Director, Office of Assessment & Institutional Research

University of Wisconsin Milwaukee • Milwaukee, WI

7d • $115,000 - $130,000

About The Position

The OAIR Director provides strategic leadership for the design, implementation, and communication of analytical work that supports both internal and external stakeholders. The Director oversees institutional research, assessment, accreditation support, data governance, and data visualization functions. This role requires strong technical competency, exceptional communication skills, a commitment to equity and student success, and the ability to guide the institution toward greater analytical maturity—including improved data quality, automation, business intelligence, and the responsible use of AI.

Leadership & Strategic Direction Provide vision and direction for OAIR’s institutional research, assessment, and data governance work. Lead the transition from static reporting toward modern, interactive, automated, and self-service data solutions. Serve as a trusted advisor to senior leadership on data-informed planning, policy, and institutional effectiveness. Advance a culture of assessment and continuous improvement across academic and administrative units. Represent UWM with UW System Administration and external agencies regarding official reporting and data policy.

External Reporting & Compliance Oversee timely , complete, and accurate submissions for all state, federal, UW System, and accreditation reporting. Coordinate institutional responses to external data requests, surveys, and public accountability requirements. Ensure data integrity and adopt QA/QC processes to reduce errors and improve repeatability.

Internal Decision Support Lead the development and interpretation of analytical studies on: enrollment, retention, and graduation student learning and success academic program review and assessment resource planning and instructional capacity analysis strategic initiatives and university-level KPIs Partner with academic and administrative units to design analyses that inform decision-making. Provide oversight and analytical support for unit budget preparation, monitoring, and resource planning in collaboration with Academic Affairs and campus partners.

Data Infrastructure, Governance & Quality Oversee the development and maintenance of institutional dashboards and collaborate with data custodians and technical teams to shape and document institutional data definitions and semantic-layer structures. Collaborate with data custodians to improve data quality and reduce inconsistencies. Implement best practices in metadata, lineage, documentation, and data governance. Champion automation, reproducibility, and modernization of IR workflows.

Business Intelligence, Data Visualization & Communication Provide leadership for campus-facing dashboards, reporting tools, and data portals. Ensure analytical products are accessible, visually clear, equity-aware, and designed for non-technical users. Improve data literacy across campus through trainings , workshops, and consultative support.

Assessment & Accreditation Lead campus assessment operations, program review data support, and institutional learning outcomes work. Manage data collection and reporting to support regional accreditation (HLC) and discipline-specific accreditors. Partner with academic affairs leadership to embed assessment and continuous improvement practices.

Team Leadership & Professional Development Supervise OAIR staff, fostering a collaborative, supportive, and growth-oriented work environment. Develop staff expertise in analytics, BI tools, assessment practices, and emerging technologies (e.g., AI). Lead change management and cross-unit coordination to reduce institutional silos.

Requirements

• Master’s degree (or equivalent combination of education and relevant experience).
• At least six years of progressive experience in institutional research, analytics, policy analysis, assessment, or related fields.
• Demonstrated experience extracting, analyzing, and interpreting data from large, complex datasets to inform evidence-based decision-making.
• Experience supervising professional staff.
• Experience developing data visualizations or dashboards using tools such as Power BI, Tableau, or similar.
• Experience communicating analytical findings to non-technical audiences, including senior leadership, to support strategic planning and student success.
• Experience working in institutional research or higher education assessment setting, contributing to initiatives that shape the future of the institution through data-driven insights and continuous improvement.

Nice To Haves

• Deep knowledge of issues facing public urban research universities.
• Experience with student success research, enrollment modeling, and academic program assessment.
• Advanced expertise with SQL, Python, R, SAS, or data-manipulation tools.
• Proficiency designing and deploying dashboards in Power BI and/or similar BI platforms .
• Demonstrated success improving data governance, quality, or cross-unit data alignment.
• Experience with data warehousing concepts, semantic modeling, and automation of data workflows.
• Strong understanding of accreditation processes, assessment of student learning, and program review.
• Ability to lead collaborative processes and foster shared ownership in decentralized environments.
• Experience leveraging modern technologies—including automation, API pipelines, and responsible AI applications—to enhance efficiency, data quality, and institutional insight.
• Experience working within a R1 research university environment.
• Familiarity with QS and other international ranking methodologies and their implications for institutional strategy.
• Evidence of excellent organizational, communication, and change-management skills.

Responsibilities

• Sets priorities that align with the strategic directives of the Office of the Provost; ensures units effectively carry out duties in a way that best supports the strategic direction of the university and the academic mission.
• Provides direct supervision of department/division leadership staff, and monitors compliance with laws/regulations, university policies and procedures, and relevant contractual obligations
• Advises and collaborates with the Provost, Vice Provost, and/or Associate Vice Provosts on critical issues, representing the functional area of supervision at appropriate meetings and events as requested; and serves on and/or leads various program and/or university committees as directed
• Monitors on-going assessment and continuous improvement of programs/services by guiding the establishment of annual goals, ensuring progress towards goals is met, articulating challenges, and reporting on annual outcomes and achievements for programs/services
• Supports special initiatives and/or grant-funded programs that require the Provost or Vice Provost's attention with respect to program design, planning, coordination, and interaction with internal and external stakeholders
• Facilitates collegial, collaborative working relationships with a broad range of stakeholders, partners with administrative and academic departments to support initiatives, and gathers input from key stakeholders to support recommendations
• May exercise supervisory authority, including hiring, transferring, suspending, promoting, managing conduct and performance, discharging, assigning, rewarding, disciplining, and/or approving hours worked of at least 2.0 FTE or equivalent employees
• Serves on various university review committees, working with a wide range of constituencies including the Faculty Senate, Deans and Associate Deans, General Counsel, and University Leadership

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees