VP, Analytics

Job description

About Niche

Niche is the leader in school search. Our mission is to make researching and enrolling in schools easy, transparent, and free. With in-depth profiles on every school and college in America, 140 million reviews and ratings, and powerful search tools, we help millions of people find the right school for them. We also help thousands of schools recruit more best-fit students, by highlighting what makes them great and making it easier to visit and apply.

Niche is all about finding where you belong, and that mission inspires how we operate every day. We want Niche to be a place where people truly enjoy working and can thrive professionally.

About The Role

The data organization at Niche is looking for a Vice President of Analytics and Reporting. In this role, you will play a pivotal role in establishing and leading the maturity of our analytics and reporting practices. This high-impact leadership position requires a quantitative thinker with a track record of building a high performance analytics organization,and providing actionable data to grow the business. As leader of the Analytics team, you will be responsible  for defining the source of truth data for the organization, aggregating and normalizing commercial, product, and partner data, and ensuring the availability of key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics throughout the organization. You will be responsible for  developing and growing high-performing Analytics teams across Product, Business Intelligence, and Marketing. Your teams will own reporting tools across the organization, and will work closely with the Data Engineering team to build out a structured Data Warehouse to ensure the business can make high quality data-driven decisions. You will partner closely with stakeholders and executive leaders to understand their analytics needs, develop self-service capabilities, and drive a data driven culture of analytics, measurement, and accountability, ensuring we have a line of sight into the value we’re creating across all our internal and external stakeholders. You will be developing a world-class analytics practice and capabilities that leverage a vast amount of first-party and third-party data to drive critical operational and strategic decisions across all aspects of our business and teams. You will be responsible for defining and delivering on our current and future data and analytics strategies and requirements that allow us to scale, as well as proactively identifying new and innovative ways to drive value and impact for Niche and our customers. This role will report to the CFO.

What You Will Do

During the First Month:

• Assessment and Onboarding: Conduct a comprehensive assessment of the current analytics and reporting landscape. Engage with key stakeholders and team members to understand existing processes, challenges, and opportunities. Collaborate with the data engineering team to align on overarching data strategy.
• Relationship Building: Initiate relationships with key stakeholders, including department heads and business leaders. Understand their specific analytics and reporting needs, pain points, and expectations. Begin laying the foundation for a collaborative partnership.
• Team Familiarization: Gain an in-depth understanding of the existing analytics and reporting team members, their skills, and areas of expertise. Identify immediate opportunities for skill development or resource optimization.
• Business Foundation: Work closely with your team and stakeholders to develop a strong understanding of the business, including a strong mental model of what KPIs affect revenue and margin.
• Quick Wins: Identify and implement quick wins to demonstrate the value of analytics and reporting. These could include optimizing existing reports, addressing low-hanging fruit in data quality, or streamlining reporting processes.

Within 3 Months:

• Vision and Strategy: Develop and communicate a clear vision and strategy for the analytics and reporting function. Align the team and key stakeholders with the strategic direction, emphasizing the role of data in driving business outcomes.
• Stakeholder Collaboration: Establish a regular cadence for collaboration with leadership across product, sales, marketing, finance, and operations to identify key analytical needs and opportunities. Implement mechanisms for gathering ongoing feedback to continuously improve and tailor analytics and reporting solutions to business needs.
• Self-Service Capabilities: Assess and increase our capabilities  of self-service analytics. Identify and deploy tools and processes that empower business users to derive insights independently, reducing dependency on the analytics team for routine reporting.
• Team Development Plan: Develop a comprehensive team development plan, including skill-building initiatives, feedback sessions, cross-functional training, and mentorship programs. Begin executing this plan to enhance the capabilities of the analytics and reporting team.
• Metrics Framework: Build out a roadmap for Data Engineering to deliver on a comprehensive metrics layer across the organization including normalizing common data sourced from different systems.
• Core Metrics: Using your strong Business Foundation, work with your team to create a set of Core Reports and KPIs that are clear and consistent across the business to ensure that the whole organization has a single source of truth of our Core Metrics.
• Analytics and Reporting Roadmap: Partner with stakeholders and data product managers to develop a comprehensive roadmap for analytics and reporting that reflects the strategic vision and business prioritie

