Data Analytics & Reporting Product Manager

An experienced product manager within the data analytics field who can shape our analytics and reporting product and ultimately the function as a whole!

This role requires a unique blend of creativity, technical proficiency, a firm grasp of product management principles and an imagination run on data analytics!

History and purpose

Cognician is a multi-award-winning online learning company with offices in Cape Town, London and San Francisco. Our founding belief is that people are capable of great things when their behaviour is driven by powerful ideas and deeply felt emotions. What does that mean? It means we deliver significant, measurable behaviour change to our clients in 30 days or less.

Cognician was founded in 2010 by Barry and Patrick Kayton, who grew the company and platform out of their previous instructional design agency, Bright Sparks, founded in 1999. After being joined by Robert Stuttaford, CTO, and Michael Leeman, CFO, the core founding team went on to grow Cognician into a team of 60 strong, and the world’s best-kept secret in corporate learning. And 2022 saw Colin Sloman join as our Chief Strategy Officer.

Our primary global partner and client is Accenture. Via Accenture and other partners, we have acquired an enviable list of Fortune 500 clients. Our aim now is to accelerate our growth through elevating and managing the delivery of our incredible reporting product and service (cue data and reporting passion ignition), driving the sale of our packaged products (there's that word again) and maintaining a compelling dialogue with clients and prospects.

Industry

Online corporate learning, operating at the intersection of learning and change management.

Organisational structure

https://www.cognician.com/our-team/

Job description

We’re looking for a Data, Analytics, and Reporting Product Manager who can analyze and report on client and business data, transforming it into actionable insights for our stakeholders. You will play a crucial role in supporting data-driven projects and spearheading the automation of reporting.

Cognician has always been capable of collecting data that clients struggle to get in any other way. Data that can tell them if their expensive transformation efforts are on track. Our challenge has been compiling this data in a repeatable way for internal efficiency, and in a way that makes it actionable for clients. We’ve made great progress on this in the last year, but there are many problems yet to be solved. The amazing part is that when you solve these problems you will be doing so for some of the world’s greatest companies.

While a hands-on approach to data product management is essential, including the willingness to dive into the data, you will also need to leverage your technical expertise and stakeholder management skills to drive the development of high-quality data products. You will work in an agile environment, collaborating with cross-functional teams to prioritize and deliver custom data analyses for our clients, and you’ll develop product features that contribute to business outcomes. Also, you will serve as the key technical point of contact, providing guidance on best practices for data product design and implementation.

You will not have any direct reports off the bat, so management experience is not expected right away. However, over time, there is an opportunity to build a team around this function, and to develop your own management skills.

What experience do you have?

You’ve led and delivered on data, analytics, and reporting projects in dynamic environments, showcasing your ability to balance strategic thinking with hands-on delivery. Your experience includes managing end-to-end data processes, from data collection and analysis to reporting and presentation of insights. You’ve successfully collaborated with diverse teams and stakeholders to deliver high-impact reports and data-driven solutions.

You've spearheaded the development and implementation of data-driven projects, demonstrating a hands-on approach to data management and analysis. You are comfortable getting your hands dirty, diving into data sets to extract actionable insights and drive decision-making. Your track record includes resolving complex data issues independently, prioritizing tasks effectively, and delivering high-quality reports under tight deadlines. You thrive in environments where there is no dedicated data team to support you, taking ownership of the entire data lifecycle to ensure successful outcomes.

You may have started as a Data Analyst and worked your way up to become a Data Analytics Manager at a small to medium-sized enterprise in a technology-driven or tech-enabled education setting. Alternatively, you might have worked as a Data Analyst at a startup, where you were the sole data expert responsible for managing all aspects of data analysis and reporting.

Why do you want this job over another?

Because as much as you’re fascinated by data, you’ll also driven to put a dent in the universe by doing something that hasn’t been done before.

So, what exactly hasn’t been done before, which we are doing?

There is no other platform that collects data about human action the way we do. We’re not a survey platform, although we can collect survey data. We give people actions to perform. We help them to follow through on those actions. We help them to reflect on what they’ve done so the experiences become durable and more likely to be repeated. And we help them connect with each other in the process, so the organization’s change goals can leverage a scale effect. And at each point in the process we collect data about what people are doing and how they’re changing.

This combination simply doesn’t exist anywhere else. And when you add the fact that we can customize this formula to the specific needs of a client, while maintaining repeatability and efficiency, you can begin to appreciate how unique a data proposition it is. It’s what enables us to achieve large-scale, measurable change in global organizations in a very short space of time.

A Day in the Life of a Data Analytics, and Reporting Product Manager

[Before you kick off, we hope you’ve had a good night’s sleep, a good breakfast, and perhaps a walk, a cycle, or a run, with lots of fresh air. We value wellbeing, and it starts with how you organise your day.]

