Lead Analyst, Advancement Data

Department

ADV Data Management

About the Department

The University of Chicago Advancement team cultivates lifelong connections with more than 220,000 alumni, current students, parents, and friends worldwide, building community through intellectual, professional, and other meaningful experiences on campus, around the world and online. Advancement empowers every division, school, department, and institute to thrive, generating support for esteemed faculty, pioneering researchers, visionary practitioners, and ambitious students.
During the Chicago Minds campaign, Advancement seeks to raise over $1 billion annually. This unprecedented philanthropic effort is designed to stretch the boundaries of what is possible, fueling bold discovery and amplifying the University’s global impact.
Our work is rooted in the belief that meaningful connection and lasting experiences inspire ambassadorship and enduring commitment. We champion a culture of innovation and excellence, inviting every member of our community to participate in a future defined by creativity, intellectual rigor, and shared purpose. Through collaborative partnerships, strategic stewardship, and investment in talent, Advancement is reimagining alumni and donor engagement while ensuring UChicago remains a catalyst of impact for generations to come.
The Advancement Technology team delivers the data, systems, tools, and technology strategy that power UChicago Advancement’s ambitious fundraising and engagement goals. Taking an enterprise approach to data and systems, the team develops and supports systems and tools that are consistent, scalable, and adaptable. In close collaboration with stakeholders across Advancement and the broader University, Advancement Technology translates program strategies into innovative, integrated solutions that enable, enhance, and accelerate fundraising and engagement outcomes. The team is committed to continuous innovation, centralized governance, and building partnerships that ensure technology investments are secure, future facing, and optimized for Advancement goals.

Job Summary

Reporting to the Director, Advancement Data, the position collaborates with the Senior Director, Data Strategy and Marketing Technology, Advancement stakeholders, and technology partners to assess system impacts and develop reliable, well-documented solutions. The Lead Analyst, Advancement Data, serves as a senior technical and analytical resource, combining data architecture and business analysis to support Advancement data systems. The incumbent translates business needs into technical requirements, supports data modeling and integration, documents system architecture, and provides technical leadership on projects across the CRM, data warehouse, and connected platforms.
This role works independently across multiple systems and provides technical guidance and mentorship to team members. This position uses best practices and knowledge to develop new and existing systems. Solves problems and anticipates evolving business requirements to identify, design, and implement appropriate process improvements, systems alternatives, and/or enhancements to current systems.

Responsibilities

• Designs and maintains the logical and physical data models that define how Advancement data is structured across the CRM, data warehouse, and connected systems; identifies gaps and conflicts in the current architecture and recommends a path to resolve them.
• Serves as the business analyst for Advancement Data. Coordinates with stakeholders to identify and understand business needs; translates those needs into data and system requirements; and performs impact analysis to guide the maintenance and enhancement of Advancement applications.
• Designs and implements scalable data pipelines, integration frameworks, and management procedures that enable reliable data flow between Advancement data systems, including the CRM and data warehouse, and other upstream and downstream platforms.
• Serves as a primary technical point of assessment for complex or unexpected data and system issues across Advancement applications. Investigates issues to determine root cause, business and system impact, urgency, dependencies, and appropriate resolution path; recommends prioritization and solutions and coordinates with relevant technical and functional teams as needed.
• Improves enterprise data workflows through performance enhancements, automation, and other system and process improvements.
• Leads documentation of business decisions, system processes, and governance related to data management and integration workflows, system architecture, metadata, and operational procedures.
• Develops and recommends standards and practices for requirements gathering and documentation and provides guidance to team members in applying them consistently.
• Provides technical leadership for Advancement data team projects, including solution design, technical analysis and review, issue resolution, and guidance on how technical work is developed and documented.
• Mentors analysts and other team members on technical practices, including data modeling, SQL, integration design, requirement gathering, and troubleshooting.
• Evaluates opportunities to incorporate AI and emerging technologies into data workflows, assessing their value, appropriate use, and limitations in partnership with team leadership.
• Liaises among Advancement stakeholders, subject matter experts, and technical partners, including Reporting, ITS, the enterprise data warehouse team, and Systems and Process Improvements, to support effective solutions and communicate recommendations and technical considerations to leadership as appropriate.
• Seeks opportunities for professional development that will enhance job performance, including building networks within the University and with colleagues at peer institutions and with an eye towards broadly diversifying the advancement profession.
• Utilizes thorough understanding of business systems and industry requirements to translate business and user needs into system requirement specifications.
• Recommends process improvements in existing applications and revises existing system logic difficulties as necessary. Designs, develops, and implements new applications, systems architecture, network systems, and applications infrastructures.
• Communicates and presents on system enhancements and/or alternatives to colleagues in IT management.
• Performs other related work as needed.

