Uncommon Schools is a non-profit network of 55 outstanding public charter schools in grades K-12 across New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts. Our mission is to start and manage outstanding urban public charter schools that close the achievement gap and prepare students from low-income backgrounds for success in college and beyond. We are accomplishing that mission every day, with a college graduation rate that is well above the national average and thousands of stories of our students and alumni achieving their dreams.

Internal Job Title: Associate Director of Product Development

External Job Title: Early Career Business Intelligence Developer

The Associate Director (AD) of Product Development is an early career position for a social justice-minded developer, just getting started. The AD will assist in our innovation efforts to ensure that Uncommon’s Home Office, Regions, and Schools have the technology solutions required to accomplish the organization’s strategic goals. This person will develop a deep understanding of needs across all levels of the organization and implement new technology and data solutions to Uncommon’s most pressing problems. The AD of Product Development will work with the Director of Product Development.

The AD will also work closely with other team members, outsourced senior application developers, and owners of the data sources. They will be responsible for providing access to the data via reports, data extracts, and analysis tools, the development of ETL components and for coding stored procedures. To be successful, the role will require the individual to understand the K-12 data landscape (e.g. assessments, SIS, standards), and have an eye for automating routine tasks.

Duties & Responsibilities:

Product Management and Development:

• Partner with instructional, operational, regional and HO teams to develop reports and address data needs to provide reporting solutions
• Work with more senior members of project teams to synthesize and translate instructional and business data needs into creative visualizations and tools.
• Assist in the development, maintenance, and management of advanced reporting, analytics, dashboards, and other BI solutions primarily using, but not limited to, Tableau and PowerBI
• Help refine practices used in implementations of the Tableau server
• Develop and document processes used in data flow automation and product management
• Perform and detail data analysis, data validation, data mapping/design, by accessing multiple sources, specifically data residing in source systems

The Product Development Team’s anticipated high priority work for 19/20 and 20/21 school years:

• Business Intelligence (BI) tool creation and management:
  • Lead the ongoing implementation of next-generation BI tools for K-8 and HS instructional leaders to drive student achievement across the organization
  • Design—in partnership with instructional teams—training to be delivered to users of next-generation BI tools delivering functional and data capabilities to users.
  • Manage the ongoing development of existing BI tools and collaborate with partners to set the vision for future enhancements and upgrades

• BI development processes & partnership - Refine and codify internal development processes for BI tools including:
  • Partner engagement – how to collaborate with instructional & operations leaders to gather requirements for new & existing tool
  • Development cycle operations – how to partner with data analytics (data science), IT engineering and data management teams to ensure that data flows seamlessly and accurately from sources to tools
  • Rollout – how to roll out new tools to users including communication plans and training
  • Ongoing BI development – how and when to make ongoing improvements to existing BI tools including how to communicate changes to partners
  • Support – how to provide ongoing support to tool users
  • Evaluation – how to test and determine product effectiveness/return on investment to the organization for BI tools

• Exceptional strategic, analytical and critical thinking skills
• Solid attention to detail
• Strong end-user orientation; deep concern and empathy for users and internal partners
• Demonstrated ability to be self-directed and take initiative
• Excellent organization, time management, and tenacious follow-up skills; ability to prioritize and work in a fast-paced environment
• Exposure to the interpretation of customer business needs and translating them into the application and operational requirements
• Willingness to learn both technical and soft skills (effective development of training materials, outstanding note-taking, meeting prep and facilitation, data storytelling).
• Demonstrated ability to learn new tools, systems and processes quickly
• Hardworking coupled with a commitment to high standards of excellence and an enthusiastic approach to one’s work
• Strong and consistent verbal and written communication skills.

Skills Required:

• High-level competency in Excel (macros, pivot tables, etc.)
• Experience with creation and maintenance of documents, knowledge/support articles for varying level of user groups
• Solid understanding of multiple scripting/programming languages
• Exposure to BI tools (e.g. Tableau, PowerBI)
• Knowledge of SQL and data structures

Minimum educational level/experience:

• Bachelor’s Degree required and 1 to 3 years of work experience including 6 months to 2 years in Business Intelligence, dashboard/analytics design, or SQL development and implementation.
• Certification, technical courses, or work experience in one or more of the following: Business Intelligence, SQL, Data Management, or similar

Uncommon Schools offers salaries commensurate with experience and a very generous benefits and vacation package. All staff members receive extensive professional development and are equipped with a laptop computer and all necessary supplies.

Uncommon Schools believes in the importance of being a diverse, equitable and inclusive organization that enables our students and staff to thrive. We are committed to building a talented team that reflects the diverse backgrounds and experiences of our students. At the same time, we work to ensure an inclusive community through creating a space for meaningful dialogue about issues of race and identity for our staff and students. As an equal opportunity employer, we hire without consideration to race, religion, creed, color, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status or disability.