Senior Strategic BI Analyst: Student Lifecycle

Stellenbosch University; Stellenbosch; On-site; ZAR 900,000 - 1,300,000; Full time

Job summary

Stellenbosch University seeks a Senior Strategic BI Analyst within the Student Lifecycle team to transform student data into decision-ready insights for faculties and institutional planning.

The role provides guidance to data analysts, collaborates with the Student Success Hub, and contributes to enrolment forecasting and reporting models on the Stellenbosch Campus.

Qualifications

• A quantitative degree with strong analytics background; master's or equivalent with several years' experience.
• Demonstrated experience in lifecycle/cohort analytics, reporting and forecasting.
• Experience with SQL, Power BI, Excel and statistical tooling; data modelling and dashboards.
• Experience integrating data from multiple source systems.
• Strong written and verbal communication; stakeholder engagement.
• Ability to lead and provide technical guidance to analysts.
• Ability to work independently and collaborate with teams.

Responsibilities

• Analyse enrolment, registration, retention, success and graduation data across the student lifecycle.
• Apply analytical and modeling techniques to produce decision-ready insights.
• Run cohort tracking and throughput analytics, maintain tracking models and indicators.
• Build and maintain interactive dashboards and standard reporting.
• Forecast student numbers for faculties and qualifications for enrolment planning.

Skills

Analytical thinking

Stakeholder engagement

Leadership/mentoring

Communication skills

Independent work

Education

Master's degree (NQF 9) in a quantitative field

Honours degree or postgraduate diploma (NQF 8)

Bachelor's degree or advanced diploma (NQF 7)

Tools

SQL

Power BI

Excel

Statistical tooling

Job description

Senior Strategic BI Analyst: Student Lifecycle (Post Level 7)

Institutional Strategy, Research and Analytics (ISRA)

Senior Strategic BI Analyst: Student Lifecycle (Post Level 7)

(Stellenbosch Campus)

Ref. REC/399/0926

Department Description/Departement Beskrywing

The Division for Institutional Strategy, Research and Analytics (ISRA) supports the strategy, planning, projects and decision-making of Stellenbosch University (SU). This post sits in the Integrated Data Analytics (IDA) functional area of ISRA, which turns institutional data into integrated information that strengthens strategic, tactical and operational decision-making across the University.

Within IDA, the Student Lifecycle cluster provides analytics across the student journey (enrolment, registration, retention, success and graduation), including cohort tracking and throughput, student dashboards and standard reporting, and enrolment-planning support.

The incumbent contributes to student-lifecycle analytics for the University, turning student data into decision-ready insight for faculties, Student Affairs and institutional planning. The incumbent provides technical guidance to Embedded Data Analysts and interns in the cluster and works closely with the Student Success Hub.

Duties/Pligte

• Analysing student enrolment, registration, retention, success and graduation data across the student lifecycle, and conducting data investigations for faculties and professional and support (PASS) environments.
• Applying analytical, statistical and data-modelling techniques to produce robust, decision-ready insight.
• Running cohort tracking and throughput analytics with the Student Success Hub and maintaining student tracking models and early-signal indicators of retention and success.
• Building and maintaining interactive student dashboards and reporting models, compiling standard student reports, and operating the ad hoc institutional information service.
• Preparing the student-number forecasts per faculty and qualification type for the institutional enrolment planning process.
• Providing SUNStudent business-analysis support, building and maintaining self-service tools and data-extraction templates, delivering user training and conducting specialist research on student success and retention.

Job Requirements/Pos Vereistes

• A qualification in data science, statistics, mathematical science, information systems, analytics, econometrics, or a related quantitative field. Qualification and relevant experience will be considered together: a master's degree (NQF 9) with at least three years' relevant experience, an honours degree or postgraduate diploma (NQF 8) with at least five years' relevant experience, or a bachelor's degree or advanced diploma (NQF 7) with at least seven years' relevant experience.
• Experience in student, institutional, operational or comparable data analytics, with demonstrated experience in lifecycle/cohort analysis, reporting, forecasting and data investigations.
• Experience with SQL, Power BI, Excel and statistical tooling, or equivalent, including data modelling and interactive development.
• Experience working with data from multiple source systems.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving and critical thinking skills.
• Experience in managing, leading and providing technical and analytical guidance to data analysts or other data professionals.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong stakeholder engagement, with the ability to translate complex data into actionable insights for non-technical audiences.
• The ability to work independently and collaborate effectively with colleagues and teams.

Recommendation/Aanbeveling

• Experience in a higher education or comparably complex institutional environment.
• Familiarity with the University's student information system (SUNStudent) and other institutional source systems and data structures.
• Data warehouse and dimensional modelling experience.
• Knowledge of AI-enabled analytics tools and workflows.
• Proficiency in reading and understanding Afrikaans.

Currency Commencement Date01-Dec-2026 Closing Date15-Oct-2026 Amount of Travel Work At Home