Senior Analyst, Academic Planning and Resources

University of California, Santa Cruz; California (MO); On-site; USD 100,000 - 125,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Full benefits

Hybrid work schedule

Job summary

UC Santa Cruz invites applications for the Senior Analyst, Academic Planning and Resources in the Division of Physical & Biological Sciences at UC Santa Cruz Main Campus. The role provides high-level analytic and operational leadership for academic planning, curriculum and workload analysis, and resource planning, translating data into decision-support materials for senior leadership.

The incumbent will extract and interpret data from multiple sources, develop dashboards and briefing materials,

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in related area or equivalent experience/training.
• Advanced analytical, problem-solving, and organizational skills.
• Experience extracting, integrating, validating, analyzing data from multiple systems or data sources.
• Experience preparing dashboards, visualizations, presentations, briefing materials, reports for leadership.
• Strong project management skills, ability to manage multiple complex projects, deadlines, stakeholders, and recurring cycles.
• Ability to work independently, exercise sound judgment, set priorities, and move work forward with limited direction.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including drafting correspondence, summaries, reports, and executive-level materials.

Responsibilities

• Leads high-level analytical and operational support for divisional academic planning, curriculum and workload planning, enrollment management, and resource allocation.
• Coordinates annual and quarterly academic planning cycles with chairs and program leaders.
• Coordinates division's scheduling processes, reviewing conflicts, adjusting room/time, and ensuring schedules support student progress.
• Supports divisional curriculum committee work including materials preparation, agenda support, routing, and follow-up.
• Develops dashboards, briefing materials, and recurring reports to support faculty FTE requests, workload analysis, and resource planning.
• Provides TA and instructional support budget planning projections and related salary data for planning and forecasting.
• Incorporates catalog, course and program changes into planning analyses and reporting tools.
• Tracks graduate student support, admissions targets, and outcomes for planning and reporting.
• Manages operational tracking for the dean’s office budget and related planning materials.

Skills

Advanced analytical skills

Strong communication

Discretion and confidentiality

Project management

Independent work

Collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience/training

Tools

Excel

Google Sheets

PowerPoint

Tableau

Power BI

Looker Studio

Job description

About Uc Santa Cruz

UC Santa Cruz is a public university like no other in California, combining the experience of a small, liberal arts college with the depth and rigor of a major research university. It's known as an unconventional place where innovation and experimentation is part of the campus's DNA. That playful, bold spirit still thrives today, all on a campus renowned as among the most beautiful in the world.

Department Overview

The UC Santa Cruz Division of Physical & Biological Sciences is a world-leading public research division with a long-standing reputation for high-impact discovery, immersive research experiences, and excellence in science and mathematics education. The division serves a central role in the university’s instructional, research, and public service mission by transmitting advanced knowledge, discovering new knowledge, and supporting the organized advancement of knowledge in the physical and biological sciences.

PBSci provides general science and mathematics education for UCSC undergraduates across the campus, educates undergraduate science and engineering majors, and maintains research and graduate programs of national and international stature. The division includes academic departments and programs of study, organized research units, instructional and research programs, student support programs, and a variety of specialized facilities and services.

PBSci is also home to a wide range of interdisciplinary collaborations, special programs, and unique areas of study.

The division’s academic planning environment is complex and highly interconnected. PBSci manages high-enrollment gateway courses, laboratory and field-based instruction, graduate education, teaching assistant and instructional support resources, curriculum and leave planning, enrollment capacity, student success initiatives, and academic program development. The Dean’s Office supports this work through strategic planning, resource analysis, curriculum and instructional planning, student success coordination, and collaboration with departments, programs, faculty, staff, students, and campus partners.

