Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Zoo Analyst

🎯 Role Definition

The Zoo Analyst is a multidisciplinary specialist who collects, integrates, analyzes, and communicates data to support animal welfare, conservation research, operational efficiency, and visitor experience at zoological institutions. This role blends quantitative analytics (SQL, R/Python, GIS), domain knowledge (animal husbandry, AZA standards, veterinary records), and stakeholder engagement (curators, veterinarians, education, development) to inform decision making across animal collections, exhibits, and organizational strategy. Strong emphasis is placed on accurate data stewardship, reproducible analyses, dashboarding, and contributing to grant and accreditation reporting.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Animal Records Coordinator or Registrar transitioning into analytical work
Wildlife or Conservation Research Assistant with data experience
Business Intelligence / Data Analyst joining a cultural institution

Advancement To:

Senior Zoo Analyst / Lead Data Scientist (zoological focus)
Conservation Science Manager or Research Program Lead
Director of Animal Collections Analytics or Chief Data Officer for a zoological organization

Lateral Moves:

Visitor Experience Analyst / CRM Analyst (ticketing & membership analytics)
Veterinary Data Specialist / Animal Health Informatics

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Design, implement, and maintain a centralized animal records database (ZIMS, Axie, or custom RDBMS) ensuring accuracy of life history, medical, breeding, transfer, and lineage data to support husbandry and accreditation requirements.
Conduct population viability analyses, demographic modeling, and long-term projections for managed species to inform breeding recommendations and cooperative species survival plans (SSP) in partnership with curators and conservation partners.
Analyze veterinary and clinical datasets (medical histories, treatments, diagnostics) to identify health trends, monitor chronic conditions, and support preventive medicine strategies working closely with the veterinary team.
Build and maintain reproducible data pipelines (ETL) from source systems (ERP, POS, ticketing, RFID, GPS/telemetry) into analytical environments using SQL, Python, or R to ensure timely and auditable data flows.
Create interactive dashboards and visualizations (Tableau, Power BI, R Shiny) for leadership, curatorial teams, and education staff that track KPIs such as animal welfare indicators, exhibit utilization, and conservation outcomes.
Lead the design and analysis of visitor experience and market research studies (surveys, A/B tests) to optimize exhibit layouts, program scheduling, pricing, and membership strategies that improve engagement and revenue.
Compile and prepare data-driven content for AZA accreditation, annual reports, grant proposals, and regulatory submissions, ensuring metrics align with organizational and funder expectations.
Perform spatial analyses (ArcGIS, QGIS) to map exhibit microhabitats, animal movement patterns, forage/nutrient sources, and to support landscape-level conservation research and on-site exhibit planning.
Integrate telemetry, GPS, and biologging datasets to analyze movement ecology, activity budgets, and habitat use of resident or field populations to inform enrichment and exhibit design.
Establish and monitor welfare and enrichment metrics (behavioral observations, activity budgets, stress biomarkers) using standardized protocols to quantify the effectiveness of husbandry interventions.
Partner with curators and registrars to manage and reconcile accession, disposition, and transfer data across partner institutions, ensuring compliance with inter-institutional agreements and CITES documentation when applicable.
Develop forecasting models for feed, pharmaceuticals, and consumables inventory to reduce waste, control costs, and ensure uninterrupted animal care supplies.
Conduct ad hoc and recurring financial and operational analyses (revenue per visitor, program ROI, staffing models) to support budget planning and resource allocation decisions for animal care and exhibit operations.
Drive data quality initiatives including data governance, metadata standards, validation rules, and training for staff to ensure high integrity across animal and operational datasets.
Collaborate with research partners on experimental design, statistical analysis, and manuscript preparation for peer-reviewed conservation or behavioral science publications.
Monitor and report on animal population metrics (births, mortalities, transfers) and generate alerts for significant deviations that require curator or veterinary action.
Manage data access controls, backup procedures, and privacy safeguards for sensitive animal health and donor data, aligning with institutional IT and compliance policies.
Support deployment and evaluation of new technologies (RFID tracking, automated behavior recognition, IoT sensors) and assess data fidelity, scalability, and integration needs.
Translate complex analyses into clear, actionable insights and recommendations for non-technical stakeholders through concise executive summaries, slide decks, and presentations.
Coordinate multi-disciplinary project workstreams for cross-functional initiatives (conservation programs, exhibit redesigns, membership campaigns), serving as a technical liaison between scientific and operational teams.
Validate and standardize taxonomy and species nomenclature across systems to reduce data friction and support consistent reporting for conservation partners and databases.
Conduct risk assessments related to disease surveillance, biosecurity, and quarantine protocols by synthesizing epidemiological and movement data to inform mitigation strategies.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.
Train animal care, registrar, and volunteer staff on data-entry best practices and digital record tools to reduce errors and improve timeliness of records.
Assist development team with donor-impact reporting by linking conservation metrics to fundraising outcomes.
Support internship and volunteer programs by supervising data-related tasks and providing mentorship on field analytics methods.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Advanced SQL for querying and modeling relational databases and building ETL processes.
Proficient in statistical programming with R or Python (pandas, scikit-learn, tidyverse) for analysis, modeling, and scripting reproducible workflows.
Experience with data visualization tools such as Tableau, Power BI, or R Shiny to create stakeholder-facing dashboards and interactive reports.
Familiarity with animal records systems (ZIMS, Arks, or custom registries) and registrarial best practices for zoological collections.
GIS and spatial analysis skills (ArcGIS, QGIS, spatial packages in R/Python) for habitat mapping and movement analyses.
Experience processing and analyzing biologging/telemetry/GPS datasets and time-series behavioral data.
Strong statistical skills: hypothesis testing, regression modeling, generalized linear models, mixed-effects models, and basic machine learning techniques.
Data engineering basics: ETL design, data cleaning, schema design, and knowledge of cloud or on-prem data platforms (Postgres, AWS/GCP basics).
Competence with advanced Excel (pivot tables, Power Query, Power Pivot) for quick analyses and stakeholder deliverables.
Proven ability to produce reproducible research: version control (Git), code notebooks, documentation, and automated reporting.
Familiarity with AZA accreditation metrics, CITES documentation practices, and regulatory compliance relevant to zoological institutions.
Experience with CRM and ticketing systems (Raiser’s Edge, Tessitura, Altru, Spektrix) to link visitor and donor data to program metrics.
Knowledge of experimental design, sample size estimation, and data collection protocols for behavioral and welfare studies.
Basic understanding of veterinary terminology, clinical data formats, and lab report interpretation.

