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Reporting to the LCMS Secretary, the Office of Rosters, Statistics and Research Services (R,S&RS) provides management and administrative support for the LCMS Secretary as well as other executives and ministries throughout the LCMS.

Included in this office there are the following two activities:

• The Rosters and Statistics activity maintains—by interaction with the districts, congregations, and schools of the Synod—the official LCMS rosters and statistics of congregations, schools, and church workers. Additionally, this office provides list management services for the rosters of congregational lay leaders, recognized service organizations, and both LCMS high school and junior high school youth. Much of this information is published in the Lutheran Annual and is available on the LCMS Web site. Information is also made available to all congregations, schools, districts, and boards, as well as to other approved organizations. Increasingly, this activity supports online-interactive roster maintenance and polity process facilitation / assurance across the districts, congregations and schools of the Synod.

• The Research Services activity provides a full range of research and analysis services, consults with Synod entities in developing research directions, and develops its own strategic research intended to guide Synod ministries in the context of long-term trends. Besides supporting the ministry offices and LCMS Officers located at the International Center, Research Services assists the districts, seminaries, colleges and universities, Synod wide corporates, and other entities, and communicates broadly with Synod and its agencies concerning important trends.

The Office of Rosters, Statistics, and Research Services also provides the LCMS Secretary with support services in several areas. This support includes: convention support, Synod wide election processes, monitoring the integrity of the LCMS rosters, supporting the roster of reconcilers and hearing facilitators, facilitating blind draws for dispute reconciliation and expulsion processes, and other special projects.

Reporting Relationships

• Reports to the Director of Rosters, Statistics, and Research Services.

Essential Job Functions

• Participate in cross-functional projects using data modeling and analysis techniques to discover insights that will guide strategic decisions and uncover optimization opportunities.
• Build, develop and maintain data abstraction models (such as an object relationship model [ORM]), reporting systems, data automation systems, dashboards, and performance metrics that support key business and ministry decisions.
• Assist with the design and implementation of technical processes to address business issues in support of Synod ministries.
• Design and deliver reports and insights that analyze key operations and performance metrics.
• Assist with optimizing processes for data intake, validation, and mining as well as modeling, visualization and communication deliverables.
• Assist with examining, interpreting, and reporting results of analytical initiatives.
• Perform other duties and special projects as assigned by the department director.

Education and Experience

• A minimum of a bachelor’s degree in data analytics, data science, computer science, or similar field, or equivalent experience monitoring, manipulating, and presenting insights from data using various query language, reporting, and visualization tools.
• Experience with church ministries, especially those of The LCMS, is preferred.

Competencies (Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities)

• Working knowledge of data mining principles: predictive analytics, mapping, collecting data from multiple data systems on premises and cloud-based data sources.
• Understanding of and experience using analytical concepts and statistical techniques: hypothesis development, designing tests/experiments, analyzing data, drawing conclusions, and developing actionable recommendations for ministry decisions.
• Working knowledge of statistical modeling techniques: GLM multiple regression, logistic regression, variable selection, etc.
• Experience cleaning and validating large and complex data sets for analysis.
• Experience using analytical programming languages (preferably R or pandas) to produce code notebooks, models, charts, and macros.
• Experience working with and creating databases and dashboards drawing from multiple data sources to inform decisions.
• Strong problem solving, quantitative, and analytical abilities.
• Strong ability to relate, communicate, and collaborate with executive ministry leaders, clergy, other church work professionals, and business units.
• Good organization skills and ability to work on numerous projects simultaneously.
• Driven to meet deadlines with minimal supervision.
• The right candidate will be experienced programming with query and analytical languages: SQL, R, Python.
• The right candidate will also be experienced across a range of the following tools/programs:
• BI & Analytics platforms.
• Data visualization tools.
• Microsoft Office suite including strong Excel and Access skills.

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