Data Quality Specialist

Iowa State University • Ames, IA

2d

About The Position

Iowa’s Integrated Data System for Decision-Making (I2D2) seeks an exceptionally detail-oriented Data Quality Specialist (Data Analyst II) to join our team. Reporting to the Data and Analytics Manager, this role serves as a senior individual contributor with primary responsibility for executing the technical components of our data lifecycle within a secure, offline environment. In this position, you will lead efforts to restructure, clean, standardize, and document complex datasets across multiple platforms. In addition to data maintenance, you will transform and compute variables and perform final data preparation to ensure high-quality data assets ready for downstream analytical use. This is a technical data management role focused on ensuring the foundational integrity and health of data, rather than generating business insights. The ideal candidate is a self-directed problem solver who thrives on precision, can manage complex data tasks with minimal supervision, and is eager to further develop architectural decision-making skills. The interdisciplinary team at Iowa’s Integrated Data System for Decision-Making (I2D2) includes faculty, professional staff, postdoctoral researchers, and graduate and undergraduate students who collaborate closely with government agencies and statewide stakeholders. Together, they provide actionable data to inform decision-making and advance system-level coordination across early childhood services. I2D2 transforms state administrative data to answer critical questions about system performance and to strengthen coordination and effectiveness for Iowa families. We are a motivated, action-oriented team that values strong communication and collaboration. Our work environment blends virtual and in-person engagement, fostering flexibility and supporting a healthy work–life balance. We prioritize mutual support, celebrate one another’s successes, and intentionally leverage each team member’s unique strengths. Check out our I2D2 website at https://i2d2.iastate.edu/

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree and 3 years of related experience
• Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the U.S. on an ongoing basis without sponsorship. Immigration sponsorship is not available for this position.

Nice To Haves

• Bachelor’s degree in quantitative field (e.g., Social Sciences, Statistics, Information Management, or related field).
• Professional experience in a data-intensive role where you were specifically responsible for quality, cleaning, management, and documentation of complex large-scale longitudinal and/or administrative datasets.
• Strong professional experience using R/RStudio (specifically data.table/dtplyr) for data management to generate well-documented reproducible code and professional fluency demonstrated by familiarity with data management and descriptive analyses in multiple environments including Stata, SPSS, and Excel.
• Exceptional skills in technical writing and maintaining metadata records, data manuals, and codebooks; familiarity with modern documentation tools including Microsoft Loop.
• Familiarity with Smartsheet for project management, tracking data processing milestones, and managing workflow timelines.

Responsibilities

• Implement data quality frameworks and validation criteria across data domains to identify and resolve or document anomalies and inconsistencies.
• Develop and apply standardized data definitions ensuring adherence to strict internal schemas and naming conventions across diverse data systems and products.
• Create new derived variables, recode existing data elements, and compute complex indicators to prepare datasets for statistical analysis, ensuring all transformations are logically consistent and accurate.
• Build and maintain rigorous data manuals, data catalogs, technical reports, and metadata documents in Microsoft Loop.
• Document all restructuring processes, cleaning logic, computed variable formulas, validation checks and version histories.
• Create and maintain comprehensive data dictionaries, validation checklists, and process documentation summaries of datasets constructed for analytic project use.
• Conduct preliminary data profiling, including frequencies, means, and other descriptive statistics to identify anomalies and provide initial data insights to the Data and Analytics Team and project analytic teams.
• Architect and export "analysis-ready" datasets tailored to specific user requests, ensuring all merges, appends, and variable derivations are accurate, verified, and documented.
• Operate with high autonomy across diverse analytic environments, including R, Stata, SPSS, and Excel. You must be comfortable performing complex data manipulations and ensuring consistent results when moving data between these tools.

Benefits

• Iowa State Employees enjoy comprehensive health and work-life benefits, including medical and dental; as well as:
• Retirement benefits including defined benefit and defined contribution plans
• Generous vacation, holiday and sick time and leave plans
• Onsite childcare (Ames, Iowa)
• Life insurance and long-term disability
• Flexible Spending Accounts
• Various voluntary benefits and discounts
• Employee Assistance Program
• Wellbeing program

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level