Data Analyst and Visualization Specialist

A global higher education leader in innovative teaching, research and public service, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill consistently ranks as one of the nation's top public universities. Known for its beautiful campus, world-class medical care, commitment to the arts and top athletic programs, Carolina is an ideal place to teach, work and learn.

One of the best college towns and best places to live in the United States, Chapel Hill has diverse social, cultural, recreation and professional opportunities that span the campus and community.

University employees can choose from a wide range of professional training opportunities for career growth, skill development and lifelong learning and enjoy exclusive perks for numerous retail, restaurant and performing arts discounts, savings on local child care centers and special rates on select campus events. UNC-Chapel Hill offers full-time employees a comprehensive benefits package, paid leave, and a variety of health, life and retirement plans and additional programs that support a healthy work/life balance.

The Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research seeks to improve the health of individuals, families, and populations by understanding the problems, issues, and alternatives in the design and delivery of health care services. This is accomplished through an interdisciplinary program of research, consultation, technical assistance, and training that focuses on timely and policy-relevant questions concerning the accessibility, adequacy, organization, cost, and effectiveness of health care services, and the dissemination of this information to policymakers and the general public.

This position is eligible for a 100% remote work arrangement, consistent with System Office policy. UNC Chapel Hill employees are generally required to reside in North Carolina, within a reasonable commuting distance of their assigned duty station.

Sheps is seeking a talented individual to work as a Data Analyst and Visualization Specialist. They will be part of the Data Analytics and Research Team ( DART) positioned with our Data Engineering group. They will work directly with researchers, their teams, and other Data Scientists, Statisticians, Data Engineers, and Research Professionals to understand data and visualization needs. They will develop extracts, reports, and analytics using data from multiple datasets using various applications and programming languages such as SQL, SAS, or Python to create analytic data sets and tools such as Tableau or Power BI to visualize data.

This person will need to be adept at noticing and uncovering patterns to highlight in dashboards or other visualizations. Responsibilities will include developing and maintaining analytic datasets and other data sets for grant-funded research projects that utilize large-scale data including Medicare, Medicaid, private claims, electronic health records, and other health care utilization data. For visualizations, The person in this position will primarily utilize tools such as Tableau and/or Power BI, R-Shiny, or D3 for reporting/dashboarding and SQL for data extraction from databases and SAS files, with support from the data engineering team as needed. SAS, Python, or R may also be used for data extraction as preferred.

This role will include consultative support to stakeholders on data sources, metric definitions, general requirements development, and available analytic capabilities and methods, with support from data scientists and data engineers as needed. This person must be capable of working independently; it is imperative that they be able to manage their tasks, responsibilities, and priorities autonomously.

The Sheps Center will support training and professional development for employees to continuously assess and implement new innovations.Why you'll love this role:The Sheps Center supports grant-funded health services researchers focusing on timely and policy-relevant questions concerning the accessibility, adequacy, organization, cost, and effectiveness of healthcare services and the dissemination of this information to policymakers and the general public.

We are looking for individuals from various backgrounds with a common interest in using their advanced programming knowledge and skills to assist investigators in their efforts to effect real change in the delivery of health care services in our local communities, North Carolina, and across the country. The successful candidate will apply data analytic and visualization skills to ensure teammates and researchers can analyze and interpret patterns in the data. In this role, you will utilize multiple programming languages and work closely with visualization software in a highly collaborative, and innovative, IT team.

Master's and 1-2 years' experience; or Bachelors and 2-4 years' experience; or will accept a combination of related education and experience in substitution.

- Experience presenting data visually using at least 1 data visualization tool (such as Tableau, Power BI, R-Shiny, D3 or other similar tools)
- Experience working in teams

- Strong analytical, organizational, and detail-oriented skills
- Experience working collaboratively with stakeholders to define requirements and iteratively refine dashboards/reports
- Experience retrieving data from a variety of data sources using tools like SQL, SAS, Python, etc.
- Experience presenting data visually using 2-3 different data visualization tools (such as Tableau, - Power BI, R-Shiny, D3 or other similar tools)
- Strong understanding of best practices for visual analysis
- Strong communication (both verbal and written), customer service orientation, and interpersonal skills
- Experience working with sensitive data (such as medical claims or electronic health records) and secure computing environments where suppression of small cells might be a required

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, color, disability, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or status as a protected veteran.