Soft Skills

Excellent communication skills with the ability to translate technical findings into clear recommendations for curators, veterinarians, and executives.
Strong stakeholder management and collaborative mindset — able to work across animal care, conservation, education, development, and operations teams.
High attention to detail and a culture of data integrity and ethical handling of sensitive information.
Problem-solving orientation with a pragmatic approach to balancing scientific rigor and operational constraints.
Project management skills: able to prioritize, scope, and deliver analytic projects on time and within resource limits.
Teaching and coaching ability to upskill staff and partners in data literacy and analytic best practices.
Adaptability to work in a fast-paced, operational environment with shifting priorities and occasional field data collection.
Curiosity and continuous learning attitude focused on conservation science and applied analytics to improve animal and organizational outcomes.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree in Biology, Zoology, Wildlife Ecology, Data Science, Statistics, Environmental Science, or a related quantitative discipline.

Preferred Education:

Master's degree in Conservation Science, Ecology, Biostatistics, Data Science, or a related field; or equivalent professional experience combining zoological domain knowledge and analytics.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Wildlife Ecology, Zoology, Animal Behavior
Conservation Biology, Environmental Science
Statistics, Applied Mathematics
Data Science, Computer Science, GIS

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 2–5 years of applied data analysis experience, ideally including time working with animal collections, conservation organizations, or similar cultural institutions.

Preferred: 3–7+ years of experience combining zoological domain expertise with data analytics, experience with AZA reporting or participation in multi-institutional conservation programs, and demonstrable portfolio of analyses/dashboards used to drive operational or scientific decisions.