Director of Institutional Research

What Does a Professional in this Career Do?

A Director of Institutional Research oversees institutional research and studies for a college or university. Designs and leads studies evaluating the effectiveness of the institution's programs and policies. Manages data collection and analysis with regards to these questions, and directs formulation of research reports.

Job Outlook

There were 48 Director of Institutional Research job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 812 in the United States.

In combination with other careers in the Researcher / Research Associate industry, which includes the Director of Institutional Research career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2016:

Salary

Many new Director of Institutional Research jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.

National

The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $115,228.

State

The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $115,228.

Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Director of Institutional Research postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $90,568.

Education and Experience

Posted Director of Institutional Research jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.

Education Level	Percentage
Associate's Degree	0%
Bachelor's Degree	45.07%
Master's Degree	75.49%
Doctoral Degree	30.54%
Other	2.34%

Posted Director of Institutional Research jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.

Years of Experience	Percentage
0 to 2 years	8.99%
3 to 5 years	70.1%
6 to 8 years	16.34%
9+ years	4.58%

Skills

Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Director of Institutional Research positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.

Baseline Skills

A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.

Research (78.45%)
Leadership (68.84%)
Planning (64.04%)
Decision Making (57.39%)
Communication (54.06%)
Strategic Planning (51.72%)
Management (47.66%)
Coordinating (31.53%)
Writing (29.31%)
Operations (26.23%)

Defining Skills

A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.

Surveys (31.77%)
Tableau (Business Intelligence Software) (32.15%)
Social Sciences (23.04%)
SQL (Programming Language) (27.47%)
Statistics (40.76%)
SAS (Software) (24.56%)
Power BI (23.42%)
Project Management (23.8%)
Python (Programming Language) (10%)
SPSS (Statistical Software) (33.67%)
Institutional Research (71.65%)
R (Programming Language) (22.53%)
Data Visualization (29.24%)
Data Collection (44.43%)
Data Governance (22.66%)
Data Integrity (19.87%)
Data Management (24.68%)
Continuous Improvement Process (29.75%)
Dashboard (32.53%)
Data Analysis (56.33%)

Necessary Skills

A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.

Research Support (3.54%)
Data Analysis Tools (3.54%)
Internal Reporting (10%)
External Reporting (19.24%)
Effective Communication (3.92%)
Sales Prospecting (5.32%)
Data Storage (2.78%)
Data Science (16.2%)
Qualtrics (8.86%)
Process Improvement (3.92%)
Student Engagement (3.16%)
Survey Research (7.59%)
Stata (6.58%)
Statistical Packages (3.92%)
Statistical Software (14.68%)
Student Information Systems (9.11%)
Research Design (13.54%)
Resource Allocation (7.72%)
Qualitative Research (8.99%)
Quantitative Research (9.87%)
Predictive Modeling (5.57%)
Program Assessment Rating Tool (7.22%)
Program Evaluation (13.8%)
Research Methodologies (16.84%)
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) (14.68%)
Information Management (1.52%)
Higher Education (14.18%)
Scalability (1.39%)
Public Administration (2.91%)
Performance Appraisal (3.67%)
Enrollment Management (12.53%)
Finance (12.03%)
Dissemination (3.8%)
Educational Research (9.24%)
Data Warehousing (13.04%)
Relational Databases (11.9%)
Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) (5.57%)
Data Entry (4.18%)
Data Quality (9.49%)
Computer Science (8.73%)
Information Systems (9.62%)
Fundraising (6.2%)
Change Management (3.16%)
Customer Relationship Management (4.3%)
Automation (3.29%)
Benchmarking (6.71%)
Business Intelligence (9.49%)
Applied Research (3.42%)
Auditing (4.43%)
Accounting (3.16%)
Artificial Intelligence (3.04%)
Data-Driven Decision Making (9.24%)
Student Learning Outcomes (12.28%)
Program Development (3.92%)
Microsoft Access (10%)
Strategic Prioritization (6.08%)
Prospect Research (4.56%)
Higher Education Administration (8.61%)
Workflow Management (5.44%)
Academic Affairs (18.23%)
Policy Development (8.1%)
Quantitative Data Analysis (5.7%)
Data Literacy (8.61%)
Educational Assessment (11.39%)
Student Services (9.11%)
Statistical Analysis (18.86%)
Compliance Reporting (11.39%)
Grant Applications (4.18%)
Statistical Reporting (4.05%)

Salary Boosting Skills

A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed.

Data Visualization (63.29%)
R (Programming Language) (48.77%)
Tableau (Business Intelligence Software) (69.59%)

Alternative Job Titles

Sometimes employers post jobs with Director of Institutional Research skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:

Director of Institutional Effectiveness
Director of Institutional Research and Effectiveness
Director of Institutional Research and Assessment
Director of Accreditation
Associate Director of Institutional Research
Institutional Researcher
Institutional Research Analyst
Director of Research Administration
Institutional Sales Representative

Similar Occupations

If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.

Common Employers

Here are the employers that have posted the most Director of Institutional Research jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.

United States

CUNY (9)
City Colleges of Chicago-District Office (8)
University of Arkansas (8)
George Mason University (7)
University of Cincinnati (7)
St. John's University-New York (7)
University of Hawaii System Office (7)
University of North Carolina Wilmington (6)
University of Utah (6)
Alamo Colleges District (6)

North Carolina

University of North Carolina Wilmington (6)
University of North Carolina (4)
Elon University (4)
North Carolina State University (4)
Atrium Health (2)
East Carolina University (2)
Brunswick Community College (2)
Pitt Community College (2)
North Carolina A & T State University (2)
Wake Forest University (2)

NC State Programs Relevant to this Career

If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!

All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.

Science and Research