Manager, Analytics

Walker Sands•Chicago, IL

13h•Hybrid

About The Position

Walker Sands is seeking a Manager, Analytics to join our DATA practice (Data, Analytics, Technology and AI) and be the analytics lead on a focused set of B2B accounts, working closely with account teams and integrated strategists to turn data into insights that drive real decision making. This is a hands-on role where you will be the analytics lead on your own accounts with support of the SVP, DATA. You don’t need a lot of direction and are comfortable working through ambiguity. You bring a practitioner's mindset to data: skeptical of bad numbers, comfortable in the weeds, and able to translate what you're seeing into something an account team or client can actually understand. The work is both deep and wide and evolves as you do. In the near term, you’re establishing reliable reporting and measurement foundations across your accounts. Additionally, you’ll be a critical member of helping shape how Walker Sands thinks about media performance, KPIs, and measurement, including contributing to proprietary frameworks like our Outcome-Based Marketing (OBM) models. As the practice scales, you’ll build and lead a team of analysts helping do this work.

Requirements

5–7 years in marketing analytics, insights, or performance measurement — B2B experience strongly preferred
Agency experience — you understand the client service context and what it means to own accounts
Strong proficiency in dashboard and reporting tools: Looker Studio and/or Tableau
Experience connecting and troubleshooting data sources: GA4, GSC, paid media platforms, HubSpot or Salesforce
Working SQL — enough to pull data, investigate discrepancies, and not be blocked by a query
A track record of working autonomously on a defined book of work — you manage your own queue
Clear written and verbal communication — you can explain a data problem to someone who isn't in the weeds with you

Nice To Haves

Experience with data aggregation/connector tools
Familiarity with data warehouse environments (Snowflake, BigQuery) and tools like dbt — you don't need to build pipelines, but you cannot be afraid of one
B2B performance marketing background — you understand the lead gen funnel, MQLs, pipeline attribution, and why those metrics matter
Experience contributing to measurement strategy or KPI framework development
Comfortable in client-facing conversations when needed
Comfortable using AI like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and bringing new ways of working within the data and privacy guardrails of the business

Responsibilities

Build and maintain client-facing performance reporting: clean, accurate, on time
Connect and validate data sources across paid, organic, earned, and CRM channels
Manage reporting continuity through data infrastructure evolves
QA your own work. You don't ship until you've verified the numbers make sense
Identify and resolve reporting gaps and technical debt across your accounts: e.g tracking issues, connection failures, incomplete data, attribution mismatches
Move beyond report delivery into actual analysis: what's working, what's not, what should change
Provide synthesized, actionable insights to account teams and (on some accounts) directly to clients
Contribute to measurement planning and KPI frameworks as those conversations mature on your accounts
Contribute to the refinement and redevelopment of proprietary measurement frameworks, including Walker Sands’ Outcome-Based Marketing (OBM model)
Work closely with teams to understand client context and priorities
Partner with teams to translate data and insights into actional recommendations for clients
Participate in client conversations as needed (varies by account)
Contribute to the DATA practice's evolving standards for reporting, measurement, and analytics delivery