Hiring a Senior Web Analyst? Here's a Suggested Job Requisition / Description

There are a lot of jobs posted in different places essentially looking for the same kind of person: Web Analyst. Someone who can come in and provide insights to companies who have massive amounts of clickstream data, insights that will be used to drive actions which have a reasonable chance of success when measured by key site outcome metrics (Revenue, Conversion Rate, Problem Resolution Rate, Customer Satisfaction etc).

It is interesting to note that all these job requisitions are different and have various points of emphasis in skills or other things. So here is a suggested job req for your consideration (and use if you want to). It is not better than anything else out there, but hopefully it is brain food.

There were a couple of important points it is trying to hit with this requisition:

• Over communicate to the candidate. Lots of job reqs don’t do this. They talk about the employer and the jargon of greatness and couch in sometimes ambiguous terms what the job actually is. This job tries to be very explicit about what is expected of the candidate and what their life could look like (Typical Deliverables).
  

• It deliberately tries to emphasize roundness in experience well beyond ClickStream and knowledge of a standard web analytics tool. It emphasizes Trinity experience. It also stresses team and leadership skills (the implication being that a Senior Analyst will not be a report writer / publisher).
  

• There is much less clickstream analysis experience (to try and get people will less deep entrenched mindsets in old web analytics), asks for traditional Business Intelligence experience (both to look  for experience in analysis and also because I predict the future will be less in web analytics tools and more outside in BI type environments) and seeks atleast basics in SEM, SEO, Competitive analysis, Testing etc.
  

• It is hard to do this in the req but in the interview but I would deeply investigate if the candidate is just a sophisticated "numbers person" or had business acumen. I would look for 70 % of the latter and 30% of the former in a Senior candidate. You might put a different % but please look for raw business acumen / savvy.

 Here’s the req / job description……..

Senior Web Analyst

Job Content & Scope:

Support the analytic needs of a business unit by analyzing web traffic using clickstream tools such as ClickTracks, Omniture etc. Use standard BI tools, such as Brio or Business Objects, to produce reports relating to outcomes.

Create holistic dashboards by pulling data from different data sources and websites for presentations to senior management team.

Collaborate with external partners such as Agencies to assist with data collection and reporting.

Lead driving core insights from the data to suggest, create and execute multivariate or a/b/c tests that drive fundamental improvements to the site experience.

Exhibit a high level of expertise in driving the data strategy across multiple “listening posts” (websites, surveys, testing, CRM systems, market research etc).

Senior Business Analysts will typically focus on multiple business unit websites and support all facets of the decision making platform (clickstream analysis, outcomes analysis, search analysis, multivariate testing analysis). They will also work with the website technology team closely to identify gaps in the data capture strategy and collaboratively implement enhancements. They will also be expected to partner outside the business units and outside the company to ensure that best practices in metrics and decision making are being exposed to the BU management and core website decision makers.

Typical Deliverables:

• Weekly, monthly reports (excel, BI tools, clickstream analytics).

• Lead development of senior management dashboards.

• Website behavior and customer experience analysis.

• Data consolidation and validation.

• Coordinating tags, tracking parameter implementations.

• Lead creation and completion of Multivariate and A/B testing documents (from hypothesis creation to influencing creatives to identifying success metrics) and post test analysis.

• Business requirements synthesized from multiple sources including product managers, development teams, and functional group members.

• Documentation relating to existing processes and suggestion / presentations for improving those processes.

• Effective and persuasive presentations (verbal and written) for project teams and business leaders.

Knowledge / Background / Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree (MBA preferred).

• Atleast three to four years of working with standard clickstream analysis tools: Omniture, ClickTracks, WebTrends, HBX, CoreMetrics etc.

• Two years of experience in advanced web analytics methodologies such as experimentation and testing, competitive analysis, surveys and market research.

• Three to five years of experience in one or more roles in an online ecommerce or online support environments.

• High level of expertise with Business Intelligence tools, two plus years, such as Brio, Business Objects, MicroStrategy, Cognos etc with experience writing and tuning sql queries in a online or offline environment.

• Three to five years of experience in using the Microsoft Office suite with very strong Excel skills.

• Three to five years of business analysis experience in large size companies with multiple functions / business units preferred.  

• Mid-level expertise in the SEM (Search Engine Marketing) / PPC (Pay Per Click) and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) strategies and a minimum one year experience measure success of SEM/PPC and SEO campaigns / efforts.

• Excellent communication skills and ability to interact with all levels of end users and technical resources.

• Exposure to project management skills, business process redesign principles, tools and techniques a plus.

Team / Leadership Skills:

• Works effectively both independently and as a member of a cross functional team.

• Uses sound judgment to identify issues and escalates when appropriate.

• Contribute to improvements in processes (technical or business) used by analysts.

• Drives focused decisions within specific areas and is a key contributor to decisions beyond specific scope of role.

• Ability to identify key needs or gaps and provide leadership to close those gaps.

• Resolves disagreements and conflicts constructively, knows when to involve others.

• Learns from mistakes, takes action to apply the learnings and provides peer and team wide feedback for those in immediate area of focus.

• Identifies and communicates specific personal growth goals for self.

Technical / Functional Skills:

• Understands relevant technology applications in their area.

• Using strong analytical skills provides insights as well as recommendations for changes and convinces key Company decision makers of business benefits of the proposed solutions.

• Identifies and drives requirements trade-offs by proposing solutions to BU/FU leadership.

• Handles multiple tasks, switches priorities and focuses as needed.

• Exhibits high degree of pro-activeness in analyzing customer behavior using available data to influence changes on the website.

• Understands the complex web ecosystems and best practices and applies this knowledge to their work.

• Collaborates on creation of project plan and tasks for the team.

It is important to note that it would be hard to find a candidate that would would meet all the desired attributes described above. As always there will be a give and take as you consider candidates and hire for the best fit in your company. But hopefully there is a framework of desired attributes that might help in your hiring process.

If you are a Web Analyst and want to be Senior then above is a suggested guide post of what you might do to build your skills to get to that level.

What do you think of it? Too long? Too short? Good? Bad? Brilliant? Unreasonable? Unfillable? What’s missing? How can I make it better? Do you meet the skills outlined (if yes send me your resume!)? Please share your feedback and critique via comments.

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