Ascension is seeking an experienced Senior Data, Performance, Evaluation & Strategic Communications Consultant to support Frederick County, Maryland with complex analytical, performance-management, quality-assurance, program-evaluation, executive-reporting, administrative-consulting, and strategic-communications initiatives.

The ideal candidate is more than a traditional data analyst. Ascension is seeking a senior consultant who can move from raw information to analysis, from analysis to insight, and from insight to an executive-level recommendation or communication product that County leaders can use to make decisions.

The successful candidate should bring a strong combination of:

• Quantitative and qualitative analysis;
• Performance measurement and KPI development;
• Program, agency, or organizational evaluation;
• Quality assurance and quality-control assessment;
• Executive and management reporting;
• Data visualization and storytelling;
• Strategic and public-facing communications;
• Administrative and management consulting;
• Stakeholder engagement;
• Research and assessment;
• Presentation development; and
• Translating complex findings into concise, actionable recommendations.

This individual should be comfortable working with executives, program managers, technical personnel, operational staff, administrative personnel, and other stakeholders across diverse County organizations.

The consultant must be a highly organized, intellectually curious, detail-oriented professional who can work independently under broad direction, structure ambiguous problems, identify the right questions to ask, analyze incomplete or disparate information, recognize emerging issues, and provide practical recommendations supported by defensible evidence.

Because Frederick County consists of numerous operational and administrative departments, the ideal candidate must also be adaptable. One Task Order may involve analyzing operational performance or developing KPIs, while another may involve evaluating an agency or program, conducting QA assessments, developing executive reports, or assisting leadership with strategic communications.

Role Alignment to Frederick County Service Areas

This position is designed primarily to support the following Frederick County consulting service areas:

Service Area	Primary Role Alignment
Public Relations Consultation	Strategic communications, executive messaging, stakeholder communications, public-facing reports, briefing materials, and data storytelling
Administrative Consultant	Organizational research, management analysis, executive decision support, administrative assessments, documentation, and recommendations
Quality Assurance Assessment	QA/QC frameworks, assessment criteria, quality reviews, compliance analysis, performance validation, corrective-action recommendations
Data Analysis	Quantitative and qualitative analysis, trend analysis, data validation, statistical analysis, KPI development, visualization, and decision support
Report Development	Executive reports, management reports, dashboards, presentations, analytical reports, briefing papers, findings, and recommendations
Agency Evaluation	Program and organizational evaluation, effectiveness assessment, performance analysis, outcome evaluation, gap analysis, and improvement recommendations

The consultant may also provide related analytical support to organizational/resource analysis and processes/procedures analysis when those activities are integral to an assigned Task Order.

Summary of the Contractor Role

The Senior Data, Performance, Evaluation & Strategic Communications Consultant will help Frederick County transform operational, workforce, programmatic, financial, organizational, stakeholder, and other information into meaningful insights that support informed decision-making and measurable performance improvement.

The consultant will work with County stakeholders to understand business questions and operational challenges; identify appropriate data sources; develop analytical approaches; collect and validate information; establish metrics and performance indicators; conduct quantitative and qualitative analyses; evaluate programs or organizational activities; identify trends, risks, strengths, weaknesses, and performance gaps; and prepare findings and recommendations.

A key responsibility of this position is ensuring that analysis does not stop with the production of numbers. The consultant must be able to explain what the information means, why it matters, what is driving performance, and what County leadership should consider doing next.

The consultant may also develop dashboards, executive reports, briefing decks, visualizations, quality-assurance assessments, agency evaluations, communications products, and decision-support materials for County leadership.

Assignments may involve multiple County departments and therefore require the consultant to rapidly understand unfamiliar operations, establish productive working relationships, protect confidential information, and exercise sound judgment and diplomacy.

The individual must be able to manage multiple priorities and deliver high-quality products with minimal supervision while meeting Task Order schedules, milestones, reporting requirements, and quality expectations.

What the Consultant Will Help the Customer Solve

The consultant may be asked to help County organizations answer questions such as:

• What is actually happening within a program, process, organization, or operation?
• How well is the organization performing against its intended objectives?
• What measures should leadership use to determine whether a program or initiative is succeeding?
• What trends or patterns are emerging from the available data?
• Where are performance gaps, quality problems, inefficiencies, risks, or anomalies?
• Are existing metrics actually measuring the outcomes leadership cares about?
• Are reported results accurate, complete, timely, and defensible?
• What additional information must be collected?
• What factors are driving positive or negative results?
• How should quantitative and qualitative information be combined to explain performance?
• What recommendations are supported by the evidence?
• How can complex findings be communicated clearly to executives, employees, stakeholders, or the public?
• How should performance information be visualized so that decision-makers can act on it?
• How can reporting processes become more efficient, consistent, repeatable, and useful?
• How can the County determine whether an agency, initiative, program, or policy is achieving its intended outcome?

