Experience working with college presidents, vice presidents, state agency leaders, governing boards, or other high-level decision-makers.
• Experience using data to support policy analysis, strategic planning, program evaluation, student success initiatives, innovation pilots, or continuous improvement efforts.
• Knowledge of business intelligence, data visualization, database, and analytic tools such as Power BI, SQL-based environments, statistical software, or comparable platforms, with an emphasis on guiding, reviewing, and strengthening analytic work.
• Knowledge of data governance, data security, data privacy, and secure data-sharing practices, including appropriate handling of personally identifiable information.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Demonstrated ability to provide strategic leadership for analytics and data strategy functions in a complex organization.
• Demonstrated ability to establish strategic priorities, manage a portfolio of complex projects, allocate team capacity, and ensure high-quality deliverables across multiple concurrent initiatives.
• Demonstrated ability to serve as a trusted advisor to system and college leaders by translating data, research, and analytic findings into clear, timely, actionable insights that inform policy, operations, and student success initiatives.
• Strong understanding of higher education data systems, student success metrics, reporting environments, and the use of data to support decision-making.
• Demonstrated ability to guide the development of dashboards, analytic tools, and other data products that meet the needs of system leaders, colleges, and external partners.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate effectively with technical and non-technical audiences, including executive leaders, institutional researchers, and practitioners.
• Strong relationship-building skills, including the ability to work across organizational boundaries and build trust with colleges, system office divisions, and external partners.
• Ability to identify opportunities to use artificial intelligence and emerging technologies to improve analytic workflows, data tools, and access to actionable information.

Physical Demands / Working Conditions

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