Operations Systems Analyst

Swarthmore College is a highly selective liberal arts college located in the suburbs of Philadelphia, whose mission combines academic rigor with social responsibility. Swarthmore has a strong institutional commitment to inclusive excellence and nondiscrimination in its educational program and employment practices and encourages candidates who will further advance the goal of fostering a diverse and inclusive community. As one of the nation’s finest institutions of higher learning, Swarthmore College is global in outlook and draws students from around the nation and world. The 425?acre campus is a designated arboretum, complete with gardens, rolling lawns, a creek, wooded hills, and hiking trails in the Crum Woods.

The opportunity:

Reporting to the Director of Administrative Information Systems (AIS) in the Information Technology Services department, this highly collaborative position serves as the primary technical lead and functional analyst for the Division of Student Affairs. The Operations Systems Analyst provides comprehensive application administration, data analysis, and project management support for the division's technology portfolio.

This role is critical to the College’s transition to Workday Student. The Analyst will lead the analysis of business processes, configuration, testing, and data validation for Student Affairs functional areas (including Academic Success, Registrar, Residential Life, Student Conduct, and Career Services) during the implementation. Post-implementation, the role will continue to oversee system optimizations, integrations, and reporting while supporting legacy third-party applications.

Essential Responsibilities

Workday Student Implementation & Optimization

• Serve as the functional-technical lead for Student Affairs modules within the Workday Student implementation project.
• Analyze current Student Affairs business processes and map them to Workday capabilities; recommend best practices for configuration and workflow design.
• Coordinate and perform functional unit testing, end-to-end testing, and user acceptance testing (UAT) for Student Affairs processes.
• Executes data conversion tasks and participates in validating the accuracy and integrity of data migrated from legacy systems to Workday.

Systems Administration & Operations

• Provides ongoing operational and technical support for the Student Affairs technology portfolio, including but not limited to Maxient, Medicat, Adirondack, Handshake, Titanium, and Terra Dotta.
• Administers user access and security settings for divisional applications; ensures provisioning aligns with College policy and data security standards.
• Develops third-party integrations using iPaaS solution and Workday integration tools
• Monitors third-party systems integration with the ERP (Banner/Workday); troubleshoots data sync issues when necessary.
• Coordinates application upgrades, patches, and maintenance windows with Student Affairs, vendors, and ITS resources.
• Supports the Registrar’s Office by assisting with degree audit processes, honors evaluation, and graduation requirement validation.
• Provides systems support for cyclical academic and administrative processes, including but not limited to annual tasks related to billing, housing, course registration, and enrollment workflows.

Data Analysis & Reporting

• Extracts, gathers, interprets, analyzes, and visualizes divisional data to support decision-making. The analyst coordinates with the Office of Institutional Effectiveness, Research & Assessment (IERA) to ensure data provided to stakeholders across the College aligns with institutional standards.
• Develops and maintains reports and dashboards using College standard tools to meet internal requirements. This role collaborates directly with IERA to ensure data accuracy and consistency for all external reporting and public-facing dashboards.
• Participates in Data Governance activities as a divisional representative. The position involves coordinating with the Data Governance Committee and data stewards to ensure data integrity, consistent definitions, and adherence to institutional data policies.

Project Management & Liaison

• Maintains relationships with Student Affairs staff, reviews technical requirements, advises on best practices, evaluates needs, identifies and recommends solutions.
• Provides documentation and training materials to end-users, as well as internal departmental documentation for ITS.
• Trains other staff and supports onboarding of new hires by sharing systems knowledge, workflows, and best practices.
• Assists Student Affairs departments in resolving software or procedural issues.
• Maintains confidentiality regarding highly sensitive data containing information on students, faculty, and staff.

Who you are:

• Must be able to work independently and organize, track, and prioritize workload.
• Must be able to interact effectively with departmental liaisons and coordinate activities between several departments working towards a common goal.
• Self-starter, independent worker, highly organized, ability to multitask, ability to translate the technical into functional speak.
• Must be able to provide an excellent customer service experience with staff of varying levels of technical competency and exposure.

What you bring:

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree.
• 3-5 years of experience supporting enterprise software applications or higher education systems (e.g., Housing, Conduct, Health systems).
• Experience with higher education ERP systems (Ellucian Banner or Workday) is highly desirable.
• Demonstrated knowledge of functional areas within Student Affairs (e.g., residential life, student conduct, student engagement).
• Experience with reporting tools and data analysis.
• Experience with API integrations or vendor data feeds.
• Experience with Oracle PL/SQL.
• Experience with an ETL tools.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience participating in a major system implementation or migration (Workday experience is a plus).
• Understanding of data governance principles and data security best practices.

What You Will Get:

You’ll work at one of the world's most renowned liberal arts Colleges, with incredible benefits, a stunning 420-acre campus, and a collaborative work environment. Join a team of passionate, creative people who work hard and have fun supporting the College students, faculty, and staff.

We want to hear from you if you are excited about this role! For full consideration, submit applications with an uploaded resume, including a cover letter, by March 27, 2026. Applications received after this date may be reviewed on a rolling basis until the job has been filled. A cover letter indicating how your qualifications and experience have prepared you for this position. If you have experience that meets any of the preferred qualifications, please include a detailed explanation of any such experience in your cover letter and how it meets the preferred qualification(s).

The market range for this position is $96,000-$118,000 per year, which represents the College’s good faith and reasonable estimate of the range at the time of posting. The salary offered is determined based on factors including, but not limited to, experience and education of the final selected candidate, departmental budget availability, internal salary equity considerations, and available market information.

PA Criminal Clearance Required

Swarthmore College requires a PA Criminal background check for all staff positions prior to the start of employment.

Education Verification Required by Position

An education verification is required for this position because a college degree is a required qualification for this position.

Preview our Benefits Flyer. We offer benefit plans starting at zero cost! Upon benefit eligibility, the College contributes 10% of an employee’s salary to their retirement account. Employees are 100% vested in their accounts on the date participation begins.

2026 Swarthmore Benefits Guidebook

Retirement Plans

Tuition Grant Program

Tuition Reimbursement Program

Paid Time Off (Staff)

Holiday Schedule

Swarthmore College is committed to creating a culture of respect and inclusion so that every member of our community feels a sense of belonging. We actively seek and welcome candidates with diverse perspectives and experiences, exceptional qualifications, and a demonstrable commitment to a more inclusive society and world. Swarthmore College is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate based on any identity or characteristic protected by law or College Policy.