Analytics Manager, Back End Analytics

Marcel Digital – Analytics Manager, Back End Analytics (Hybrid | Chicagoland candidates only) Marcel Digital is an award-winning digital marketing and web development agency established in 2003 and based in Chicago. We partner with mid-market B2B organizations to drive measurable business outcomes through SEO, paid media, web development, and analytics. We’ve built a culture of high performers who value authenticity, integrity, accountability, and insight. We invest heavily in learning, collaboration, and craftsmanship, supporting our team with conference attendance, internal training, and daily knowledge sharing. Position Summary As an Analytics Manager – Back End Analytics, you will own and evolve the data foundations that power client reporting, insights, and optimization. This role focuses on the tracking, data plumbing, modeling, and analytical rigor behind the dashboards, ensuring data is trustworthy, scalable, and decision-ready. You will design and maintain analytics implementations, data pipelines, and analytical datasets that enable accurate reporting and advanced analysis. This includes event design and governance, server-side tracking, GA4 BigQuery workflows, data transformations, and analytical frameworks for measurement and experimentation. This role sits at the intersection of Analytics Engineering, Data Engineering, and Advanced Analysis, and works closely with Paid Media, SEO, Web Development, and Account Management to improve how data is collected, modeled, and interpreted for clients. You will also contribute to scoping analytics work, defining best practices, and raising the overall maturity of Marcel’s analytics offering. What We Mean by Back End Analytics Back End Analytics is the foundation that makes front-end dashboards reliable and meaningful. This role contributes across three closely related disciplines: Analytics Engineering – Creating trusted datasets, metric definitions, transformations, and governance so reporting is accurate and consistent Data Engineering – Building and maintaining data pipelines and warehouses (ingestion, ELT, reliability, permissions, monitoring) Advanced Analytics / Data Science (applied) – Enabling forecasting, segmentation, incrementality, experimentation, and advanced measurement methods where appropriate Functions and Responsibilities Analytics Engineering & Measurement Foundations Design and audit GA4 and Google Tag Manager implementations with a focus on event design, data layers, and measurement governance Define and document metric logic, naming conventions, and analytics standards to ensure consistency across clients Ensure analytics implementations are robust to consent management, privacy requirements, and evolving platform constraints QA, test, and troubleshoot analytics implementations to ensure data accuracy and reliability Data Engineering & Data Plumbing Build and maintain pipelines from GA4 and other marketing platforms into BigQuery and related data warehouses Transform raw event-level data into analysis-ready datasets for reporting, attribution, and modeling Support server-side tracking implementations and data enrichment workflows Monitor data quality, pipeline health, and edge cases across client environments Advanced Analysis & Measurement Enablement Enable advanced analyses such as incrementality testing, cohort analysis, funnel analysis, and media performance evaluation Support experimentation frameworks, CRO measurement, and analytical design (not UI/UX execution) Collaborate with Paid Media and Analytics teams to improve how performance is measured beyond last-click attribution Translate complex analytical findings into clear implications for client strategy Client & Internal Collaboration Partner with Account Managers to interpret data and extract the “story” behind performance Support development of analytics scopes, SOWs, timelines, and budgets Contribute to evolving Marcel’s analytics methodologies, documentation, and internal training Occasionally support thought leadership efforts (e.g., blog posts, internal talks, sales enablement) Skills, Traits, & Abilities Required 3–5+ years of experience in digital analytics or data-focused roles Deep experience with GA4 and Google Tag Manager, including complex implementations Strong understanding of event-based analytics, data layers, and measurement design Proficiency in JavaScript for tagging and debugging Experience QA’ing and troubleshooting analytics implementations using browser and platform tools Working experience with BigQuery or similar data warehouses Ability to manage multiple projects and priorities across clients Strong attention to detail and passion for data quality Clear written and verbal communication skills, including explaining technical concepts to non-technical audiences Strongly Preferred Experience with server-side tracking (GTM or equivalent) Experience transforming GA4 data in BigQuery (SQL-based transformations) Familiarity with modern analytics architectures and privacy-aware measurement Experience collaborating with developers, paid media teams, and analysts Bonus Skills & Experience Analytics engineering tools or concepts (semantic layers, dbt-style modeling, metric governance) Incrementality testing, media mix modeling, or advanced attribution approaches Experimentation and CRO measurement experience Data visualization tools (Looker Studio, Tableau, Power BI) Predictive analytics, forecasting, or segmentation work Experience integrating analytics with marketing automation or CRM platforms (HubSpot, Salesforce, etc.) Experience managing work in ClickUp or similar tools Benefits Marcel offers a competitive salary, comprehensive benefits, and a flexible, collaborative work environment. You’ll have meaningful autonomy, influence how analytics is delivered to clients, and help shape the future of Marcel’s analytics practice. We value curiosity, craftsmanship, and continuous improvement. If you’re excited about building analytics systems that people can actually trust, and using data to drive smarter decisions, we’d love to hear from you. 4B4CVuF6bD