Data Analyst III – Ventura, CA (Onsite)

What We Offer
The County of Ventura offers an attractive compensation and benefits package.  Aside from our base salary range, an employee within this position will also be eligible for the following:

• A general salary increase of 3.5% effective December 22, 2024.
• Educational Incentive for completion of: 2.5% for an Associate's degree, 3.5% for a Bachelor's degree, or 5% for a graduate degree.
• Annual Leave Redemption: The option to cash out up to 100 hours of total 208 hours of Annual Leave accrued per year. A candidate selected for this position will earn 208 hours per year increasing to 288 hours after 5 years of service.
• Deferred Compensation:  Section 457 Plan and/or 401(k) Shared Savings Plan with up to a 3% match on your 401(k) contributions. Effective February 9, 2024, eligible employees meeting the criteria in Sec. 1907 of the Management Resolution will receive two percent (2%) of their annualized compensation contribution towards their 401(k) account.
• Health Plans: You are afforded a flexible credit allowance of up to $23,530 annually for purchasing medical, dental, and/or vision insurance from a group of authorized plans.
• Flexible Spending Accounts:  Pre-tax benefit towards eligible medical, dental, and vision care expenses.
• Pension Plan: Participation in the County's defined benefit plan which has reciprocity with CalPERS.
• Bilingual Incentive: Proficiency levels by exam are $.69 per hour (Level I), $1.00 per hour (Level II), or $1.32 per hour (Level III).
• Holidays: 12 paid days per year which includes a scheduled floating holiday.

The Position
Under general direction, the Data Analyst III will play a pivotal role in extracting, cleaning, analyzing, and visualizing complex data from the County’s criminal justice information systems. This position’s primary roles will be creating datasets, building dashboards, and supporting internal research projects. Ensuring integrity throughout these processes is essential because this information will be used to inform data-driven decisions that target improving the quality of the Agency’s programs and services. Work is performed primarily onsite at various Probation Agency worksites.

The Ideal Candidate
The ideal candidate will be a highly skilled Transact-SQL programmer with experience collecting, processing, analyzing, and visualizing data in an applied setting. Expertise building data dashboards with Power BI or other dashboarding tools is highly desired. This will require the use of critical thinking skills, diverse data gathering approaches, appropriate statistical methodologies, and advanced visualization techniques. 

PAYROLL TITLE:  Program Administrator III

The eligible list established from this recruitment will be used to fill current and future Regular, Temporary, Fixed-Term, and Intermittent vacancies for this position only. There is currently one (1) Regular, full-time vacancy in the Ventura County Probation Agency.

Program Administrator III is a Management classification and is not eligible for overtime compensation.

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE
OPENING DATE: Friday, February 2, 2024
CLOSING DATE:  Continuous (Previously: Friday, February 16, 2024)
FIRST REVIEW OF APPLICATIONS: week of February 19, 2024
ORAL/PRACTICAL EXAM: Tentatively the Week of February 26, 2024

Examples Of Duties

Duties include but are not limited to the following:
 

• Writes and optimizes SQL queries and stored procedures to extract and manipulate data from highly complex database systems.
• Proactively designs and maintains data dashboards with specialized software (e.g., Power BI) to inform Agency decisions on practices, programs, and policies.
• Cleans, validates, transforms, and integrates data to ensure quality and consistency.
• Collaborates with Agency employees, staff members from other agencies, and other partners to understand data requirements and translate them into technical specifications.
• Performs basic and advanced statistical analyses with quantitative and qualitative data.
• Presents findings in visual (e.g., charts, maps, and calendars) and written (e.g., reports) formats in a way that is understandable by diverse and non-expert audiences.
• Uses findings to make data-driven recommendations for practices, programming, and policies.
• Creates and maintains the documentation and code required for others to replicate and reproduce work products.
• Helps identify and implement strategies to improve existing data collection, storage, and reporting practices among other processes.
• Assists with conducting all phases of research (i.e., design, data collection, analysis, and report).
• Ensures data projects comply with ethical and legal standards.
• Works on special projects and performs other related duties as assigned.

Typical Qualifications

These are entrance requirements to the exam process, possession of which assures neither continuance in the process nor placement on an eligible list.
 
EDUCATION, TRAINING, AND EXPERIENCE
Any combination of education, training, and experience which has led to acquisition of the required knowledge, skills, and abilities.
 
The required knowledge, skills, and abilities also can be attained through possession of a Bachelor’s Degree in a field that emphasizes data collection and analysis methods (e.g., statistics, computer science, data science, criminology, or a related field) AND: 

• Four (4) years of recent professional experience using SQL in the collection, validation, analysis, and visualization of data including;
• Two (2) years of recent professional experience using data visualization tools (e.g., Power BI or Tableau). Note: these years of experience can be gained concurrently.

Related experience as noted above may be substituted for the education requirement on a year for year basis.
 
