Director, Data Insights

Hospital for Special Surgery•New York, NY

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Director, Data & Insights is a strategic partner to the AVP, Data & Systems and VP, Development Operations & Donor Engagement, responsible for translating data into actionable intelligence that shapes fundraising strategy, enables data-driven decision-making, and drives performance across all Development programs. This role leads the analytics strategy, KPI portfolio, and official reporting standards for HSS Development, and builds and manages a high-performing analytics team that delivers trusted dashboards and decision-ready insights in partnership with Central IT—supporting progress toward $90M+ in annual fundraising. This leader must be equally comfortable designing an analytics roadmap with senior leadership as executing and managing it. This role will operationalize a key piece of a strategic priority established by HSS leadership, ensuring Development has consistent performance measurement and trusted reporting products that support systems optimization, data-driven decision-making, and operational excellence. Reporting to the AVP, Data & Systems, the Director manages analytics staff and will build the team's capacity over the first 24 months, transitioning from hands-on execution to strategic oversight as systems and team capabilities mature. The Director, Data & Insights owns the analytics portfolio (KPI roadmap, “official reporting,” Sigma adoption standards, and insight packaging). The Director, Development Operations owns service delivery and controls (intake requirements, SLA expectations, QC standards, and governance execution). Central IT remains responsible for platform engineering and operations (Databricks and on-prem infrastructure). Together, these partners ensure the platforms are reliable and the outputs are consistent, validated, and decision-ready.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree required; degree in analytics, statistics, business analytics, information management, or related field strongly preferred.
7-10+ years in fundraising analytics, development operations, prospect research, or nonprofit data/BI, with demonstrated progression from hands-on technical work to strategic leadership.
Hands-on experience delivering executive dashboards, KPI frameworks, and self-service reporting, and partnering with engineering teams on data models, integration requirements, and validation.
Proven track record leading analytics through platform migrations or major system transformations (e.g., Tableau → Sigma, legacy CRM → cloud CRM, on-prem → cloud data warehouse).
Management experience: coaching, developing, and holding accountable technical staff; building team capacity and fostering growth.
Expert-level SQL: complex queries, joins, window functions, CTEs, query optimization, data validation.
Sigma proficiency required, OR advanced expertise in comparable modern, cloud-native BI platforms (Looker, Domo, Mode, Thoughtspot, Tableau) with demonstrated ability to master new analytics tools and navigate platform transitions rapidly.
Strong understanding of KPI definition discipline, data modeling concepts, and data quality/validation practices.
Fundraising CRM data fluency: experience querying and building analytics from CRM systems (Raiser's Edge NXT, Salesforce NPSP, or other major platforms).

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree or relevant certifications (for example, BI certification, project management certification) a plus.
Healthcare, academic medical center, or higher education experience strongly preferred—understands grateful patient dynamics, physician engagement, clinical data integration, and mission-driven fundraising.
Prospect research/wealth screening platforms (Windfall, iWave, WealthEngine)
Marketing automation and event/P2P platforms (LuminateOnline, TeamRaiser, GoFundMe, DonorDrive)
Cloud data platforms (Databricks, Snowflake, AWS, Azure)
Experience overseeing advanced analytics use cases (for example, segmentation, forecasting, retention analysis, propensity scoring) with clear documentation and validation standards.
Python or R for advanced analytics, modeling, and automation (preferred but not required)

Responsibilities

Serve as a key thought partner to the AVP, Data & Systems, and VP, Development Operations & Donor Engagement; translate business questions into analytical approaches and recommend methodologies that drive fundraising performance.
Partner with AVP on the analytics roadmap, including Sigma adoption strategy, Data Lakehouse optimization, CRM evaluation (analytics requirements), responsible evaluation of AI-enabled analytics opportunities in partnership with Central IT.
Lead the analytics workstream for major initiatives (for example, CRM changes and platform transitions) by defining analytics requirements, KPI impacts, and validation/UAT standards, and by coordinating delivery with Operations and Central IT.
Own the KPI framework and oversee advanced analytics initiatives (segmentation, forecasting, retention, propensity scoring), ensuring methods, assumptions, and monitoring expectations are documented and approved.
Serve as embedded analytics partner across frontline and donor engagement teams, translating business questions into analytical approaches for prospect prioritization, campaign planning, portfolio optimization, and other strategies that support donor journey movement.
Build and maintain trusted relationships with IT to align on the certified dataset contract, delivery milestones, and incident/change coordination, ensuring analytics requirements are implemented reliably and results are validated.
Provide leadership for the design, delivery, and continuous improvement of executive dashboards, KPI reporting, and performance scorecards within the organization’s business intelligence environment (for example, Sigma), ensuring consistency, accuracy, and adoption.
Establish and maintain role-based, self-service reporting products and supporting documentation/training to improve access to timely, actionable information.
Oversee recurring analytics deliverables critical to fundraising operations (for example, wealth screening, event analytics, campaign reporting, grateful patient pipeline), ensuring continuity, quality controls, and on-time delivery.
Maintain a comprehensive KPI suite and KPI library (definitions, owners, refresh expectations), including standards for certification and deprecation of “official” reporting.
Provide leadership for the development and application of analytics that inform fundraising strategy, including donor journey design, portfolio optimization, and performance improvement opportunities.
Oversee advanced analytical work (for example, segmentation, forecasting, retention/attrition, and ROI analyses), ensuring methodological rigor, documentation of assumptions, and appropriate validation prior to use in decision-making.
Partner with research and portfolio management teams to operationalize wealth screening, prospect scoring, and pipeline tracking.
Provide benchmarking and evaluative analysis: program effectiveness, campaign ROI, donor lifetime value, and peer institution comparisons.
Translate complex data insights into clear, compelling narratives for executive audiences—presenting strategic recommendations with confidence and clarity.
Serve as primary business owner for Development's business intelligence environment by defining reporting requirements, establishing standards, and driving adoption in partnership with Operations and Central IT.
Partner with Central IT to align on data integration requirements and validation/UAT standards for analytics products (dashboards, scorecards, and KPI views), ensuring reporting is reliable and well-supported.
Lead analytics platform transitions: report conversion, staff training, troubleshooting, and iterative optimization.
Ensure documentation of data lineage (at a business level), KPI definitions, and reporting business rules ensuring knowledge transfer, sustainability, and compliance with donor privacy and data security protocols.
Recruit, coach, and retain a high-performing analytics team; delegate tactical execution while coaching toward strategic thinking; design career pathways that enable team members to grow into subject-matter experts.
Build a culture of data-driven decision-making across Development through training, consultation, and proactive outreach—ensuring staff at all levels can access, interpret, and apply data confidently.
Participate in data governance initiatives; ensure analytics products (KPIs, dashboards, scorecards) align with approved definitions, institutional data standards, security protocols, and donor/patient privacy requirements.
Serve as a bridge between infrastructure and fundraising teams—translating technical constraints into business implications and vice versa.