Senior Analytics Engineer

Vanderbilt University

  • Nashville, TN
  • 30+ days ago

    Highlights

    Located in Nashville, Tennessee, on a 330+ acre campus and arboretum dating back to 1873, Vanderbilt is proud to have been named as one of "America's Best Large Employers" as well as a top employer in Tennessee and the Nashville metropolitan area by Forbes for several years running. Experience and Skills: 5 years of experience with data engineering, analytical data modeling, data transformations, or analytics engineering is necessary.

    Numbers & Facts

    LocationNashville, TN

    Description

    Position Summary:

    The Education Design and Informatics (EDI) team within the Office of Health Sciences Education at

    Vanderbilt University School of Medicine (VUSM) is seeking an experienced Analytics Engineer with

    an inquisitive and analytical mindset to join our team.

    The Analytics Engineer designs and maintains curated datasets and data models that support

    educational analytics, dashboards, and AI-enabled learning tools and predictive analytics across

    VUSM. The role involves building reproducible, version-controlled data transformation workflows

    that convert raw educational data into analysis-ready structures while ensuring data quality,

    governance, and transparency. A key responsibility is creating and maintaining Power BI dashboards

    and visualizations for educational leaders, administrators, and faculty that align with

    institutional competency frameworks and strategic goals. The Analytics Engineer collaborates with

    AI engineers, software developers, and cross-institutional stakeholders to enable predictive

    modeling, experimentation datasets, and learner-facing insights embedded in digital learning

    workflows. This position contributes to Vanderbilt's broader precision education and AI-enabled

    learning strategy by translating educational questions into measurable data indicators and staying

    current with evolving data governance and analytics practices.

    This role offers opportunities to contribute to nationally recognized research in precision

    education and to develop expertise at the intersection of data engineering, artificial

    intelligence, and medical education within one of the nation's leading academic medical centers.

    This position reports administratively and functionally to the Director of Education Design and

    Informatics.

    About the Work Unit:

    The Office of Health Sciences Education (OHSE) administers the degree programs of the Vanderbilt

    University School of Medicine (VUSM) and supports its mission to catalyze impactful discovery,

    servant leadership, and lifelong learning. OHSE staff provide comprehensive support across academic

    program administration, educational design and informatics, student services, and financial and

    operational oversight.

    In alignment with VUSM's commitment to excellence, OHSE works to prepare future leaders in the

    health professions who are equipped with the knowledge, skills, and judgment needed to deliver

    safe, effective, ethical, and patient-centered care. Our students are encouraged to think

    critically, foster innovation, and understand the broader systems and social factors that shape

    health outcomes-empowering them to advocate for positive change in both local and global

    communities.

    The Education Design and Informatics (EDI) team serves as the technology, data, and analytics arm

    of OHSE, building and maintaining the digital infrastructure, learning platforms, dashboards, and

    AI-enabled tools that support the educational mission. The Analytics Engineer joins a

    multidisciplinary EDI team that includes software developers, instructional designers, an applied

    AI engineer, and data specialists. Vanderbilt's institutional strengths - including a top-tier

    health system, deep research infrastructure, enterprise Databricks and Epic EHR environments, and a

    strong commitment to innovation in medical education - provide a uniquely rich

    foundation for this work.

    Key Functions and Expected Performance:

    Update and optimize VUSM's cloud-based data architecture to support ongoing scalability, efficiency, and security standards

    Build and maintain processes that support data transformation, workload management, data

    structures, dependency and metadata

    Support monitoring and alerting processes to ensure uptime of infrastructure

    Identify, design, and implement internal process improvements such as automating manual

    processes and optimizing data delivery

    Manage and communicate data visualization plans to internal team and stakeholders

    Collaborate with Development team on architectural decisions

    Perform data analysis required to troubleshoot data related issues and assist in the

    resolution of data issues.

    Design and maintain curated datasets that support educational analytics, dashboards, and AI

    feature development

    Develop and improve canonical tables and views representing learners, competencies, curricular

    experiences, assessments, progression metrics, and other medical education concepts

    Align data models with standard medical education frameworks and ontologies (e.g., AAMC

    competency frameworks, EPA/milestone mappings) to ensure interoperability and

    domain relevance

    Maintain comprehensive documentation of key data views and catalog table definitions within

    Databricks to ensure data transparency, governance, and accessibility across teams.