More information can be found at: https://science.ucsc.edu/

Job Summary

Under the direction of the Assistant Dean/Chief of Staff, the Senior Analyst, Academic Planning and Resources provides high-level analytical, operational, systems, and project leadership for the Division of Physical & Biological Sciences. The position supports divisional decision-making in academic planning, curriculum and leave planning, instructional workload, enrollment capacity, teaching assistant (TA) and instructional support budget planning, student success analysis, external reviews, resource planning, dean's office operations, and campus reporting. The Senior Analyst independently extracts, integrates, validates, analyzes, and interprets data from multiple campus and divisional sources and translates findings into dashboards, presentations, briefing materials, correspondence drafts, implementation trackers, and decision-support summaries for the Dean, Assistant Deans, Associate Deans, Department Chairs, managers, and campus partners. The incumbent serves as a divisional subject-matter expert on academic planning systems, curriculum and workload data, instructional support and TA budget planning tools, catalog and scheduling processes, student success reporting, and operational coordination for recurring leadership cycles. The role requires advanced judgment, discretion, initiative, and the ability to convert complex data, policy, and process issues into clear options and recommendations for senior leadership.

APPOINTMENT INFORMATION

Budgeted Salary: $100,000/year - $125,000/year. Salary commensurate with skills, qualifications and experience.

Under California law, the University of California, Santa Cruz is required to post a reasonable estimate of the compensation for this role. The salary shown above is the budgeted amount the University reasonably expects to pay and the salary extended should not exceed this posted amount.

Benefits Level Eligibility: Full benefits

SCHEDULE INFORMATION

• Full-time, Fixed
• Percentage of Time: 100%, 40 Hours per Week
• Days of the Week: Monday to Friday, with an occasional evening or weekend
• Shift Includes: Days, Evenings, Weekends

EMPLOYEE CLASSIFICATION

Career appointment

JOB END DATE

None

WORK LOCATION

UC Santa Cruz Main Campus

UNION REPRESENTATION

RP Union

JOB CODE CLASSIFICATION

005258 (PROJECT POLICY ANL 4 RP)

TRAVEL

Never or Rarely

JOB DUTIES

35% - Academic Planning, Curriculum Operations, Scheduling, and Resource Analysis

• Leads high-level analytical and operational support for divisional academic, curriculum and leave planning (CLP), enrollment management, instructional workload analysis, instructional support (IS) planning, teaching assistant planning, and resource allocation.
• Coordinates annual and quarterly academic planning cycles, including annual CLP meetings with chairs, quarterly curriculum/resource reviews, enrollment planning, course-offering analysis, faculty teaching assignments, and follow-up tracking.
• Coordinates the division’s large lecture and course scheduling processes, including collecting departmental needs, reviewing conflicts, supporting campus large lecture meetings, facilitating room/time adjustments, and ensuring that course schedules support student progress through required sequences. Provides technical and analytical review of catalog updates, course proposals, course revisions, program statements, prerequisites/anti-requisites, and major requirement changes before divisional review and campus routing, flagging issues for further discussion in the curriculum committee meetings and/or with assistant dean and dean.
• Provides administrative and process support for divisional curriculum committee work, including materials preparation, agenda support, item tracking, routing, records, and follow-up across curriculum cycles.
• Supports PBS subject code courses, including PBS 182 and other divisional courses, by coordinating scheduling, course information, instructor assignments, and related operational details.
• Develops and maintains analyses, dashboards, briefing materials, and recurring reports to support faculty FTE requests, instructional workload analysis, department staffing analysis, advising staffing analysis, enrollment projections, waitlists, lab/field capacity, summer session, GE optimization, and resource planning.
• Provides analytical and operational support for teaching assistant and instructional support budget planning, lecturer and temporary academic staffing projections, and related salary/title data needed for planning and forecasting.
• Incorporates approved catalog, course, and program changes into academic planning analyses, CLP/IS planning materials, TA and instructional support projections, lab and classroom capacity review, enrollment planning, advising-related reports, and other divisional resource-planning tools.
• Tracks graduate student support, graduate admissions targets, and admissions outcomes, including applications, admits, yield, enrollment, TA/GSI/GSR/fellowship commitments, and other graduate program indicators needed for divisional planning, resource decisions, and central reporting.
• Manages operational tracking for the dean’s office budget, including expenditures, commitments, planning summaries, and materials to support funding decisions.

