Director of Data Analytics

Director of Data Analytics at Educate! Educate! works to transform education in Africa to teach youth to solve poverty for themselves and their communities. Educate! provides youth with skills training in leadership, entrepreneurship and workforce readiness along with mentorship to start real businesses at school. Our model is delivered through practically-trained teachers and youth mentors. Educate! is becoming more data- and technology-driven, and the performance metrics function is central to that shift. The performance metrics function tracks our monitoring metrics—both operational metrics that help implementation teams run programs well, and classic monitoring of whether we are doing the right things: activities, outputs, and near-term outcomes. It works alongside, and hands off cleanly to, a separate evaluation team that owns deeper impact and causal work. This is a build role at a pivotal moment, and you will drive two important shifts: 1. First, transforming our current Performance Metrics team, structures, and processes to become AI-native. 2. Second, you will sit on a cross-functional team of senior leaders to implement our predictive analytics strategy, working in partnership with our evaluation, product, implementation, and tech teams. As our most senior data leader, the Director of Data Analytics will design and own all four pillars of Educate!’s data function: data design, data engineering and infrastructure, analytics oversight, and data collection. You will operate as a “full-stack analyst” leader: technically fluent in SQL, dbt, and cloud warehousing, while acting as a people leader and a trusted cross-functional partner to Technology, Evaluation, and Product. **Expected Impact** The specific milestones below will be calibrated with the COO, but within this role’s first year, we expect: - **First 6 months:** You understand the current metrics landscape, team, and data stack, and have established the function’s strategy and operating model alongside the COO. The team is structured and staffed as an AI-native team built to scale. - **By 12 months:** Implementation, product, and leadership teams utilize self-service analytics for 90% of their data needs. The analytics engineering layer on BigQuery is healthy and fully owned, and the team actively utilizes AI-native practices. You are also overseeing data architecture in alignment with the predictive analytics strategy. **Responsibilities** **Defining Vision and Structure for Performance Metrics Function** - Set the strategy, operating model, and priorities for the performance metrics function. - Establish direction, standards, and expectations across the entire department. - Build the function’s capability: Establish team structures, develop streamlined processes, and build cross-functional forums to ensure best-in-class data systems—especially as our strategy shifts toward predictive and self-service analytics. - Develop your leaders through targeted coaching, clear leveling frameworks, and cultivating a team culture of rigor and continuous learning. - Build systems and standards that ensure metrics actively support implementation teams in managing day-to-day program execution. - Maintain a clear boundary and clean handoff with the evaluation team, ensuring the two functions complement rather than duplicate each other’s efforts. **Partner with the central Tech team**

7 years of experience in data analytics, data engineering, or a related field; proficiency in SQL, dbt, and cloud warehousing (e.g., BigQuery); experience in designing and implementing AI-native data systems; strong leadership skills to build and develop a high-performing team; ability to partner with cross-functional teams including Technology, Evaluation, and Product; experience in setting data strategy and operating models; familiarity with predictive analytics and self-service analytics frameworks; Bachelor’s degree in Data Science, Computer Science, Statistics, or a related field (BA/BSc/HND); experience in monitoring and evaluation metrics is a plus.