Senior Advisor, Data Storyteller

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Job Type:

Employee

Duration in Months (for fixed-term jobs):

11

Job Family:

Analytics and Reporting

# of Open Positions:

1

Faculty/Service – Department:

Research, Evaluation and Performance

Campus:

Main Campus

Union Affiliation:

SSUO

Date Posted:

July 17, 2025

Applications must be received BEFORE:

July 28, 2025

Hours per week:

35

Salary Grade:

SSUO Grade 11

Salary Range:

$90,987.00 – $114,932.00

About Student Affairs:

Student Affairs is at the very heart of the student experience at the University of Ottawa. We recruit the very best future students, support them throughout their university years and leave them well-prepared for fulfilling careers and future studies. Our team of more than 600 dedicated staff provides the services that keep students happy, well and thriving as they pursue their ambitions. We help them apply and enrol for courses, we oversee 11 residences and an award-winning Dining Hall, we organize fun events, we provide extensive recreation program opportunities and varsity sports activities, we run an innovative career development and experiential learning program and much more!

There’s nothing more rewarding than helping future generations reach their full potential at a world-class university. With our wide variety of career opportunities and professional development pathways, we’re sure that you’ll enjoy the experience as much as our students do.

Position purpose:

The role is positioned at the intersection of data analysis, institutional communications, and executive strategy. It is responsible for interpreting large, multidimensional datasets and distilling them into clear, accessible insights that support evidence-based decision-making. The incumbent develops and delivers high-impact communication materials (including but not limited to presentations, and visual reports) that resonate with diverse audiences ranging from students and faculty to executive leadership, donors, and government stakeholders. By combining analytical rigor with creative storytelling and strategic communication, this position ensures that key institutional messages are data-informed, audience-centered, and aligned with the University’s mission, values, and long-term goals. The role also serves as a trusted advisor to senior leaders, offering tailored communication support, fostering stakeholder engagement, and upholding ethical standards in all data and message delivery.

In this role, your responsibilities will include:

• Data Analysis, Interpretation & Visualization: Analyze large, complex, and often fragmented datasets within the higher education ecosystem to identify meaningful trends and generate actionable insights. Transform raw data into engaging, easy-to-understand visuals—such as dashboards, infographics, and charts—using tools like Power BI and Excel. Design visual content that aligns with audience needs and varying levels of data literacy, ensuring accessibility and clarity. Track user engagement and feedback to evaluate the effectiveness of data storytelling, and refine future content and formats based on those insights to continually improve communication impact.
• Strategic Communication & Narrative Development: Translate complex quantitative findings into compelling, audience-focused stories that advance institutional goals. Develop a wide range of communication materials—presentations, reports, and visual narratives—for both technical and non-technical stakeholders. Apply storytelling strategies such as narrative structure, audience framing, and contextual relevance to make content resonate and drive engagement. Align all storytelling outputs with strategic priorities to ensure consistency in message, tone, and institutional direction.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Collaborate with analysts, content experts, executive teams, and various departments to gather relevant information and co-create audience-specific communications. Translate technical data and strategic insights into accessible language and visuals for diverse audiences. Contribute to cross-functional projects by ensuring consistent storytelling, aligning content with organizational objectives, and maintaining clear communication across teams. Bridge gaps between data, strategy, and audience understanding to support unified institutional messaging.
• Executive Communication & Leadership Support: Provide comprehensive communication support to executive leadership. Craft tactful, accurate, and timely executive-facing materials that reflect institutional values and leadership tone. Support communications during crises, major announcements, or public engagements with professionalism and strategic insight. Ensure all leadership messages are aligned with the university’s broader communication goals and deliver impact with clarity and authority.
• Stakeholder Engagement & Advisory Services: Tailor communication strategies to engage a broad spectrum of stakeholders—students, faculty, donors, government representatives, and administrative leaders—based on their diverse needs, interests, and communication preferences. Advise executives and departmental leaders on message development, tone, and timing, while being sensitive to institutional politics and audience expectations. Foster strong relationships with internal and external partners to ensure communications are relevant, meaningful, and widely supported.

What you will bring:

• University degree in Communications, Business Analytics, Journalism, Marketing, Commerce, or other related field or an equivalent combination of education and work experience
• Minimum of 5 years of demonstrated experience in insight generation and storytelling, presentation of analytical findings to different audience groups, and development of analytical reporting, or similar role
• Bilingualism – French and English (written and spoken)
• Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite
• Proficient with Power BI for visualization of data and building dashboards.
• Strong storytelling and insight generation skills
• Strong analytical thinking, data visualization, and problem-solving skills
• Background in statistical descriptives and statistical measures is an asset
• Ability to work independently, manage projects and engagements
• Ability to think strategically and to exercise mature judgement
• Ability to adjust communication and presentation strategies based on audience and context
• Demonstrated ability to create high-quality presentation deliverables under tight deadlines

Key Competencies at uOttawa:

Here are the required competencies for all or our employees at uOttawa:

Planning: Organize in time a series of actions or events in order to realize an objective or a project. Plan and organize own work and priorities in regular daily activities.

Initiative: Demonstrate creativity and initiative to suggest improvements and encourage positive results. Is proactive and self-starting. Show availability and willingness to go above and beyond whenever it is possible.

Client Service Orientation: Help or serve others to meet their needs. This implies anticipating and identifying the needs of internal and external clients and finding solutions on how to meet them.

Teamwork and Cooperation: Cooperate and work well with other members of the team to reach common goal(s). Accept and give constructive feedback. Able to adjust own behaviour to reach the goals of the team.

The University of Ottawa embraces diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We are passionate about our people and committed to employment equity. We foster a culture of respect, teamwork and inclusion, where collaboration, innovation, and creativity fuel our quest for research and teaching excellence. While all qualified persons are invited to apply, we welcome applications from qualified Indigenous persons, racialized persons, persons with disabilities, women and LGBTQIA2S+ persons. The University is committed to creating and maintaining an accessible, barrier-free work environment. The University is also committed to working with applicants with disabilities requesting accommodation during the recruitment, assessment and selection processes. Applicants with disabilities may contact [email protected] to communicate the accommodation need. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority.

Note: if this is a union position: The hiring process will be governed by the current collective agreement related to the union affiliation noted above; you can click here to find out more.

If this is a front-line position with responsibilities to interact with students, selected candidates must be rated at the Low Advanced proficiency level or higher for both oral comprehension and reading comprehension in their second official language. The rating is determined by a proficiency test designed by the Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute.

Prior to May 1, 2022, the University required all students, faculty, staff, and visitors (including contractors) to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 as defined in Policy 129 – Covid-19 Vaccination. This policy was suspended effective May 1, 2022 but may be reinstated at any point in the future depending on public health guidelines and the recommendations of experts.

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