20% - Planning Database, Data Integration, Dashboards, and AI-Enabled Decision Support

• Serves as a primary divisional operational lead for the new IS/TA budget and planning database that replaces annual CLP workbook maintenance, including annual dataset uploads, validation, quality control, and reconciliation of curriculum, leave, course, salary, lecturer, temporary academic staff, TA/GSI, and instructional support data.
• Works with the vendor, divisional data management team, campus partners, and departments to improve database functionality, reporting, data integration, export processes, user workflows, and alignment with divisional planning needs.
• Supports data exports and integrations for related systems and planning processes, including scheduling workflows in CourseDog or other campus systems as appropriate.
• Extracts, integrates, validates, analyzes, and interprets data from multiple campus and divisional sources to support academic planning, enrollment forecasting, CLP, instructional workload, TA/IS planning, student success assessment, resource planning, and central reporting requests.
• Develops dashboards, visualizations, executive presentations, briefing documents, and written summaries that translate complex data and policy questions into clear findings, options, and recommendations.
• Uses advanced spreadsheet, reporting, presentation, dashboard, collaboration, and approved AI-enabled productivity tools to improve analysis, synthesis, drafting, workflow efficiency, quality control, and project tracking.
• Uses emerging AI-enabled tools, where appropriate and allowable, to support drafting, synthesis, process documentation, data interpretation, workflow design, presentation development, or project planning while protecting confidential or sensitive information.
• Identifies opportunities to automate, standardize, or streamline recurring data pulls, reporting cycles, dashboards, communication workflows, and leadership materials.

20% - Academic Program Development, Curriculum Workflow, External Reviews, and Central Requests

• Provides senior-level technical, workflow, analytical, and documentation support for catalog changes, course approvals, course revisions, program statement updates, and related curriculum processes. Performs first-level technical and workflow review before materials move forward for divisional review, helping to prevent errors, delays, inconsistent requirements, and compliance concerns. Flags and escalates items requiring Assistant Dean, Associate Dean, faculty, or academic leadership review; the position does not independently approve curriculum policy, resource commitments, or exceptions. Specific responsibilities include the following:
• Tracks annual catalog deadlines, course approval timelines, course revision workflows, and program statement submission requirements.
• Performs first-level technical and workflow review of catalog changes, course proposals, course revisions, and program statements for completeness, consistency, routing, formatting, and alignment with campus workflow expectations.
• Checks submissions for missing information, unclear student-facing language, inconsistent requirements, prerequisite or sequencing issues, enrollment impacts, and readily identifiable advising or student-facing concerns.
• Flags items requiring Assistant Dean or academic leadership review, including proposals with resource implications, TA/IS impacts, lab or classroom capacity issues, enrollment pressure, curricular conflicts, policy questions, or significant advising implications.
• Coordinates communication among departments, the Dean’s Office, the Registrar, Academic Senate committees, curriculum approval bodies, and other campus partners as needed.
• Maintains trackers, documentation, calendars, and status reports for course approvals, course revisions, catalog updates, program statements, and curriculum committee items.
• Supports the divisional curriculum committee by preparing materials, tracking agenda items, documenting follow-up, and helping departments understand next steps.
• Ensures approved catalog, course, and program changes are reflected accurately in divisional planning tools, CLP/IS planning processes, advising materials, and related resource-planning documents where applicable.
• Identifies recurring workflow problems and recommends process improvements, templates, timelines, or training to improve accuracy and reduce last-minute errors.

15% - Student Success, Advising Data, and Academic Progress Analysis

• Provides analytical and implementation support for student success, advising transition, academic progress, and divisional coordination with OCAC or other advising structures through data, documentation, outcome tracking, and implementation support.
• Produces targeted student lists and reports to help advisors, departments, and the dean’s office identify students affected by major, course, enrollment, placement, non-passing grade, credit, graduation progress, or academic progress conditions.
• Analyzes student success indicators, including math placement, grade distributions, gateway course outcomes, bottlenecks, persistence, time-to-degree, graduation rates, major migration, and academic program effectiveness.
• Works with other analysts, divisional staff, departments, and campus data partners to interpret advising data, student outcomes, campus and divisional targets, retention and graduation trends, milestone progress, early alert/campaign outcomes, and academic progress barriers.

