"Data Scientist I - Outreach Analytics"

Data Scientist I - Outreach Analytics

Company: Western Governors University

Job Location: Salt Lake City Office

Category: Software Engineer/Programmer

Type: Full-Time

Job Type: Full time

Job Number: JR-023461

If you're passionate about building a better future for individuals, communities, and our country-and you're committed to working hard to play your part in building that future-consider WGU as the next step in your career.

Driven by a mission to expand access to higher education through online, competency-based degree programs, WGU is also committed to being a great place to work for a diverse workforce of student-focused professionals. The university has pioneered a new way to learn in the 21st century, one that has received praise from academic, industry, government, and media leaders. Whatever your role, working for WGU gives you a part to play in helping students graduate, creating a better tomorrow for themselves and their families.

The salary range for this position takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to skill sets; experience and training; licensure and certifications; and other business and organizational needs.

At WGU, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their position, and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current range is:

Grade: Technical 406 Pay Range: $95,900.00 - $143,800.00

Job Description

What if your advanced analytics helped more people access a college education?

At WGU, we use data science to drive access, equity, and innovation. As a Data Scientist on the Outreach Analytics team, you'll leverage advanced analytics and machine learning to help thousands of students discover, choose, and succeed at WGU.

The Institutional Analytics and Research (IAR) team supports and enables most university teams, departments, and colleges to make data-informed decisions that lead to better student outcomes. Our analysts, scientists, researchers, and managers are distributed across several teams: Institutional Research, Institutional Metrics & Insights, Outreach Analytics, Faculty Analytics, Curriculum Analytics, and Student Success Analytics.

The Outreach Analytics team works at the intersection of marketing, enrollment, and regional operations-turning customer journey data into actionable insights and predictive models that drive strategy and impact.

The Role: Data Scientist - Outreach Analytics

As a Data Scientist, you will produce valuable information from large sets of structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data. You'll build statistical and predictive models, apply machine learning, and collaborate across teams to deliver insights that inform key decisions and improve student engagement.

What You'll Do

• Analyze large, complex data sets and develop predictive models
• Apply machine learning and statistical methods to generate actionable insights
• Build dashboards and visualizations in Tableau or Power BI
• Write and optimize SQL queries; collaborate with Data Engineering on data pipelines
• Present findings clearly to technical and non-technical audiences

What You Bring

• Bachelor's degree in a related discipline
• 3 years of experience delivering data science solutions and analytical models
• Experience building predictive models using machine learning methods.
• Advanced proficiency with SQL (writing queries and subqueries, modifying data (INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE), creating views, and knowledge of the different join types, filtering, sorting, aggregation, window functions, common table expressions (CTE), and performance tuning)
• Experience using Python, R, or Natural Language Processing in an ML environment
• Experience with the selection and deployment of mathematical models, forecasting methods (e.g., time series, inferential, regression), descriptive statistics, and classification algorithms to make predictions and identify relationships based on limited data sets.
• Experience with Tableau or Power BI for data visualization (presenting data and information utilizing charts, graphs, and maps, in ways that make it easy to understand trends, patterns, and outliers)
• Experience working with large, structured, and unstructured data sets (accessing, retrieving, manipulating, inserting, and deleting data)

Bonus if you have

• Experience in higher education, marketing analytics, or learner success analytics
• Experience with A/B testing and advanced statistical methods
• Experience with versioning tools in the context of CI/CD (e.g., Github) and deploying models using machine learning operations (MLOps) self-service capabilities
• Experience mentoring and supporting other analysts/scientists

Experience in lieu of education

An equivalent combination of training, experience, credentials, or accomplishments demonstrating the ability to perform the essential functions of this job may substitute for education degree requirements.

Work Location

This is a full-time, in-office position at WGU's headquarters in Salt Lake City, UT. You'll work side-by-side with a multidisciplinary team of analysts, researchers, and educators committed to data-informed innovation.

What to Expect

At WGU, our mission drives everything we do-including how we hire. Our interview experience is designed to give qualified candidates the opportunity to show their best work through meaningful conversations, practical problem-solving, and authentic collaboration.

We thoughtfully review every application and invite forward the candidates whose experience and potential best align with the role and our mission. If selected, you'll hear from a recruiter or hiring manager who will guide you through the process and help you know what to expect at each stage. We aim to communicate decisions promptly and respectfully.

Here's what that typically looks like:

• Introductory call (~30 minutes): We'll walk you through who we are at WGU and learn about your relevant experience.
• Hiring manager interview (~45 minutes)
• Technical interview (~45 minutes)

We're looking forward to getting to know you and seeing how you think, collaborate and build. Welcome to WGU.

Position & Application Details

Full-Time Regular Positions (classified as regular and working 40 standard weekly hours): This is a full-time, regular position (classified for 40 standard weekly hours) that is eligible for bonuses; medical, dental, vision, telehealth and mental healthcare; health savings account and flexible spending account; basic and voluntary life insurance; disability coverage; accident, critical illness and hospital indemnity supplemental coverages; legal and identity theft coverage; retirement savings plan; wellbeing program; discounted WGU tuition; and flexible paid time off for rest and relaxation with no need for accrual, flexible paid sick time with no need for accrual, 11 paid holidays, and other paid leaves, including up to 12 weeks of parental leave.

How to Apply: If interested, an application will need to be submitted online. Internal WGU employees will need to apply through the internal job board in Workday.

Additional Information

Disclaimer: The job posting highlights the most critical responsibilities and requirements of the job. It's not all-inclusive.

Accommodations: Applicants with disabilities who require assistance or accommodation during the application or interview process should contact our Talent Acquisition team at recruiting@wgu.edu.

Equal Employment Opportunity: All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to any protected characteristic as required by law.

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