Data Director

WHAT WE DO

In the United States, too few students can access effective, high-performing public schools. At City Fund, we work to increase educational opportunities for students and families by partnering with city and state leaders to create innovative public school systems. We believe that public schools do best when educators have the power to make decisions that meet the diverse needs of their students, families are provided the information and access to choose the best schools for their children, and schools are held accountable for helping all students succeed. 

City Fund provides financial support and expertise to local leaders seeking to improve educational opportunities in their cities. We support 23 cities across the country and hope to eventually reach most American cities. We focus on supporting:

• High quality, innovative K-12 schools with nonprofit governing structures and diverse leadership
• City leaders, including civic leaders and nonprofits that are working to build innovative public education systems and reflect the students and families they serve
• Advocacy organizations that build the political power of families to shape education in ways that work for them

ABOUT THE ROLE

We are seeking an experienced Data Director to lead our data infrastructure and portfolio analytics function. Reporting to the VP of Schools and Strategy, you will be responsible for building and maintaining the data systems that power our investment decision-making, learning processes, and impact measurement. This role is critical to ensuring City Fund has accurate, timely, and actionable data to drive our mission of improving educational outcomes for students.

You will partner with the VP of Research and Evaluation to translate impact measurement frameworks into operational data systems, and work closely with our internal teams to support strategic decision-making across our portfolio. You will manage consultants and/or a data manager to support this work.

We are looking for a detail-oriented professional with deep experience in data systems, database management, and visualization tools. The ideal candidate is a systems thinker who can build durable and scalable data assets, document them clearly, and empower others to make use of them. This role focuses on data systems management and analytics rather than data engineering. You'll need strong SQL skills and experience with cloud platforms like BigQuery, but won't be building data pipelines from scratch. Proficiency in visualization tools like Tableau and Google Looker Studio is essential.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES 

Data Infrastructure & Systems (60%) 

• Design, improve, and maintain City Fund's data architecture to support portfolio tracking, impact measurement, and strategic analysis
• Ensure City Fund's data is accurate, reliable, up-to-date, and accessible for all internal and external stakeholders
• Manage data acquisition processes across multiple sources—including internal team members, grantees, and external data vendors—ensuring timely delivery, validity, and completeness
• Establish and document data standards for consistent data ingestion, storage, versioning, updating, and quality control
• Manage data vendors, consultants, and/or an internal data manager to support ongoing infrastructure needs, including transforming raw data into usable formats, creating visualizations, and troubleshooting data issues

Progress Monitoring & Strategy Support (30%)

• Work closely with the VP of Research and Evaluation to develop, maintain, and continuously improve portfolio performance dashboards for internal and external stakeholders
• Support the VP of Schools and Strategy with data analysis and visualization to inform investment decisions and organizational strategy setting
• Generate performance reports for board and funders
• Prioritize and coordinate incoming ad-hoc data requests from internal and external stakeholders

Capacity Building (10%)

• Develop user-friendly tools and resources to increase data accessibility across the organization
• Translate data and projections into digestible visualizations to support internal team members and grantees in driving city strategy
• Build internal staff data literacy through training and documentation

QUALIFICATIONS

Experience

• 5-7 years of experience in data management, data analytics, or business intelligence roles
• Proven track record of designing and implementing data systems and infrastructure
• Demonstrated ability to translate complex measurement frameworks into operational systems 
• Experience managing data quality across multiple sources and stakeholders
• Experience translating data into digestible and actionable insights that drive strategy and organizational improvement
• Experience with education data, nonprofit data, or foundation portfolio management preferred

Technical Skills

• Strong command of SQL and experience working in cloud-based environments such as BigQuery
• Strong understanding of data quality assurance and data integration best practices
• Proficiency with data visualization tools, especially Tableau and Google Looker Studio
• Proficiency in data analysis tools (Excel, R, Python, Stata, or similar)
• Experience with GIS tools such as ArcGIS, QGIS, or equivalent is a plus but not required

Key Competencies

• Systems Thinking: Ability to design data infrastructure that serves multiple organizational needs
• Attention to Detail: Commitment to data accuracy and quality control
• Collaboration: Proven ability to work effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Problem-Solving: Creative approach to technical challenges and data limitations
• Communication: Ability to explain technical concepts clearly to diverse audiences
• Project and People Management: Strong organizational skills and ability to manage multiple priorities, people, and vendors to reach goals

WHAT WE VALUE

• Mission-driven with passion for improving educational outcomes
• Patient and service-oriented approach to supporting colleagues and grantees
• Adaptable and comfortable working in a small, collaborative team environment
• Intellectually curious with commitment to continuous learning
• Balance of technical excellence with strategic perspective

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE

In your first year, you will:

• Build or significantly improve City Fund's data infrastructure to support reliable portfolio tracking, impact measurement and reporting, and strategic analysis
• Establish or enhance data reporting protocols to ensure team members have access to reliable and accurate data across City Fund's programmatic and political initiatives
• Maintain and improve internal strategic planning tools and resources in partnership with the VP of Schools & Strategy
• Maintain and improve workflows for submitting timely and accurate reports to the board and funders
• Work collaboratively with multiple team members to provide clean, ready-to-use datasets and analytic support on a variety of topics to advance progress in our partner cities

WHAT YOU GET

City Fund is committed to creating and maintaining a total rewards system that supports our ability to recruit and retain a diverse and talented team. As we make decisions about total rewards, we will be guided by the following values: highly competitive pay, equitable pay, clarity, and transparency. 

The salary for this role is $190,000.

City Fund honors the diverse experiences that candidates bring to roles to which they are applying. Because we deeply value internal pay equity, City Fund does not currently differentiate starting salary offers based on years of experience, degree level, or employee geographic location.

City Fund offers a competitive total rewards package. For full-time roles, this includes 100% employer-paid health insurance, flexible PTO, 5% 401K match, 6 months of paid parental leave, and a host of other benefits.