Minimum Qualifications

Education:

Minimum requirements include a college or university degree in related field.

Work Experience:

Minimum requirements include knowledge and skills developed through 5-7 years of work experience in a related job discipline.

Certifications:

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Preferred Qualifications

Education:

• Coursework in management information systems, business administration, statistics, computer science, analytics, social sciences, or related fields.

Experience:

• A minimum of five years of demonstrated experience managing projects involving stakeholder management, requirements gathering, development of technical specifications, implementation, and evaluation.
• A minimum of five years of experience working with enterprise data integration, ETL/ELT processes, data pipelines, and data platforms.
• Designing and maintaining logical and physical data models across enterprise systems, including CRM, data warehouse, or comparable data environments.
• Analyzing and troubleshooting complex data or system issues, including root cause analysis, impact assessment, and development of recommended solutions.

Technical Skills or Knowledge:

• Demonstrated skill and knowledge of, or ability to learn quickly, the internal workings of the University as well as the technology tools available to Advancement, including Phoenix, the University's Donor Relationship Management Salesforce System.
• Proficient in a Microsoft Windows computer environment, especially with Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access.
• Advanced proficiency in SQL and strong experience with complex data structures, relational and dimensional modeling.

Preferred Competencies

• Outstanding interpersonal and communications skills characterized by the ability to listen, speak, and write effectively. Explain complex ideas clearly and simply.
• Analyze and draw conclusions from large data sets.
• Manage confidential information with discretion and tact.
• Act with integrity, professionalism, and confidentiality.
• Work collegially and collaboratively in a team setting.
• Self-motivated and take initiative.
• Prioritize multiple projects and independently follow through with detail.
• Communicate technical concepts, requirements, and recommendations effectively to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively in a rapidly changing environment.

Working Conditions

• This position has a hybrid work schedule which includes weekly in office presence.
• Standard office environment.
• Travel to campus and/or non-campus locations for University business.
• Work evenings and weekends as needed.
• This position is located in Hyde Park at 5235 South Harper Court.
• This position is not eligible for employer-sponsored employment authorization.

Application Documents

• Resume/CV (required)
• Cover Letter, addressed to Hiring Committee (preferred)

The University of Chicago uses AI-assisted tools to streamline and augment some recruitment processes; however, AI is not used to make hiring decisions.
When applying, the document(s) MUST be uploaded via the My Experience page, in the section titled Application Documents of the application.

Job Family

Information Technology

Role Impact

Individual Contributor

Scheduled Weekly Hours

37.5

Drug Test Required

No

Health Screen Required

No

Motor Vehicle Record Inquiry Required

No

Pay Rate Type

Salary

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FLSA Status

Exempt

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Pay Range

$88,400.00 - $104,000.00

The included pay rate or range represents the University’s good faith estimate of the possible compensation offer for this role at the time of posting.

Benefits Eligible

Yes

The University of Chicago offers a wide range of benefits programs and resources for eligible employees, including health, retirement, and paid time off. Information about the benefit offerings can be found in the Benefits Guidebook.

Posting Statement

The University of Chicago is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or expression, national or ethnic origin, shared ancestry, age, status as an individual with a disability, military or veteran status, genetic information, or other protected classes under the law. For additional information please see the University's Notice of Nondiscrimination.

All offers of employment are contingent upon a background check that includes a review of conviction history. A conviction does not automatically preclude University employment. Rather, the University considers conviction information on a case-by-case basis and assesses the nature of the offense, the circumstances surrounding it, the proximity in time of the conviction, and its relevance to the position.

The University of Chicago's Annual Security & Fire Safety Report (Report) provides information about University offices and programs that provide safety support, crime and fire statistics, emergency response and communications plans, and other policies and information. The Report can be accessed online at:  . Paper copies of the Report are available, upon request, from the University of Chicago Police Department, 850 E. 61st Street, Chicago, IL 60637.