Business Analyst, Data Platforms & Access - Digital

The New York Public Library•New York, NY

25d•$90,000 - $95,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The New York Public Library is undergoing a comprehensive Data Transformation, with the goals of understanding our patrons far better, enabling staff to make data-driven decisions, and for the Library to better understand its impact quantitatively. To do this we will need to centralize critical service delivery data (e.g., books borrowed, attendance at talks, number of visits, etc.) into a modern data platform, and provide clear, intuitive methods for staff to access the data they need. Additionally we will need to establish first rate data governance practices to ensure that staff have a shared understanding of data definitions, use common workflows to manage data, and be confident in the use of data in their everyday work. We are looking for a Business Analyst who can proactively support the Data Platforms & Access team in this ambitious Data Transformation. The role will involve gathering and documenting needs from colleagues across the library, as well as developing a deep understanding of the data landscape that Library staff navigate every day. They will also have a hands-on role in managing the operations of staff-facing platforms that the team team already oversees: our web analytics platform, our data warehouse, and our staff-facing data visualization tool. This role will be mostly focused on requirement gathering, documentation, and platform management among other responsibilities. They will collaborate with a Data Analyst to ensure staff has access and understanding of our data, but they will not be responsible for data analysis and insights. The successful candidate will help drive engagement and understanding within the institution of how staff can better use our data repositories and tools, and how they can use data to help achieve their strategic goals. This is a great opportunity to play a key role in making NYPL a truly data-enabled organization. We are looking for someone we can count on to: Own: Management of our core data documentation Day-to-day running of our data platforms, including Google Analytics 4 Data quality within our data platforms Understanding of staff data needs Responding to issues raised by staff Teach: Library staff about how to interpret and use data in our centralized data platforms Library stakeholders about digital processes and strategy Digital staff about the workflows and needs in the rest of the library Learn: Key data governance principles, and why they are essential The data associated with core library services and business units How the different data types we collect are defined The development processes for data pipelines Improve: The quality of the data we collect and supply to staff The processes by which we collect and manage data Staff’s use of data in our centralized data platforms, particularly using this data to better understand our patrons Some expectations for this role are that within: 1 month, this person will: Understand the Data Transformation major initiative Have a solid grasp of the key data types within our data warehouse Learn the structure of the Digital department and establish contacts in all functional areas Meet key stakeholders from around the institution and understand their roles 3 months, this person will: Be familiar with the data ecosystem at the library, including the key data types and the main data users Have a thorough understanding of the Data Transformation major initiative and its key workstreams Have a solid understanding of our data platform suite, including our web analytics and business intelligence tools Be able to gather data requirements from staff around the library Have developed strong working relationships with colleagues in the Patron Insights & Analytics team Develop strong working relationships with teams and key stakeholders across the institution to discover business needs 6 months and beyond, this person will: Have a deep understanding of the different data types that staff require and the ways they want to use that data, and the pain points they currently have in their use of data Have a solid understanding of the data needs of other teams within the Digital department Collaborate with Product Managers to refine data-oriented business requirements Own the day-to-day operations of our data platforms

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree and minimum of 3 years' experience working as a business analyst or similar role, OR
5 years’ experience as a business analyst or similar role, OR
5 years’ library experience, with responsibilities in areas such as liaising with stakeholders, communications, writing reports, data analysis, etc.
Analysis of business needs and recommended solutions
Documentation of business goals and technical requirements
Data visualization and/or business intelligence tools (e.g., Tableau, PowerBI, Looker, etc)
Google Marketing Platform and Google Cloud Platform products, or similar
Cloud data platforms (e.g., Databricks, Snowflake, AWS, Azure, etc)
In-depth experience using Google Sheets or Excel
Ability to interview stakeholders and then document their needs, concerns and issues
Capable of capturing technical requirements in documentation, such as data models, and tying them to strategic and business value
Curiosity and ability to quickly understand different areas of the Library and communicate that to digital colleagues in order to drive requirements and prioritization
Excels at communicating with people across different domain expertise, skill sets, and experience levels
Skilled at creating and maintaining different types of documentation, including for technical and business partners
Ability to confidently and efficiently lead working group meetings to drive engagement between Digital and other NYPL staff
Proven problem solving, analytical thinking, and quantitative reasoning skills — with the demonstrable ability to approach problems logically and systematically
Self starter, independently identifies gaps, opportunities and solutions

Nice To Haves

Understanding of web analytics is very helpful
Familiarity with library operations is beneficial

Responsibilities

Support the work of NYPL Digital’s Data Platforms & Access team toward the major initiative of Data Transformation
Collaborate with stakeholders to understand their needs and gather business requirements, document relevant workflows, data definitions, and provide recommendations to Product Managers
Help communicate Data Platforms & Access strategy and domain language to NYPL staff
Collaborate with the Data Analyst to increase access to data in our platforms
Foster great communication between the Data Platforms & Access team and staff around the institution, to ensure that the different domain languages used by technology staff and library staff do not introduce ambiguity and mistakes in our development work
Support and maintain the operation of our data platforms, including the Google Marketing Platform (Google Analytics 4, Google Tag Manager), among others
Help staff across NYPL to understand and effectively use Digital’s data platforms and tools through creating documentation, FAQs, office hours, responding to queries, and developing training content
Expand the Digital department's knowledge and understanding of library service data, systems, and concepts, as well everyday library processes, workflows, and procedures
Work with Product Management to establish a consistent practice and representation of library service data across all Digital properties
Support product managers in documenting product requirements and specifications
Manage regular stakeholder working group and advisory meetings
Perform other duties as required