Business Data Analyst, Fellows

About the role

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is one of the nation's largest independent foundations. The Foundation supports creative people, effective institutions, and influential networks building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation supports creative people, effective institutions, and influential networks building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. MacArthur invests in solving some of the world's most pressing social challenges, including advancing global climate solutions , promoting local justice reform in the U.S., revitalizing local news , expanding who creates, uses, and benefits from artificial intelligence , and strengthening the well-being of Native communities . In addition to the MacArthur Fellows Program and the global 100&Change competition , the Foundation continues its historic commitments to the role of journalism in a responsive democracy as well as the vitality of our headquarters city, Chicago . The Foundation also maintains offices in Nigeria and India . The MacArthur Fellows Program awards unrestricted fellowships to talented individuals who have shown extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction. The MacArthur Fellowship is a "no strings attached" award in support of people, not projects. Each fellowship comes with a stipend of $800,000 to the recipient, paid out in equal quarterly installments over five years. The Business Data Analyst is a new position that will manage and lead the continued optimization of the Foundation's CRM systems and implement new functionalities. The Fellows Program uses a highly customized instance of a CRM system to track the vetting process for all nominees ; relationships among nominators, evaluators, and nominees; and historical data about Fellowship recipients. The Business Data Analyst will elicit and clarify business needs to design and implement new solutions within the system, or to partner with Foundation IT Staff when necessary. This position will also work with Fellows Program Staff to design best practices for data entry and maintaining historical data; maintain data integrity; and build queries and reports to enable analysis of data and data trends. Additionally, this role will develop and implement an updated CRM solution for the Partnerships Team including network mapping and other capabilities to maximize relationship management. They will also develop a plan in support of broader uptake of CRM usage Foundation-wide. The Business Data Analyst must be able to effectively communicate and partner with various stakeholders to meet business needs with technology solutions. Essential Duties and Responsibilities : Work with the Fellows Program and Partnerships Team to elicit business needs and identify problems Build a data architecture to enable us to store, enrich, and leverage our data. Identify opportunities for business process and data improvements Partner with Foundation IT Staff to review and/or test functionality as needed Perform necessary functional testing to ensure the success of upgrades and solutions Deliver training and technical support for Staff; develop and maintain detailed written user guides and documentation for processes and data management and standards Investigate and diagnose system issues and errors; work with Foundation IT Staff and support resources to resolve issues Stay up to date on CRM updates/changes to determine potential impact on business processes Create and update queries, reports, and data visualizations for Fellows Program, Staff and Partnerships Team as needed, including using Microsoft Power BI Ensure integrity of Fellows Program data and Partnerships data, design best practices for data entry and tracking historical data, complete regular clean-up of data Participate in ongoing relationships with business partners, including Foundation IT Staff, external support resources, and other Foundation departments Coordinate project management support on continuous improvements and key initiatives Create and/or update training materials and provide training as needed. Coordinate training material updates for cross-department functions Perform other duties as assigned