Economic Development Analyst

Overview
The Economic Development Analyst has a unique opportunity to shape our city by leading major implementation projects of Make it Kitchener 2.0, Kitchener's Economic Development Strategy, while providing analytical and strategic support to the broader Economic Development team.

Responsibilities
Reporting to the Executive Director of Economic Development, provides project management, strategic and analytical support and advice to the various business units within Economic Development, to senior leaders and to City Council. Primary responsibilities include:

• Facilitates the development of the Kitchener Economic Development Strategy (Make It Kitchener 2.0) and monitors, supports and promotes its implementation.
• Project manages and leads various implementation projects of the Kitchener Economic Development Strategy (Make It Kitchener 2.0), including the development of business cases, feasibility analysis, financial modelling, contract administration, etc.
• Conducts advanced analytics on various topics related to social, economic, demographic, land use and community issues to determine trends and appropriate municipal response.
• Conducts research on local and comparative market conditions and economic indicators including population, employment, and industry statistics in the local and regional communities.
• Prepares benchmarking and monitoring reports, publications, interactive dashboards and briefs based on research in order to evaluate and measure the results of Economic Development initiatives and issues.
• Development and maintenance of websites (microsites).
• Supports Economic Development business units on the development of various strategic plans and subsequent monitoring.
• Provides advice and guidance on the development of various strategic plans including research, public consultation, economic analysis and strategy development.
• Assists with the monitoring and analysis of the impact of various strategies (ex: Downtown Annual Report).
• Provides recommendations on data and information sources, project scope/methodology, and systems design on special projects led by other departments or divisions, or external agencies (e.g., KGMS, Region of Waterloo Workplace Count).
• Maintains systems to track information such as real estate indicators, land prices, employment statistics, population and demographic statistics, development activity, and other data.
• Establishes procedures and databases to support the ongoing maintenance of the division's data and information systems.
• Maintains, formats, and/or enters data in to related databases (e.g., Real Estate Inventory; Downtown database).
• Represents Economic Development on working groups, data consortiums, and sits on advisory committees.
• Performs other related duties as assigned.

Education

• Must have a minimum 3-year degree or diploma in a related field.

Experience

• Must have a minimum of 2 years of relevant experience.
• Must have proven project management experience managing and leading projects, including work breakdown structures, project schedules, resource allocation and budgets.
• Must be experienced with data manipulation, including data conversion, normalization, database queries, updates, joins, and extraction, as well as database design.

Additional Requirements
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Must be reliable with a good attitude and employment record.
• Must be knowledgeable of economic development practices, land development, planning principles, economic theories and models, market analysis, statistical analysis, and Federal and Provincial government programs and information sources.
• Must be knowledgeable of information system development methodologies, database management systems, automated workflows and web design.
• Must be proficient in the use of a personal computer with the ability to use software packages and data visualization tools such as Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Power BI, Microsoft Project, Adobe Illustrator , Beyond 20/20, and OnPoint.
• Must have highly developed communication and facilitation skills to present complex information; to elicit information from contacts; to work with other staff to prepare promotional material and reports; summarize and explain difficult concepts, and uses tact and diplomacy to influence others.
• Must have proven analytical and technical skills to analyze the information needs of clients and identify and develop system requirements.
• Excellent ability to work independently with minimal supervision as well as collaboratively as part of a team
• Must have the ability to perform cost/benefit analysis and economic development impact studies, including economic base analysis and location quotient analysis.
• Must have the ability to gather, interpret and cross-tabulate data from diverse sources.
• Ability to synthesize principles and concepts from different domains including economics, planning, business/marketing and demographics to explain observations in local data, interpret local economic impacts, forecast, and identify development opportunities, and strategic policy responses.