    Build transformation workflows that convert raw data into analysis-ready structures

    Implement version-controlled data transformations using tools such as dbt, SQL-based pipelines

    and Databricks workflows

    Ensure datasets are reproducible, documented, and auditable

    Monitor data quality, completeness, and consistency across sources

    Build and maintain Power BI dashboards and reporting views used by educational leadership,

    program administrators, and faculty

    Collaborate with stakeholders to understand analytic needs and to define meaningful

    visualizations and metrics

    Ensure that dashboards align with institutional competency frameworks and educational goals

    Iteratively refine dashboards and reporting views based on end-user feedback, evolving

    programmatic needs, and emerging data sources

    Work with the Applied AI Engineer to create feature-ready datasets supporting predictive

    models and AI applications

    Collaborate with stakeholders in VUIT, VUSM, and VUMC IT to facilitate secure cross-

    institutional exchange of educational datasets

    Collaborate with software developers to expose analytics datasets to VSTAR and related

    applications

    Support development of learner-facing insights and faculty analytics embedded in digital

    learning workflows

    Design and implement intervention signals and early warning indicators to support timely

    learner support

    Help design experimentation datasets for evaluating educational interventions and AI tools

    Contribute to evaluation frameworks that assess the effectiveness and impact of AI- enabled

    educational tools and interventions

    Translate educational questions into data models and measurable indicators

    Contribute to Vanderbilt's broader strategy for precision education, learning analytics, and

    AI-enabled education

    Maintain clear documentation of data models, transformations, and metrics

    Stay current with evolving approaches to educational analytics, data modeling, and data

    governance

    Support grant-related activities including preparation of pilot data, data architecture

    documentation for proposals, and reporting on funded projects

    Supervisory Relationships:

    This position does not have supervisory responsibility and reports administratively and

    functionally to the Associate Director, Education Design and Informatics

    Education and Certifications:

    Bachelor's degree or above in Computer Science, Data Science, Informatics, Information

    Systems, Health Informatics, or related technical field OR a comparable combination of on-the-job

    experience and technical training is necessary.

    Experience and Skills:

    5 years of experience with data engineering, analytical data modeling, data transformations,

    or analytics engineering is necessary.

    5 years of experience working in education, healthcare, or another complex regulated

    environment is preferred.

    5 years of experience with Python, including object-oriented programming, is highly preferred.

    Advanced SQL skills and experience designing complex queries and transformations is highly

    preferred

    Demonstrated skills with NoSQL databases (e.g., for unstructured assessment data or document

    stores) is preferred

    Demonstrated experience working with cloud-based data platforms or modern data warehouses

    (Azure, AWS, GCP, Databricks, Snowflake) is highly preferred

    Excellent oral and written communication skills with a keen sense of stakeholder engagement is

    highly preferred

    Ability to translate stakeholder questions into structured datasets and metrics is highly

    preferred

    Experience supporting and working with cross-functional teams in a dynamic, collaborative

    environment is highly preferred

    Demonstrated ability to work with non-technical domain experts and navigate complex

    organizational structures is preferred

    Experience supporting machine learning or feature engineering workflows is highly preferred

    Experience with designing data models for dashboards and reporting through dimensional

    modeling techniques is highly preferred

    Experience building or supporting dashboards in tools such as Power BI, Tableau, or similar

    platforms is preferred

    Experience with continuous integration/continuous delivery automation and version control

    (Git) in Bitbucket, GitLab, GitHub, or Azure DevOps is preferred

    Experience with REST data services, APIs, and microservices is preferred

    Experience working with regulated or sensitive datasets (FERPA, HIPAA-adjacent environments)

    is preferred

    Familiarity with competency-based education or learner progression frameworks is preferred

    Familiarity with ethical considerations in educational data use, algorithmic fairness, or

    responsible AI practices is preferred

    At Vanderbilt University , our work - regardless of title or role - is in service to an important and noble mission in which every member of our community serves in advancing knowledge and transforming lives on a daily basis. Located in Nashville, Tennessee, on a 330+ acre campus and arboretum dating back to 1873, Vanderbilt is proud to have been named as one of "America's Best Large Employers" as well as a top employer in Tennessee and the Nashville metropolitan area by Forbes for several years running. We welcome those who are interested in learning and growing professionally with an employer that strives to create, foster and sustain opportunities as an employer of choice.

    We understand you have a choice when choosing where to work and pursue a career. We understand you are unique and have a story. We want to hear it. We encourage you to apply today so that you might become a part of our story.

    Vanderbilt University is an equal-opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran, or any other characteristic protected by law.

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