8:30 AM - 9:00 AM: You start your day by reviewing emails and Asana inbox for any urgent tasks or messages. You never know what new request will land, which will give you the opportunity find a flash of gold in the numbers!
9:00 AM – 9:30 AM: You join your virtual team stand-up to discuss priorities for the day and address any immediate issues.
9:30 AM - 10:30 AM: You dive into data analysis, focusing on a specific client project to generate insights and prepare a report. This project involves a global restaurant chain that is going through a top to bottom digital transformation, which Cognician is helping to scale.
10:30 AM - 11:00 AM: Take a short break and catch up on industry news or professional development resources. Many of our clients are themselves going through major data transformations, so there’s a lot you can learn from seeing how the corporate giants think about data strategy, data talent design and cultivating data literacy from the ground up.
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM: You work on automating a reporting template to streamline future reporting processes. You get into a deep state of flow and you get a kick out of thinking about how the time you spent now could enable countless future reports, delivering value in perpetuity.
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM: You grab a bite and take a walk. Nothing like a change of scenery to refresh body and mind.
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM: You meet with project teams and clients to discuss data analysis results and gather requirements for new data product features. By clarifying these requirements up front you know you’re creating major efficiencies down the line.
2:30 PM - 3:00 PM: You follow up on action items from the meeting, prioritizing tasks and delegating where necessary. Check, check, check! Love it!
3:00 PM - 4:30 PM: You spend some time standardizing and documenting client reporting products, processes, and standards. The ducks are all in a row. Quack:)
4:30PM - 5:00 PM: You wrap up the day by reviewing tasks completed and setting priorities for tomorrow. You’ve done a lot. But what really blows your mind is just how far-reaching your work is. Your reports and insights are read by decision makers at some of the world’s largest and greatest companies. Their decisions impact the lives of millions of employees, stakeholders, shareholders and community members.

A Week in the Life of a Data, Analytics, and Reporting Product Manager

In a typical week, you spend time analyzing and reporting on client and business data, transforming it into actionable insights for stakeholders. You support data-driven projects and spearhead the automation of reporting, ensuring that reports, templates, dashboards, and metrics are maintained. Repeatability is a watchword at Cognician, and we’re constantly working on how we do the work, not just the work itself.

You work through your Asana inbox on a daily basis to prioritize and deliver custom data analyses for clients, ensuring that you are continually looking for opportunities to generalize requirements and brief in product feature requests to the Platform Team.

You work closely with project teams and their clients, discussing results, recommendations, and meaningful insights gained through data analysis. In these discussions, you ensure that you are focused on gathering and prioritizing product, customer, and business requirements that help you to define data product features and enhancements. Additionally, you collaborate with development teams to drive the product backlog, ensuring alignment with business and user needs.

Throughout the week, you standardize and document client reporting products, processes, and standards, and work on improving the usability and efficiency of data and reporting tools. You provide support for training needs and operational readiness related to data feature releases and enhancements and resolve escalated technical data issues while contributing to process improvements.

Responsibilities

Collect and analyze data using advanced statistical models to support data and reporting solutions projects.
Maintain standard and ad hoc reports, templates, dashboards, insights, scorecards, and metrics tailored to appropriate stakeholders.
Communicate results, recommendations, and meaningful insights gained through data analysis to internal stakeholders through discussions, presentations, and write-ups, informing strategic and operational plans.
Perform ad-hoc analysis to address business questions and drive decision-making.
Utilize data mining techniques to consolidate and analyze information from various sources, supporting process optimization and automation modeling.
Identify and understand source data systems and resolve data issues in alignment with business requirements.
Prioritize product, customer, and business requirements to define data product features and enhancements.
Collaborate with development teams to align the product backlog with business and user needs.
Standardize and document client reporting products, processes, and standards.
Enhance the usability and efficiency of data and reporting tools.
Provide support for training needs and operational readiness related to data feature releases and enhancements.
Resolve escalated technical data issues and contribute to process improvements.

Experience

Must-haves

Bachelor's degree in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics.
4-8 years of experience in data and analytics.
Experience with data products in a technology-driven or tech-enabled education setting.
Proficiency in data processing techniques and tools.
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
Ability to manage time and prioritize projects effectively.
Attention to detail and accuracy in work.
Knowledge of business operations and strategies.
Experience with data modeling and reporting packages (BI Tools).
Strong communication and collaboration skills.
Ability to work in a fast-paced environment and deliver results.

More Must-haves

Analytical Thinking: Candidates must excel in data analysis, identifying trends and anomalies using reporting and statistical tools.
Mathematics: Strong math skills are essential, along with familiarity with accounting practices and software.
Computer Skills: Proficiency in various software packages, including reporting and statistical applications, is crucial for adapting to new tools efficiently.
Team Collaboration: Effective communication and interpersonal skills are necessary for collaborating with cross-functional teams.
Organization Skills: The ability to thrive in dynamic environments and manage multiple projects simultaneously is vital.
Action Bias and Business Acumen: Candidates should demonstrate a proactive mindset, connecting their work to metrics and company strategy.

Culture

We’re a “Top Culture Company”. We have an award to prove it:)
We value Questioning, Integrity, Excellence, Action, Teamwork, Empathy, People, and Wellbeing. We don’t expect you to recite the definitions, or even remember the list. We hire people who share our values, though.
We know what it means to balance family and work life – catch you on the next school run.
We have quarterly internal awards, which we call Mind, Heart and Hands.
Weekly team meetings end in appreciation sessions, which can often run over time. We genuinely care for each other, and for the ways in which we work together.
Everything we do is about meaningful work. Our work improves the lives of the people who take our programs. And it improves the organisations who run them.

Perks

We’re fully remote but there’re always great meetups that you can opt to join and a monthly coffee budget to change up the four walls a bit.
We cover your home wifi costs in full.
You’ll have access to the very best digital coaching programs we offer, and numerous opportunities for learning and development.

Every five years you get an extra month of paid leave as a sabbatical.
We use Macs, so you can breathe a sigh of relief.

How to Apply

Please apply for this role by completing the relevant application form on our current website.