Strategic Planning Analyst jobs in Rockford, IL

Job Summary. The Data Analyst serves as the subject matter expert in regional data, analytics, and visualization to drive regional strategies, growth, and decision-making.

Illustrative Essential Job Functions. The duties listed below are intended to describe the general nature and level of work of this position. The list is not exhaustive or restrictive, and other duties may be assigned.

Data Management

· Research, evaluate, and recommend data management solutions and for data architecture, design, and maintenance.

· Develop and document a data architecture establishing policies and standards for data collection, storage, arrangement, and integration for unified, cross-functional analysis.

· Ensure data systems are accurate, accessible, consistent, appropriately secured, and maintained and updated on an ongoing basis.

· Search for, accumulate, and format data for analysis and visualization.

Develop and maintain the organization’s repository of key subject matter and demographic datasets, and research and identify additional datasets to be tracked.

Data Services (Internal and External)

· May serve as the point of contract for internal and external data requests.

· Provides internal and external technical assistance regarding data and analytics.

· Assist in standardizing data organization and formatting techniques for small and large volume projects.

· Assist with analytical calculations, trend and pattern identification, dataset design, and metric selection. May be involved in communicating this data to partners or the public.

· Prepare data visualizations such as graphs, charts, and other visual communication tools.

· Maintain data-tracking system to assist with partner agency requests.

· Conduct client development activities in coordination with the Director of Community Impact.

· Conduct research projects and data gathering, including developing scorecards and dashboards.

Research

· Conduct research projects and data gathering for stand-alone visualizations, scorecards, and data dashboards.

· Assist in the development data-informed studies for the region, in a variety of subject matter.

· Research, collect, compile, record, and summarize technical data; assist coworkers in assembling data for grants or projects.

Communications

· Assist in communicating key insights and trends to stakeholders and the general public.

· Design, build, maintain, and iterate an interactive dashboard to track key metrics and enable self-service data discovery as a client attraction and public information tool.

· Design, build, maintain, and iterate static or other visualizations of data and metrics for stakeholders and the public.

Other

· Partner on and/or lead data-driven regional initiatives and work groups.

· Participate in a range of planning activities, including research, data collection, meeting and interacting with local regional stakeholders, working on projects as assigned, and involvement in day-to-day functions.

· Contributes to grant applications used to obtain grants including, but not limited to, responses to federal and state funding opportunities.

· Attends onsite and offsite meetings within the RPC service area, including occasional evenings and weekends.

· Participate in a variety of special projects as assigned.

· Maintain a professional office setting through cleanliness, organization, and demeanor

· Works collaboratively with others to ensure the success and achievement by colleagues’ in the fulfillment of RPC priorities

· Provides timely, routine reports of satisfactory progress toward goals and objectives

· Performs other duties as assigned

Supervision Received. Work is performed in consultation and coordination with and under the supervision of the Assigned Director or Coordinator.

Supervision Exercised. Supervision is not a responsibility of this position, although guidance or assistance may be provided to consultants or less experienced employees.

Success Factors. To perform the job successfully, an individual should demonstrate the following behaviors:

· Skill in the use and care of a personal computer, including knowledge of MS Office Suite and other software and technologies, including data analysis and visualization tools, as they are adopted by the RPC.

· Utilize a reasonable range of data processing and visualization tools to guarantee productivity such as Stata, R, SPSS, Tableau, and the Adobe Suite.

· Ability to appropriately prioritize responsibilities and meet deadlines

· Work collaboratively with others to ensure the success and achievement of team members in the fulfillment of RPC priorities

· Ability to adapt as the organization develops and evolves

· Maintains reasonable and predictable attendance

Education, Training, Experience

Graduation from an accredited institution with a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Data Analytics/Analysis, Epidemiology, Statistic or Data Science or a related field with a quantitative emphasis preferred, and relative, applied academic or employment experience. The degree should have involved hands-on work with real social data processing using statistical methods for small, medium, or big data sets. A satisfactory equivalent combination of experience and training which ensures the ability to perform the work may be considered.

Licenses & Certifications. Annual completion of Open Meetings Act and Freedom of Information Act training required. Project management certification preferred.

Job-Specific Skills. Critical knowledge and fundamental skills required for the position include:

· Optimally, experience with Social Data Analysis/Analytics or Data Science in general

· Proficiency in economic and demographic research skills.

· Skillful in statistical analysis and synthesis of large amounts of information in a clear, ordered manner that is usable for a variety of audiences.

· Possess quantitative and qualitative economic and/or social data research methodology.

· Possession of internet fluency including excellent web-searching skills.

· Superior computer literacy and proficiency in MS Office Suite (especially Excel), and Adobe Creative Cloud (particularly InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator).

· Superior writing skills, including the editing, oversight or preparation of technical reports and the presentation of information to government entities and various committees and clients.

· Exercises initiative to problem-solve, develop plans, and follow-through.

· Knowledge of or willingness to learn programming and scripting languages such as Javascript, Python, R, HTML, and/or SASS/CSS along with other libraries and frameworks for those languages such as plotly, ggplot2, etc., to process and create visualizations of data in various forms such as static images or somewhat interactive websites.

· Proficiency in data visualization programs, database programs, and ArcGIS desired but not essential.

Working Conditions and Special Demands

Work is performed primarily in an office setting, although work activities may require attending meetings that involve occasional travel. The physical demands described are representative of those required to perform successfully the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Frequently

· Sit

· Use hands to finger, handle, or feel

· Reach with hands and arms

· Speak and hear

Occasionally

· Stand

· Walk

· Climb or balance

· Stoop, kneel, or crouch

· Lift up to 25 pounds

Necessary Special Requirements.

· Drug screening and background check

Region 1 Planning Council is an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to diversity and inclusion.

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: $38,000.00 - $40,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• Dental insurance
• Flexible spending account
• Health insurance
• Health savings account
• Life insurance
• Paid holidays
• Paid sick time
• Vision insurance

Experience level:

• 1 year
• 2 years

Schedule:

• 8 hour shift
• Day shift

Ability to Relocate:

• Rockford, IL 61101: Relocate before starting work (Required)

Work Location: In person