10% - Dean’s Office Operations, Communications Infrastructure, and Continuous Improvement

• Supports the dean’s office operating cycle by coordinating timelines, materials, agendas, notes, action items, and follow-up for annual CLP meetings with chairs, curriculum committee meetings, and advising team meetings.
• Supports the communications team and dean’s office by maintaining Google Groups and email lists, tracking message requests, monitoring communications workflows, and helping ensure that divisional messages are routed, prepared, and sent in a timely manner.
• Develops and maintains documentation, templates, dashboards, workflow tools, and training materials for academic planning, CLP/database processes, catalog/schedule processes, TA/IS planning, external reviews, central requests, and communications infrastructure.
• Provides technical guidance to department staff on relevant systems and processes, including the CLP database, Smart Catalog, AIS, InfoView, dashboard/reporting tools, Google Workspace, Google Groups, CourseDog-related exports, and internal tracking systems.
• Leads continuous improvement efforts to reduce manual work, improve data quality, clarify ownership, standardize recurring processes, and increase transparency across divisional workflows.
• Provides backup support for the Executive Assistant when needed.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in related area and/or equivalent experience/training.
• Advanced analytical, problem-solving, and organizational skills sufficient to analyze complex data, policies, processes, and written materials; identify issues; develop options; and make recommendations.
• Demonstrated experience extracting, integrating, validating, analyzing, and interpreting data from multiple systems or data sources.
• Demonstrated experience preparing dashboards, visualizations, presentations, briefing materials, reports, or executive-level summaries for leadership decision-making.
• Strong project management skills, including the ability to manage multiple complex projects, deadlines, stakeholders, and recurring operational cycles.
• Demonstrated ability to work independently, exercise sound judgment, set priorities, and move work forward with limited direction.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to draft correspondence, summaries, reports, presentations, and executive-level materials.
• Experience using spreadsheet, presentation, collaboration, reporting, project tracking, and data visualization tools such as Excel, Google Sheets, Google Slides, PowerPoint, Google Workspace, and dashboard/reporting tools.
• Experience using AI-enabled productivity or analytical tools to support drafting, synthesis, analysis, workflow improvement, presentation development, or project coordination.
• Ability to use emerging technologies responsibly, including understanding when AI-enabled tools are appropriate and when confidential, protected, sensitive, or non-public data must not be entered into unapproved systems.
• Ability to work with discretion and maintain confidentiality when handling sensitive personnel, student, salary, financial, academic, strategic, or non-public information.
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work collaboratively with faculty, staff, managers, department leadership, campus partners, vendors, and senior administrators.

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced degree in education, public policy, social science, statistics, higher education administration, or a related field involving quantitative or policy analysis.
• Experience in higher education academic planning, curriculum planning, enrollment management, student success analysis, institutional research, or resource planning.
• Familiarity with UC Santa Cruz systems, policies, academic governance, curriculum processes, catalog/scheduling systems, advising systems, and divisional operations.
• Experience with curriculum and leave planning, instructional workload analysis, instructional support budgeting, external reviews, program review, or academic program development.
• Experience working with vendors, data management teams, or system implementation teams to improve functionality, data integration, reporting, exports, documentation, and user workflows.
• Experience creating dashboards or data visualizations using tools such as Tableau, Looker Studio, Power BI, Excel, Google Sheets, or similar platforms.
• Experience using generative AI tools to support research synthesis, drafting, process documentation, data interpretation, workflow design, or presentation development.
• Experience working with student success, advising, retention, persistence, graduation, gateway course, placement, or academic progress data.
• Experience managing operational budgets, tracking commitments, preparing financial summaries, or supporting budget planning processes.
• Experience supporting senior leadership through meeting preparation, correspondence drafting, agenda coordination, follow-up tracking, and executive-level project support.
• Experience maintaining Google Groups, shared communication lists, message trackers, or internal communications workflows.

Special Conditions of Employment

• Selected candidate will be required to pass a pre-employment criminal history background check.
• Selected candidate must pass the employment misconduct disclosure process.
• Ability to work long periods of time at a computer with or without accommodation.
• The selected candidate has the option to work a hybrid work schedule.