Education Data Scientist

About the Department

Reporting to the Dean of Institutional Effectiveness, the Education Data Scientist uses their experience in institutional research and higher education in combination with their data scientist skillset to support the institutional research in developing insights and tools that increase student success.

DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS:  

The Education Data Scientist analyzes large amounts of raw information to find patterns that will help improve operations and student success. Responsibilities include analysis of current and historical data on students, staff, departmental workload, enrollment, retention, and graduation. The Education Data Scientist executes strategic, innovative data driven analyses that provide valuable insight, working closely with other members of the Office of Institutional Effectiveness in gathering, analyzing, and reporting data. The EDS supports the development of dashboards, data visualizations, and automated reports and consults regularly with campus stakeholders, building productive professional relationships to understand their current processes and needs and to proactively identify opportunities for collaboration, automation, advanced analytics, and project development.

Position Duties

Identify valuable data sources and automate collection processes

Undertake preprocessing of structured and unstructured data

Analyze large amounts of information to discover trends and patterns

Use machine learning and other approaches to analyze and categorize student engagement and learning 

Build predictive models and machine-learning algorithms

Combine models through ensemble modeling

Present information using data visualization techniques

Propose solutions and strategies to operational challenges including ways to maximize student success

Collaborate with institutional research, planning, and development teams

Perform related duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications

Any combination equivalent to: Bachelor’s degree in Information Systems, Computer Science or related field and 2 years of increasingly responsible data warehouse & reporting, programming or systems analysis and design experience.

 

OR

 

An Associate’s degree in Computer Science and 4 years of increasingly responsible data warehouse & reporting, programming or systems analysis and design experience.

 

OR

 

High school diploma, GED or equivalent certificate of competency and 5 years of increasingly responsible data warehouse & reporting, programming or systems analysis and design experience.

 

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS: 

 

  Graduate degree in Data Science or another quantitative field.

Other Qualifications

KNOWLEDGE OF:

Knowledge of data extraction, collection, and analysis tools (e.g., R, SQL, Python); familiarity with Canvas, Scala, Java or C++ is an asset

Knowledge of machine-learning research

 

 

 

ABILITY TO:

Ability to use business intelligence tools (e.g., Tableau), data warehouses, and data frameworks (e.g., AWS, Redshift, Hadoop)

Interact, participate and conduct presentations to individuals, college groups, committees, organizations and others as assigned.

Analytical mind and problem-solving aptitude

Prepare comprehensive statistical and narrative reports.

Establish and maintain cooperative working relationships

Maintain a positive working environment and work towards a common goal.

First Review of Applications: Complete application packets will be accepted until the position is filled; but those received by August 25, 2026, are assured consideration. The College reserves the right to extend time limits or re-initiate the recruitment/selection process at any point.

Completed application packet must include:

•  Completed Online Application for Employment form 
•  Current resume
•  Letter of interest (Cover Letter) 
•  Copy of legible transcripts
•  List of five (5) professional references – Listed on application form

It is the applicant's responsibility to redact (or remove) any personal information from all documents prior to uploading. This includes Social Security Numbers, Date of Birth, and any photos of the applicant.

Foreign Degree: Applicants with foreign degrees from colleges or universities outside of the United States must have their coursework evaluated by a professional association that is a member of the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES) or Academic Credentials Evaluation Institute, INC. (ACEI). A copy of the evaluation must be submitted with your on-line application.

Applicants who require reasonable accommodation to participate in the selection process should contact Human Resources to make the necessary arrangements. EEO Plan 2021-2024  

Note: The District is strongly committed to achieving staff diversity and the principles of equal employment opportunity. The District encourages a diverse pool of applicants and does not discriminate on the basis of national origin, religion, age, gender, gender identity, gender expression, race or ethnicity, color, medical condition, genetic information, ancestry, sexual orientation, marital status, physical or mental disability, pregnancy, or because he/she is perceived to have one or more of the foregoing characteristics, or based on association with a person or group with one or more of these actual or perceived characteristics or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law, in any of its policies, procedures or practices. Discrimination Free Work Environment.

 The District does not provide sponsorship for authorization to work in the United States. Work authorization should be established at the time of application submission.

Benefits

Full-time permanent employees (20+ hours per month) are eligible for health benefits:

• Health

• Dental

• Vision

• Life Insurance

• Long-term Disability

In addition to the above benefits, the District also offers a robust voluntary benefits selection:

• Flex 125

• Additional products and services through American Fidelity

• Supplemental Voluntary Life Insurance

• Tax Shelter Annuities

The District participates in CalPERS Retirement System and Social Security benefits for Classified and Management employees. Employees covered under the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS), are vested 100% after five years of full-time service credit.

The District participates in the State Teacher's Retirement System (STRS) for faculty. Employees covered under the State Teacher's Retirement System (STRS), are vested 100% after five years of full-time service credit.

All coverages begin on the first of the following month after the hire date.

The following classifications are eligible for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) health benefits at the employee expense offered through SISC:

• Permanent Employees (19 hours or less)
• Adjuncts
• Temporary Hourly
• Professional Experts

For additional information, please visit our Kern Community College District Benefits webpage.

Agency Information

EmployerKern Community College DistrictAddress 2100 Chester Ave

Bakersfield, California, 93301 Phone6613365141
Website https://www.kccd.edu/human-resources/index.html