Director of Data Systems and Analytics

About Acacia Center for Justice:

The Acacia Center for Justice (“Acacia”) provides legal support and representation to immigrants facing deportation through the development, coordination, and management of national networks of legal services providers serving immigrants across the country. Acacia’s goals are twofold: to support immigrant legal services and defense networks to provide exceptional legal services to immigrants; and to advocate for the expansion of these programs and the infrastructure critical to guaranteeing immigrants access to justice, fairness, and freedom. Acacia ensures accountable, independent, zealous, and person-centered legal services and representation to protect the rights of all immigrants.

Job Summary:

The Director of Data Systems and Analytics will provide high-level data science leadership for all of the Acacia REDA team’s reporting/analytics deliverables and will also develop and implement an integrated data management and system architecture across the suite of federal, state and public facing programs that are supported by the REDA team. Core duties include guidance and oversight of data engineering and data modeling workflows, and maintenance of data analytic environments, leveraging data science processes for the treatment of big data sets and review of data analytics for the purpose of contractually mandated reporting and public-facing projects. In partnership with other REDA Directors as well as the Managing Director of Research Evaluation and Data Analytics (REDA), this role is also responsible for strategic planning and employment of cutting-edge technologies applied to all aspects of data management in support of the overarching research and evaluation agenda. The Director of Data Systems and Analytics works in close collaboration with Acacia IT, Information Security, and external IT contractors to maintain compliance and secure implementation of data system development. The Director of Data Systems and Analytics also provides supervision and mentorship to the data team that provides reporting operations, data science and engineering and analytics support for a diverse array of Acacia projects.

Primary Duties/Responsibilities:

Data Infrastructure Management

• Direct and develop cloud-based architecture (i.e. systems and tools) to further mature the data analytics and data science capabilities to meet the organization’s needs.
• Scope architecture, systems, and tools, including associated costs, for new projects (whether government, private or internally funded).
• Collaborate with Acacia IT and Information Security to consult about data infrastructure and workflows and to ensure any new practices are compliant with Acacia security standards.
• Oversee and design data governance protocols policies and related workflows that ensure data accuracy and compliance with relevant regulations for government-funded, public-facing and internal-corporate scale projects partner with technical compliance, IT and security staff, where necessary.
• Collaborate with stakeholders, program experts, and users to identify strategic initiatives and implement planning for enhancements to data production, verification, and reporting processes.
• Supervise the development of robust, program-wide codebase for reporting and code review procedures for data validation and best practices.

Analytics & Reporting

• Lead the data management and collection for all contract and grant reporting deliverables as well as data to support the Acacia mission which builds, strengthens, and expands immigrant legal defense. programs for adults and children that face detention and/or deportation.
• Maintain fluency in federal contract requirements as they relate to reporting and data analysis to ensure that deliverables are responsive and aligned with requirements and best practices around data security and privacy.
• Collaborate on program monitoring, special reporting and analytics initiatives with other senior leadership on REDA, finance, and program teams
• Collaborate with IT staff, external contractors, technical compliance officers, and other key staff to develop strategies for maintaining the security of the data analytics space and optimizing the analytics capacities of Acacia's program databases (which inhabit this space). Provide any required documentation to security and compliance personnel for maintaining security compliance.
• Partner with policy, program and communications staff to develop coordinated strategies that leverage data science tools to produce evidence-based messaging and materials.
• Monitor analytics costs and support annual planning and budget development, in partnership with other REDA leadership, for technology needs.
• Provide data science insights and leadership for reporting enhancements and special projects that are intended to improve program management, for government funded, public facing and internal-corporate-scale projects.

Team Leadership, Mentorship, and Development

• Develop, standardize, and maintain unit-level processes and procedures that adhere to management best practices and improve operational efficiency.
• High-level oversight of data team workflows for ad hoc data requests. Serve as data team lead for the design of protocols for requests of special strategic importance, including emergency response data request protocols.
• Supervise units responsible for user support, data reporting, and data operations and units responsible for data environment development, data tools development, and data analysis across three current contracts/grants and a suite of four separate publicly funded legal programs.
• Developing and reviewing proposals for expanding/adjusting data team staffing as required by new requests for proposals (RFPs) as well as ongoing monitoring of data team project allocations and staffing needs.
• Oversee all hiring, onboarding, and managing performance for the data teams under the Data Systems and Analytics vertical.
• Mentor and coach teams of associate directors, operations analysts, data analysts, data scientists, and data engineers, fostering a culture of excellence, continuous learning, and professional growth.

