Business Insight Analyst — Education

Cognita Schools; Dubai; Hybrid; AED 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

Cognita Schools is seeking a Business Insight Analyst to become the analytics partner for our Education function. You will transform data into actionable insights to enhance student and school outcomes, building dashboards and reports from Databricks data.

Embedded in Education and reporting to central data, you will collaborate with stakeholders to answer questions with quantitative and qualitative analysis.

Qualifications

• 3-5 years' experience in a business-facing analytics, insight or BI role.
• Strong SQL and Power BI expertise for developing dashboards and reports.
• Experience working with stakeholders at all levels including school leaders and academic teams.
• Experience handling sensitive pupil and school data with professionalism and data protection awareness.

Responsibilities

• Build Power BI dashboards and reports using enterprise data models.
• Translate business questions into analytical solutions for Education teams and central data function.
• Analyse data from academic, attendance, wellbeing and destination datasets across school systems.
• Support data quality, governance and the Cognita Performance Framework and Intelligence Centre.

Skills

SQL

Power BI

Stakeholder management

Agile

Data protection

Education

Degree in a relevant field

Microsoft Power BI Certification

Job description

Job Description:

Cognita is a global leader in independent education. Founded in 2004, we are a growing community of 90 schools in 20 countries - in Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East - serving more than 100,000 students. Each of our schools are proudly unique, however our collective purpose is to create an environment where everyone can, "Thrive in a rapidly evolving world".

About the Role:

As a Business Insight Analyst, you will be the key analytics partner for our Education function, helping to transform data into actionable insights that enhance outcomes for students and schools. Embedded within the Education team while reporting into the central data function, you will build strong relationships with stakeholders, translate business questions into analytical solutions, and develop impactful Power BI dashboards and reports using trusted enterprise data models. Working directly with data held within the Databricks platform, you will analyse academic, attendance, wellbeing, pastoral and destination data from a range of school systems, combining both quantitative and qualitative insights to support Cognita's Standards for Transformational Education: Confident, Capable and Connected students. You will play a central role in evaluating educational performance, supporting data quality and governance, contributing to the development of Cognita's Performance Framework and Intelligence Centre, and helping to identify innovative AI-powered tools that improve decision-making. This is an exciting opportunity to influence educational outcomes at scale while championing data literacy and evidence-based practice across our global school community.

Working Arrangement: 4 days per week in Dubai office, 1 day working from home

Who We Are Looking For:

We are looking for an experienced and insight-driven analyst who is passionate about using data to improve educational outcomes. The successful candidate will have 3-5 years' experience in a business-facing analytics, insight or BI role, ideally within the education, schools or edtech sector, and be confident working with stakeholders at all levels, including school leaders and academic teams. You will possess strong SQL skills, with the ability to query and explore data directly to answer complex business questions, alongside advanced Power BI expertise for developing impactful dashboards and reports. An understanding of educational performance measures, including attainment, progress and value-add, is highly desirable, as is the ability to translate data into clear, actionable insights that support decision-making. Comfortable working in Agile environments, you will be skilled at gathering requirements, managing priorities and communicating effectively with both technical and non-technical audiences. Experience handling sensitive pupil, safeguarding and school data with professionalism, discretion and a strong understanding of data protection requirements is essential. A degree in a relevant field and Microsoft Power BI certification would be advantageous. Above all, you will be a collaborative and proactive individual who is committed to using data to drive continuous improvement across our schools and education community.

We are an equal opportunities employer committed to diversity and treating all employees with dignity and respect regardless of background