Statistical Analyst

Data collection and statistics

Reports to: Principal statistical analyst

Jisc Guiding principles

We believe in ‘Technology for Good’ and improving lives through learning and research. To achieve we are all guided by 6 principles which underpin how we approach our roles and each other. We use these Guiding principles everyday and are used to recruit, develop and recognise everyone in Jisc.

Be original, Think social enterprise, Make an impact, Always inclusive, Never stand still, Get it done

About Jisc

Jisc is the UK higher, further education and skills sectors’ not-for-profit organisation for digital services and solutions. We operate shared digital infrastructure and services; negotiate sector-wide deals with IT vendors and commercial publishers; and provide trusted advice and practical assistance for universities, colleges and learning providers.

The team:

The Policy & Research Team is primarily responsible for educational research and policy as well as ingestion and development of new collections such as College HE. The team produces various tools, blogs and publications across a variety of areas including widening access and other key policy areas. The team also supports wider data engineering projects across the directorate and contributes to a variety of data analysis projects.

The role:

The role will be working on development of HESA’s ‘College HE’ project as well as more widely across the directorate’s work. ‘College HE’ involves creating a single consistent, comparable, detailed source of information about all students enrolled on higher education (HE) courses in further education (FE) colleges, in the UK. The wider role will involve analysis of Higher Education (HE) data, contributing to the creation and development of official statistics and Open Data products, and assisting in research activities and the development of analytical solutions to support Jisc/HESA’s statutory functions.

Other Responsibilities will include:

• Undertake analysis of HESA data for research and statistical output products.
• Extract, manipulate, and quality-assure appropriate and often complex data from HESA databases using advanced database query languages or data manipulation tools.
• Undertake statistical analysis resulting in written and/or verbal reporting, in order to meet user needs. This may involve the use of specialist statistical analysis software.
• Support the production of official statistics outputs and contributes ideas for the development of statistical measures.
• Assist with developing new processes as part of the work on Reproducible Analytical Pipelines (RAP).
• Undertake research using HE data, including time series and trend analysis, using appropriate analytical techniques and software.
• Assist in the production of publication ready research insights, blogs and quality reports relevant to emerging user and policy interests.
• Assist in developing specifications and other technical documentation and protocols for HESA data, for use by HESA data analysts as well as analysts within other HE stakeholder organisations.
• Provide support and advice to users of statutory/official statistics and research outputs.
• Contribute to the development of new statistical products and analytical solutions.
• Keep up to date with developments in HESA data collections, of new uses of data within other teams at HESA and developments in the wider HE sector, in order to carry out duties effectively.
• Work on a number of work packages at a time, organising and planning activity to meet agreed deadlines.
• Develop and maintain a strong knowledge of HESA data streams and a good general understanding of the UK higher education policy environment and data landscape.
• Attend conferences and seminars as appropriate to maintain knowledge and build relationships with HE sector colleagues.
• Any other reasonable duties to support effective team working across the Agency

The person:

Behaviours

Need to have 

• A role model of Jisc’s guiding principles and behaviours, able to clearly demonstrate these in all aspects of the role
• An inquiring mind and desire to develop personal knowledge

Nice to have

• Awareness of some of the main data sources covering HE, and some of the major data sources available for understanding society and the economy in the UK

Skills

Need to have 

• Sound report writing skills
• Listen and assimilate information and convey complex information clearly both orally and in writing to varied audiences
• Communicate confidently with colleagues and external contacts at all levels of seniority Good attention to detail
• Work effectively and efficiently when dealing with high volumes and tight deadlines
• Ability to build strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders
• Able to organise own time effectively

Nice to have

• Some knowledge of more advanced statistical techniques such as statistical modelling or time-series analysis

Experience

Need to have 

• Experience of analysing quantitative data for presentation either orally or in writing
• Experience of statistical analysis software applications.
• Experience of applying basic statistical techniques to analyse data. Experience with Oracle and/or SQL Experience of using Python, R, Stata or other similar data manipulation software

Nice to have

• Experience of visualisation software such as Tableau or Power BI.
• Experience of JavaScript, HTML and
• CSS for maintenance of online assets

Qualifications

Need to have 

• Educated to Bachelor’s degree level in a subject containing a good proportion of data/statistical content, or equivalent experience

The organisation

We’re constantly changing and evolving at Jisc, so this job description just gives a flavour of what the role involves. It will change as our operations develop. Getting face to face is something we value and find time for when we can, so you may need to travel on occasion. Our main offices are in Bristol, Harwell, London and Manchester.