Necessary Special Requirements:
 

• Advanced experience in Structured Query Language (SQL)
• Must be willing to travel to alternate locations within the County in the course of work and travel outside the County to attend trainings and meetings.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: 
 
Knowledge of:

• Principles, methods, and techniques used in data collection and analysis
• Evidence-based practices and promising practices in criminal justice settings
• Ethical standards when working with sensitive and/or protected data and information

Ability to:

• Synthesize large amounts of data, identify trends, and summarize key elements
• Present data to diverse audiences including non-experts through written and verbal communication
• Use data findings to make recommendations for policy and practice
• Initiate, plan, and complete work assignments in a timely manner with minimal supervision
• Adapt in a changing environment
• Work well in a team

Skill in:
 

• Writing and optimizing SQL queries and stored procedures
• Data collection, cleaning, transformation, and validation
• Database development and management
• Designing and maintaining data dashboards with specialized software (e.g., Power BI and Tableau)
• Data visualization techniques (e.g., charts, maps, and calendars)
• Performing basic and advanced statistical analyses of quantitative and qualitative data
• Using statistical analysis software (e.g., SPSS, Stata, SAS, R, etc.)
• Using Microsoft programs including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Access
• Analytical and critical thinking
• Problem-solving and attention to detail

Recruitment Process

FINAL FILING DATE: This is a continuous recruitment and may close at any time; therefore, apply as soon as possible if you are interested in it. Your application must be received by County of Ventura, Human Resources no later than 5:00 p.m. on the closing date. (Previously: Applications must be received by County of Ventura Human Resources in Ventura, California, no later than 5:00 PM. on Friday, February 16, 2024.)
 
To apply on-line, please refer to our web site at www.ventura.org/jobs. If you prefer to submit a paper application, please call (805) 654-5129 for application materials and submit them to County of Ventura, Human Resources Division, 800 S. Victoria Ave., Loc. # 1970, Ventura, CA 93009.
 
Note to Applicants:  It is essential that you complete all sections of your application and supplemental questionnaire thoroughly and accurately to demonstrate your qualifications. A resume and/or other related documents may be attached to supplement the information in your application and supplemental questionnaire; however, it/they may not be submitted in lieu of the application.
 
INFORMATION FOR TRANSFER CANDIDATES
 
NOTE:  If presently permanently employed in another "merit" or "civil service" public agency/entity in the same or substantively similar position as is advertised, and if appointed to that position by successful performance in a "merit" or "civil service" style examination, then appointment by "Lateral Transfer" may be possible.  If interested, please click here (Download PDF reader) (Download PDF reader) (Download PDF reader) for additional information.
 
EXAMINATION PROCESS
 
SUPPLEMENTAL QUESTIONNAIRE – qualifying:  All applicants are required to complete and submit the questionnaire for this examination at the time of filing.  The supplemental questionnaire may be used throughout the examination process to assist in determining each applicant's qualifications and acceptability for the position. Failure to complete and submit the questionnaire will result in the application being removed from consideration.
 
APPLICATION EVALUATION – qualifying:  All applications will be reviewed to determine whether or not the stated requirements are met. Those individuals meeting the stated requirements will be invited to continue to the next step in the screening and selection process.
 
TRAINING & EXPERIENCE EVALUATION: A Training and Experience Evaluation (T&E) is a structured evaluation of the job application materials submitted by a candidate, including the written responses to the supplemental questionnaire. The T&E is NOT a determination of whether the candidate meets the stated requirements; rather, the T&E is one method for determining who are the better qualified among those who have shown that they meet the stated requirements. In a T&E, applications are either scored or rank ordered according to criteria that most closely meet the business needs of the department. Candidates are typically scored/ranked in relation to one another; consequently, when the pool of candidates is exceptionally strong, many qualified candidates may receive a score or rank which is moderate or even low resulting in them not being advanced in the process.
 
NOTE: The selection process will likely consist of an Oral Exam and/or Practical Exam, which may be preceded or replaced with the score from a Training and Experience Evaluation (T&E), contingent upon the size and quality of the candidate pool. In a typical T&E, your training and experience are evaluated in relation to the background, experience and factors identified for successful job performance during a job analysis. For this reason, it is recommended that your application materials clearly show your relevant background and specialized knowledge, skills, and abilities. It is also highly recommended that the supplemental questions within the application are completed with care and diligence.

ORAL EXAMINATION/PRACTICAL EXAM– 100%:  A job-related examination consisting of a practical exam and an oral exam will be conducted to evaluate and compare participating candidates' knowledge, skills, and abilities in relation to those factors which job analysis has determined to be essential for successful performance of the job.  Candidates must earn a score of seventy percent (70%) or higher to qualify for placement on the eligible list. The oral/practical examination may be consolidated into one process or expanded into two separate exam components contingent upon the size and quality of the candidate pool.

If there are three (3) or fewer qualified applicants, an oral/practical examination will not be conducted. Instead, a score of seventy percent (70%) will be assigned to each application, and each applicant will be placed on the eligible list.
 
Candidates successfully completing the examination process may be placed on an eligible list for a period of one (1) year.
 
BACKGROUND INVESTIGATION: A thorough post offer, pre-employment background investigation which may include inquiry into past employment, education, criminal background information, and driving record may be required for this position.
 
For further information about this recruitment, please contact Kristy.Madrigal by email at Kristy.Madrigal@ventura.org or by telephone at (805) 654-5094.
 
EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY
The County of Ventura is an equal opportunity employer to all, regardless of age, ancestry, color, disability (mental and physical), exercising the right to family care and medical leave, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, military or veteran status, national origin, political affiliation, race, religious creed, sex (includes pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding and related medical conditions), and sexual orientation.