Required Skills, Knowledge, Abilities:

• Relevant work, educational background, or lived experience as a person directly impacted by the immigration system.
• Advanced data science proficiencies and data analysis skill sets.
• Exceptional written and oral communications skills, including the ability to translate and present technical processes to non-technical internal and external audiences.
• Fluency in at least one programming language (e.g., R, Python, SQL, C/C++, Java); ability to learn R and other programming languages as needed while in the role.
• Experience with AWS data product ecosystem (e.g., S3, ECS, Athena) or similar cloud-based environment (i.e. Google, Azure).
• Knowledge of federal government standards and frameworks for cybersecurity and data privacy (e.g. NIST, CCPA, FIPS), and/or experience with best practices in these areas including handling of personally-identifiable information (specifically PII and PHI).
• Working knowledge of Git and GitHub and dedication to using these tools to conduct peer code reviews and uphold coding standards.
• Strong expertise conducting data analysis and developing dashboards using software such as Tableau.
• Fluency with Zoom, Slack, Microsoft Office, Salesforce, ClickUp, Outlook, Adobe, SharePoint, VPN, Smartsheet access, and other software applications as the need arises.
• Physical presence in the U.S. required.
• In accordance with federal contracts, a National Crime Information Center (NCIC) check and a Tier 1 level security clearance are required for the DOJ projects that are serviced by this position. Candidates may also be required to secure Tier 2 (or higher) clearance as a requirement for the ORR (Office of Refugees and Resettlement) contracts that fall under their project portfolio.

Preferred Skills, Knowledge, Abilities:

• Experience using research to manage or evaluate work on federal programs.
• Fluency in a language other than English spoken by people impacted by immigration enforcement in the United States.

Education and Experience:

• Primary specialization in data science, or a closely related subfield, with a preference for additional experience in any of the following fields: computer science, operations research, economics, quantitative sociology, computational social science,, statistics, measurement, epidemiology, or a related field.
• Advanced graduate training, Ph.D., or equivalent and 6+ years of work experience, or equivalent applied experience over 10+ years.
• A professional certification in data management (i.e. DAMA - CDMP), data science (i.e. DASCA – SDS, DASCA – PDS), cloud architecture (AWS, Google, Azure, etc.), data privacy (i.e. IAPP – CIPM), and/or project management (i.e. PMI – PMP, PMI – ACP) is required. Other relevant certifications may be considered.
• Project supervision experience (5+ years), which includes supervision of data science/analytics teams and demonstrated success in the accomplishment of project goals and management of timelines, scope, deliverables, and budget.

Compensation and Benefits:

Acacia has established an internal compensation philosophy that centers equity and pay transparency. The salary for this position is set at $146,000. The salary listed is just one component of Acacia’s total compensation package for employees. Supporting Acacia staff—both personally and professionally—is our priority.

• Medical/Dental/Vision- Some plans at $0 cost to the employee
• Employee Assistance Program
• 20 days per year of vacation time
• 12 days per year of sick time
• 5 personal days
• 4 organization-wide Wellness Days
• 11 observed holidays, including the last week of December
• First time home office set-up stipend
• Internet Stipend
• 401k with 5% employer contribution, no employee participation required.

People of color and those who have been impacted by the criminal system and immigration system are strongly urged to apply. Acacia is deeply committed to race equality, inclusion and belonging and strives to create a work culture that recognizes everyone's unique lived experience.

To Apply:Submit your resume and cover letter through the Acacia Careers site. If you encounter technical issues or have accessibility needs, email your resume and cover letter to hiring@acaciajustice.org with Subject: ATTN: Human Resources / [Job Title], Acacia Center for Justice

PLEASE ONLY SUBMIT THROUGH ONE METHOD.Equal Opportunity Employment:Acacia is an equal opportunity employer and seeks to recruit persons of diverse backgrounds and support their retention and advancement within the organization. We are committed to fostering a workplace culture inclusive of people with respect to their race, ethnicity, national origin, gender/gender identity, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status, marital status, age, disabilities, political affiliation, religious beliefs, or any other characteristic. Our commitment to justice and diversity also means providing a work environment that is welcoming, respectful, and engaging.This job description is not meant to be an all-inclusive list of duties, responsibilities and requirements but constitutes a general definition of the position's scope and function within our organization.

Acacia Center for Justice is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without unlawful discrimination based on race, color, creed, national origin, sex, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, military status, prior record of arrest or conviction, citizenship status, current employment status, or caregiver status.

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