Research Data Analyst

Job Summary

The Research Data Analyst will support the annual data cleaning, ingestion, and management workflows that underpin SC TEACHERs longitudinal educator records and reporting infrastructure. Working closely with the Research Lead for Data Infrastructure and Analytics, this position plays a central role in preparing, structuring, and maintaining data assets that support workforce analytics, district-facing dashboards, and applied research. Job Related Minimum Required Education and Experience

• Requires a bachelors degree in a job related field and 2 or more years of job related experience, which may be substituted by an equivalent combination of job related certification, training, education, and/or experience.

Required Certification, Licensure/Other Credentials Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working in AWS environments (S3, Athena, Glue, QuickSight, EC2)
• Familiarity with education data or other administrative/government datasets
• Experience building data visualizations or dashboards for non-technical audiences
• Masters degree in a relevant field

Knowledge/Skills/Abilities

• Proficiency in SQL for writing, optimizing, and maintaining queries in cloud-based environments, particularly Amazon Athena.
• Working knowledge of R and/or Python for data cleaning, transformation, validation, and documentation of analytic workflows.
• Familiarity with AWS cloud services including S3, Athena, Glue, EC2, and QuickSight.
• Ability to work with large, complex, restricted administrative datasets, including longitudinal educator workforce records and district-level data.
• Knowledge of ETL (extract, transform, load) processes and best practices for data pipeline management.
• Skill in building and maintaining data tables, views, and derived variables in support of applied research and reporting.
• Ability to conduct systematic data validation, including checks against prior-year files, lookup tables, and external documentation.
• Experience developing data visualizations or dashboards for varied audiences, including non-technical stakeholders.
• Strong attention to detail and ability to maintain accurate, version-controlled scripts and data preparation logs.
• Knowledge of data governance practices, including metadata documentation, data classification, and confidentiality protocols.
• Ability to communicate technical findings and data processes clearly, both orally and in writing. Ability to work both independently and collaboratively within a research team environment, managing multiple concurrent tasks and meeting project deadlines

Job Duties Job Duty Clean, validate, and transform raw data files using R and/or Python, maintaining data preparation logs and adhering to SC TEACHERs data quality standards. Build and maintain data tables, views, and queries in Amazon Athena to support analysis and reporting workflows. Essential Function Yes Percentage of Time 40 Job Duty Support annual ingestion of data files received from the South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) and other data providers, following documented intake and validation procedures. Support the development of data visualizations and contribute to dashboard reporting using Amazon QuickSight. Essential Function Yes Percentage of Time 30 Job Duty Conduct data validation checks against lookup tables, SCDE documentation, district-submitted records, and prior-year files to identify inconsistencies, duplicate records, and missing fields. Assist in developing and updating derived variables, recode logic, and suppression rules in accordance with the data dictionary and data governance policy. Essential Function Yes Percentage of Time 20 Job Duty Collaborate with research team members on analytic data preparation for annual reports, legislative deliverables, and district products. Essential Function Yes Percentage of Time 10 Position Attributes Hazardous weather category Non-Essential Employees in Safety-Sensitive or Security-Sensitive positions will be subject to pre-employment and post-employment drug testing in accordance with University policy HR Drug and Alcohol Testing. No Posting Detail Information