Within 6 Months:

• Data-Driven Culture: Cultivate and reinforce a data-driven decision-making culture across the organization. Implement training programs to drive data literacy and develop key processes to help incorporate actionable insights into day-to-day operations to enable timely decision-making.
• Self-service Analytics: Ensure all enterprise KPIs, core business and operational metrics and key insights are available for self-service by stakeholders.
• Advanced Analytics: Identify opportunities for advanced analytics and deep dive analysis. Develop capabilities and practices that would allow the analytics and reporting team to transition to focusing on providing predictive and prescriptive insights to the business for proactive and guided decision-making.
• Team Growth and Excellence: Ensure the analytics and reporting team is a center of excellence for analytics at Niche. Promote a culture of innovation, collaboration, and excellence, positioning the team as a strategic partner to the business and a key driver of Niche’s success.

What We Are Looking For

• 10+ years of experience in data analytics and/or data science roles
• 5+ years of experience in a senior leadership role
• Bachelor’s or advanced degree in a relevant field (e.g., Data Science, Statistics, Business Analytics).
• Proven leadership experience in establishing and leading analytics and reporting functions in a fast-paced, data-driven organization.
• Strong strategic thinking and vision-setting capabilities, with the ability to translate organizational objectives into actionable analytics strategies.
• Demonstrated experience in developing and implementing self-service analytics capabilities, fostering a data-driven culture, and driving continuous improvement.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to build strong relationships with key stakeholders and lead a high-performing team.
• Senior skills in SQL.
• Strong technical proficiency in analytics and data visualization platforms and tools (e.g., DBT, Python, Snowflake, Tableau, Looker, Hex), and a solid understanding of data governance principles.
• Expert knowledge of statistics, analytics, A/B testing.
• Proven experience in recruiting, mentoring, and developing diverse and high-performing teams.
• Familiarity with cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure) and big data technologies is a plus.
• Track record of driving organizational change and delivering impactful results through analytics and reporting initiatives.

Compensation

Our national target base salary range is $200,000 - $250,000, plus participation in our Annual Bonus and Stock Option Program. Base compensation will be commensurate with experience and skills.

At Niche, our Total Rewards Philosophy is centered around creating a workplace environment that attracts, motivates, and retains top talent by providing a comprehensive and competitive rewards package.  This philosophy is built on the principles of performance-based compensation, best-in-class benefits and work-life balance, and employee well-being.

Why Niche?

• We are a fully flexible workforce empowering our employees to choose to work remotely, in our Pittsburgh office or whatever combination suits you
• Full time, salaried position with competitive compensation in a fast-growing company
• Best-in-class 100% paid employee health plan, including vision and dental and supplemental coverage
• Flexible Paid Time Off Policy
• Stipend that allows you to build your work from home office in a style and function that suits your personal preferences
• Parental leave for all employees (12 weeks fully paid) in addition to short term disability for birthing parents
• Meaningful 401(k) with employer match
• Your ideas and work will make an immediate impact on our company and millions of users
• You will join a team that cares about you, our mission, our work - and celebrates our wins together!

Niche will only employ those who are legally authorized to work in the United States without sponsorship now or in the future for this opening.

We are currently hiring in states where we currently have employees: AZ, CO, CT, DE, FL, GA, IL, IN, KY, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MO, NE, NV, NH, NJ, NY, NC, OH, OK, OR, PA, SC, TN, TX, VA, WA, DC, WV.

Candidates only.  No recruiters or agencies, please. Sorry, we do not offer relocation assistance.

Niche is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering an inclusive, innovative environment with the best employees. Therefore, we provide employment opportunities without regard to age, race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion, disability, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or any other protected status in accordance with applicable law.

All interviews are being held remotely. If there are preparations we can make to help ensure you have a comfortable and positive interview experience, please let us know.