Deputy Survey Director (HERD)

ICF is seeking a Deputy Survey Director for the Higher Education Research and Development Survey (HERD). HERD is an annual survey of U.S. colleges and universities sponsored by the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) within the National Science Foundation (NSF). HERD is the nation’s primary source for tracking financial resources devoted to research in the higher education sector. ICF has conducted this annual survey of universities and colleges since 1987.

ICF manages all HERD survey design and data collection activities, including content and technical support to survey respondents. ICF also produces detailed data tables, technical summaries, methodology reports, and publicly available data files, and conducts ad hoc analysis of collected financial data and paradata. Annually, ICF conducts exploratory interviews with survey respondents to learn more about how they complete the survey and other methodological research.

The respondents to HERD typically work in the offices of financial affairs, sponsored programs, or institutional research at U.S. universities and colleges. The successful candidate will serve as a survey content expert and senior analyst supporting survey respondents, training data reviewers and support staff, and consulting with survey methodologists at ICF, and clients at NCSES.

This is an outstanding opportunity to work with talented and passionate individuals and to grow with a firm that believes in nurturing talent and developing long-term career success. ICF is a purpose driven company with a strong culture and underlying values that prize diversity, opportunity, equality, and respect. Our core values include Embracing Differences, and we seek candidates who are passionate about building a culture that encourages, embraces and hires dimensions of difference.

The position is full-time and based at ICF offices in Rockville, Maryland, when pandemic restrictions are lifted, or can be a full-time remote within with United States.

Key Responsibilities:

• Serve as subject matter expert on HERD related topics such as, fiscal management in public and nonprofit sectors, grants management, and higher education research administration, providing guidance to NCSES and the ICF project team verbally and through written memoranda.
• Directly reply to survey questions from universities and colleges as needed, and mentor other survey staff in replying to questions from survey respondents.
• Consult with NCSES on investigations of special topics, such as funding sources, expenditure types, and institution business structures and recommend changes to the questionnaire or reporting policies. This may include participating in interviews and workshops with university and college representatives.
• Train and manage teams of reviewers that examine submitted HERD surveys and follow-up with respondents to clarify data.
• Conduct annual and ad hoc analysis of research expenditure and recommend changes to questionnaire or data review procedures.
• Work with survey methodologists to design, test and implement new questions.
• Create requirements for data validations for programmers to include on the web survey.
• Write procedural documentation for use by the ICF team and methodology reports for public data users, as well as analytical reports for NCSES.  

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree (Master’s preferred) in quantitative discipline such as business administration, accounting, finance, data analytics, data science, or related field/discipline from an accredited university.
• At least 10 years of progressively responsible related work experience, including experience with financial and/or data analysis.
• At least 3 years of experience managing the work of others, including experience training and providing quality reviews of work products.
• Three (3) or more years of experience working with complex data in a relational database environment and using business intelligence/analytics tools (e.g. SQL, SAS, R, Python, MicroStrategy, Microsoft Power BI, Tableau). Working knowledge of SAS preferred.
• Experience in research administration (pre- or post-award) or financial administration at a U.S. university or college. Experience contributing to the completion of a HERD report is preferred.
• Knowledge of policies, procedures, and best practices related to fiscal management is essential, particularly in the areas of university sponsored research and federal regulations and reporting requirements.
• Demonstrated experience in writing technical documentation, or similar experience documenting policies, processes, and procedures in a user-friendly format.
• Proven experience training or mentoring others on complex topics.
• Advanced level knowledge of all Microsoft Office technology tools especially word, excel and outlook.

Professional Skills:

• Excellent verbal, interpersonal and written communication skills.
• Demonstrated strategic and analytical thinking skills with an ability to solve problems and make decisions.
• Strong team player willing to work on a variety of tasks as both a leader and team member.
• Ability to take initiative and work well independently, researching topics as needed.
• Ability to work with all levels of internal staff, as well as outside clients and vendors.
• Ability to be flexible, multi-task, prioritize, and manage multiple activities simultaneously in a fast-paced, changing environment.
• Strong organizational skills, superior attention to detail, and ability to meet critical deadlines.