Position Day-to-Day / Task-Order Activities

The consultant will be expected to:

• ANALYZE quantitative and qualitative information from multiple data sources to identify trends, patterns, relationships, anomalies, risks, and opportunities.
• DEFINE business questions, analytical objectives, performance measures, evaluation criteria, and desired outcomes with County stakeholders.
• DEVELOP KPIs, scorecards, performance measures, baselines, targets, and measurement frameworks aligned to program and organizational objectives.
• COLLECT information through existing systems, databases, documents, surveys, interviews, focus groups, workshops, and stakeholder consultations.
• VALIDATE data for completeness, accuracy, consistency, relevance, and reliability before using information in analysis or reporting.
• EVALUATE County programs, agencies, operations, initiatives, policies, or processes to determine effectiveness, efficiency, quality, outcomes, and opportunities for improvement.
• PERFORM quality-assurance and quality-control assessments against established requirements, standards, procedures, performance criteria, or expected outcomes.
• DESIGN dashboards, scorecards, charts, graphs, infographics, and other visualizations that make complex information understandable to nontechnical audiences.
• DEVELOP analytical reports, executive summaries, briefing papers, decision memoranda, presentations, performance reports, and recommendations.
• TRANSLATE technical or analytical findings into concise narratives that clearly explain what happened, why it happened, why it matters, and recommended next actions.
• PREPARE executive-level PowerPoint presentations and talking points for briefings, leadership meetings, public engagements, and stakeholder discussions.
• CREATE strategic communication materials that support internal and external understanding of programs, initiatives, results, organizational changes, or County priorities.
• FACILITATE interviews, workshops, stakeholder meetings, data-review sessions, and working sessions required to gather information and validate findings.
• IDENTIFY performance gaps, quality deficiencies, data limitations, risks, dependencies, and obstacles that may prevent the County from achieving desired outcomes.
• RECOMMEND practical corrective actions, process improvements, performance improvements, reporting enhancements, or management actions based upon evidence.
• ESTABLISH repeatable analytical, reporting, QA/QC, and evaluation methodologies that County personnel can continue using after an engagement ends.
• DOCUMENT assumptions, methodologies, calculations, data definitions, findings, decisions, risks, recommendations, and supporting evidence so that work is transparent and retrievable.
• COORDINATE with County project managers, program managers, executives, analysts, communications personnel, IT personnel, and other stakeholders.
• MONITOR assigned Task Order milestones, deliverables, risks, schedules, and quality requirements.
• RESPOND to routine County inquiries within required response periods and support urgent analytical or reporting requests when necessary.
• PRESENT findings and recommendations confidently to senior leaders and answer questions regarding methodologies, assumptions, data quality, and conclusions.
• TRANSFER knowledge, methodologies, templates, dashboards, documentation, and analytical practices to County personnel.

Tools, Technologies & Processes

Candidates should possess practical experience with several of the following:

Data Analysis and Visualization

• Microsoft Excel, including advanced formulas, PivotTables, Power Query, charts, and analytical models
• Microsoft Power BI
• Tableau
• SQL or comparable querying capabilities
• Data cleansing, transformation, reconciliation, and validation
• Statistical and trend analysis
• Quantitative and qualitative analytical techniques

Reporting and Communications

• Microsoft PowerPoint
• Microsoft Word
• Microsoft 365
• SharePoint
• Adobe Acrobat
• Executive briefing development
• Data visualization and storytelling
• Strategic communications
• Report development and technical editing

Data Collection and Evaluation

• Microsoft Forms, SurveyMonkey, Qualtrics, or comparable survey platforms
• Interviews
• Focus groups
• Workshops
• Stakeholder analysis
• Evaluation frameworks
• Logic models and/or theory-of-change methodologies
• Performance measurement frameworks
• KPI and scorecard development

Quality and Process Management

• QA/QC methodologies
• Root-cause analysis
• Gap analysis
• Risk assessment
• Corrective-action tracking
• Continuous improvement
• Process documentation
• Standard operating procedures
• Lessons learned

Experience with Power Automate, Microsoft Power Platform, R, Python, SPSS, SAS, or similar analytical/automation technologies is advantageous but should not substitute for demonstrated business analysis and communication capability.