Veton Kurtsmajlaj

Passionate analyst and researcher with over 7 years of experience in data analytics, market research, and statistics. I've had the opportunity to showcase skill, leadership and knowledge in several individual and group projects. In my recent positions I led professional research teams in market research and analytics projects of strategic importance to private and public shareholders.

I have Master's Degree in Business Analytics, with 'Research distinction track' from the Norwegian School of Economics and a Master's Degree in Economics from the University of Tirana.

• Proficient use of R – programming and its core analytics packages: tidyverse, tidyquant, tidymodels.
• Proficient use of Microsoft Excel (formulas, macros, power query, power pivot, automation)
• Proficient use of data visitation and automation tools: Power BI (DAX), RShiny, MS Excel (Power Query)
• Advanced knowledge of SQL and query integration with R – programming environment (Packages DBI and RSQLite)
• Advanced knowledge of data handling concepts including collection, cleaning, wrangling, joining, and structure normalization
• Hands-on experience with the most used machine learning and statistical techniques: Linear regression, logistic regression, decision trees, bagging & boosting, time series modelling, t – tests, Chi-sq test, ANOVA and more.
• Hands-on experience with the most used policy research designs: Difference – in – difference, panel data (FE & RE), Instrumental variables, discontinuity design and more. 

Senior Research Analyst – City Stats                                                                      Nov 2020 – Mar 2023

As lead research analyst, guided researchers in developing research tools for Market Research, Business Intelligence, and processes for analysis, including grant-funded studies, while identifying key data sources and managing expectations from diverse stakeholders.

• Successfully mentored and guided core team of 3-4 professionals in business and data analytics in over 1,000 individual tasks and projects, significantly fostering professional growth and development. 
• Meticulously trained research teams to collect primary and secondary quantitative and qualitative data through structured and unstructured interviews, desk research, and surveys.
• By diligently defining research scope, deliverables, and work plan in coordination with stakeholders, expertly led cross-functional research teams to complete 4 market research projects, and successfully grossed $145,000.
• Expertly provided tailored solutions in business intelligence, leveraging API queries and SQL to build real-time data integration dashboards, pooling data from SQL/ MySQL databases, while successfully generating over $175,000 in consulting and research fees.

Statistical Data Analyst – Eurosig                                                                               Oct 2015 – Oct 2020

As a statistical data analyst in insurance, collected and analyzed data to conduct statistical modelling for risk management and premium forecasting, providing management with regular reports for informed decision-making

• Strategically conducted advanced longitudinal data analysis using R – programming and Stata, critically analyzing results, and presenting findings in reports to forecast market premiums with a 95% degree of accuracy, thereby enabling data driven decision-making and informed risk management
• Conducted advanced analytics and data visualizations summarizing historical sales data by agents into comprehensive Excel reports, thereby enabling critical analysis to identify issues, and propose appropriate recommendations, resulting in 20% reduction in costs
• Systematically tracked, analyzed and modelled large sets of public data from the Supervisory Financial Authority and Central Bank to monitor long-run trends in the insurance market, reliably ensuring that market statistics adhere to predetermined benchmarks
• By expertly creating and implementing comprehensive data policies across 5 organization departments, successfully combined technical staff training with effective data governance awareness and communication, thereby significantly slashing policy administration processing times by 50%

Statistical Data Analyst – UnitCenter                                                                         Jul 2017 – Jan 2020

As statistical data analyst, collected data, conducted statistical analyses, interpreted results, and presented findings in reports tailored for diverse audiences, while offering actionable recommendations to management.

• Ably supervised a professional team in business and data analytics as part of day-to-day work plan, thereby ensuring smooth operations
• Compiled and maintained portfolio of over dozen recurring dashboards in Power BI and Excel by utilizing SQL and DAX to pool call metrics across 3 CRM systems, successfully covering key business areas in sales, HR, operations and finances
• Collaboratively worked with floor and operational managers to diligently optimize call center metrics, resulting in doubling of agent productivity within first two years

INDIVIDUAL PROJECTS

• Diligently collected property data from public listings through dynamic web-scraping and utilized machine learning and multivariate regression models in R – programming to successfully estimate factors that influence the commercial real estate market 
• Applied natural language processing (NLP) techniques, including sentiment analysis and topic modelling (LDA), to analyze a dataset of 13,000 negative user comments on Amazon's Alexa, uncovering the main areas of concern thereby enabling better customer service capabilities
• Implemented a robust quantitative framework that leveraged machine learning classifiers, including random forests and logistic regression models to efficiently detect potential cases of financial and insurance fraud increasing compliance by 75%
• Utilized statistical modelling techniques and Monte Carlo simulations to estimate risk exposure in construction projects by employing the triangular distribution and leveraging the central limit theorem (CLT)

Master’s Degree in Economics and Business Administration

Norwegian School of Economics, Norway

• Major in Data Science and Business Analytics
• Graduated with Research Distinction Track

Thesis: Dissecting Poisson based prediction models in association football: A comprehensive look at methodology, assumptions, and accuracy using data from the main European Leagues (2011 – 2022)

Master’s Degree in Economics                                                                                                                      University of Tirana, Albania

Bachelor of Arts, Economics                                                                                                                           University of Tirana, Albania