Senior Data Engineer

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Job Summary

Reporting to the Manager, Data Platforms, Information Technology Services (IT Services), the Senior Data Engineer (Engineer) is a seasoned IT professional who leads the team with the design and development of extract, transform, load (ETL) pipelines from multiple sources of data in various formats according to the business requirements. In addition, the Engineer is responsible for expanding and optimizing our data and data pipeline architecture, as well as optimizing data flow and collection for cross-functional teams. The Engineer will support other data expert colleagues on data initiatives and will ensure optimal data delivery architecture is consistent throughout ongoing projects. The Engineer will possess strong technical skills including hands on knowledge of big data tools, cloud data services and ETL automation and data modelling tools.

Job Description

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:
Design & Engineer:
• Leads the design and development of extract, transform, load (ETL) pipelines from multiple sources of data in various formats according to business requirements.
• Leads the design and implementation of new standalone and distributed data systems.
• Develops dimensional data models with metadata that are easily understood by business users.
• Translates requirements into detailed design documents and technical specifications documents.
• Conducts ETL, SQL and database performance tuning, troubleshooting, monitoring, and capacity management to ensure service levels are being met.
• Works with data stewards and custodians to establish and enforce guidelines for data collection, integration and processes.
• Oversees the catalogs of existing data sources and enables access to resident and external data sources.
• Identifies, designs, and implements internal process improvements including automating manual processes, optimizing data delivery, re-designing infrastructure for greater scalability, etc.
• Develops security controls to protect data in transit and at rest across multiple data centres (on-premise and Cloud).
• Plans and designs data backup and restoration procedures.
• Influences others to maximize effectiveness and achieve department and organizational objectives.

Plan:
• Stays current with relevant advances in technologies, gains a deep understanding of the University’s strategic goals and delivers the future state data architecture.
• Leads and participates in requirements gathering and analysis.
• Performs scoping and translates customer business requirements into technical specifications and scoping documents.
• Produces feasibility and effort estimates.
• Plans solution design and delivery steps, deployment phases, and quality assurance guidelines.

Transition to Operations:
• Delivers data capabilities and service transition documentation.
• Supports Tier III troubleshooting.
• Provides technical leadership and knowledge transfer to technical staff that support data services.
• Identifies training activities to develop skills for Tier I-III technical support.
• Defines and documents scope of work for multiple projects and activities with varying levels of complexity, timelines, and importance within the team.
• Coordinates with the service operations teams for project implementation.
• Participates in implementation, verification, and acceptance testing of new hardware, software, services, or functionality.
• Produces and maintains detailed technical documentation (architecture, operations procedures, and specifications).
• Provides management and executive team members reports on project status, accomplishments, milestones, and challenges.
• Participates in change management procedures, and weekly meetings.
• Provides technical consultation to both internal and external teams.
• Establishes and maintains partnerships with teams and vendors involved in projects.
• Works with vendors and stakeholders to understand product and solution roadmaps.
• Manages changes to the project scope, project schedule, and project costs using appropriate verification techniques.
• Develops technical documentation.
• After Hours Availability: required to be available after hours for emergency contact and to support the team during any significant incidents, upgrades or project implementation.

Continuous Improvement:
• Mentors IT Services team and clients on adherence to design and service architecture guidelines.

Supervisory:
• Understands IT industry trends, business trends, IT best practices, standards, and resources to ensure continuous optimization of IT service delivery.
• Acts as a professional, promoting a supportive and inclusive work environment.
• Provides work direction, and technical/functional guidance to staff. Schedules and assigns work, and oversees its completion. Coordinates and monitors work flow.
• Schedules and approves, or recommends the approval of, employees’ hours of work, overtime and absences. Monitors and oversees employee attendance.
• Participates in screening and interviewing job candidates, and providing input into staff selection.
• Reviews assignments and provides feedback on work to employees. Provides input on work performance to management staff.
• Provides orientation and on-the-job training to employees in the unit. Provides coaching and feedback on work quality issues, providing related day-to-day supervision. Escalates unresolved performance and/or disciplinary matters to management.
• Monitors and assesses output and the quality of employees’ work, and recommends need for formal training or development plans to management and identifies possible staff performance and/or disciplinary issues.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:
• University degree with a concentration in Computer Science, Statistics, Informatics, Information Systems or another quantitative field.
• Experience supervising and leading teams.
• Experience with ETL automation and data modeling tools.
• Experience with reporting and visualization (BI) tools: SAP, Tableau, PowerBI.
• Experience with database administration: Oracle 11g/12c, MSSQL, MySQL
• Experience with desktop and server Operating Systems.
• Experience with big data tools: Hadoop, Spark, Kafka, Hive, Knox etc.
• Experience supporting and working with cross-functional teams in a dynamic environment.
• Experience with cloud data services (Azure, AWS, Google, etc).
• Experience with object-oriented/object function scripting languages: Python, Java, C++, Scala, etc.
• Advanced working knowledge of RDBMS systems and SQL.
• Experience performing root cause analysis on internal and external data and processes to answer specific business questions and identify opportunities for improvement.
• Excellent analytic skills related to working with unstructured datasets.
• Relevant experience as a facilitator and motivator with a high degree of sensitivity, tact and diplomacy.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills including experience in writing technical documentation.
• Consideration may be given to an equivalent combination of education and experience.

SPECIAL SKILLS:
• Building Relationships: builds constructive working relationships characterized by a high level of acceptance, cooperation, and mutual respect.
• Business Acumen: builds strong business acumen by sustaining a strong customer service perspective.
• Change Management: champions change and fosters the team and environment for change.
• Collaboration and Teamwork: promotes collaboration and commitment within a team to achieve goals and deliverables.
• Communication: displays confidence and articulates a clear message when interacting with diverse audiences utilizing excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Client Orientation: builds and maintains a client-centric culture by working closely with the customer while maintaining a high level of client satisfaction.
• Decision Making & Judgement: relies on experience, thinking several steps ahead in deciding the best course of current/future actions to develop, recommend policy framework based on analysis of emerging trends.
• Integrity: earns others’ trust and respect through consistent honesty and professionalism in all interactions.
• Initiative: acts to address problems; focuses on results and desired outcomes and how best to achieve them and gets the job done.
• Leadership: sets clear, meaningful, challenging, and attainable common goals and expectations that are linked to the mission, vision, values and goals aligned with the organization and strives to achieve them.
• Planning & Organizing: executes proposed actions within predetermined timelines against organizational goals. Develops and integrates current/future plans to achieve the overall organization goals.
• Strategic Perspective: develops and proactively implements long term organizational goals, considering the competitive landscape that will move the organization forward.
• Innovation: develops creative ideas that provide solutions to all types of workplace challenges.
• Driving for Results: demonstrates a desire to meet and exceed one’s own performance objectives. Not accepting the status quo, takes a calculated risk to improve the organization’s performance.
• Developing Others: enables team members to grow and succeed through consistent constructive feedback, and encouragement.
• Self-Development: displays an ongoing commitment to learning and self-improvement to enhance the performance of the team.

DECISION MAKING:
• Determines development and support requirements, contributes to the development of strategic plans and objectives, and participates in budget planning and decision‐making as a member of the broader IT Services leadership team.
• Assesses appropriate “fit” of technical solutions relative to functional requirements, conformance to University standards, and ability to integrate within the Queen’s IT architecture.
• Plans new initiatives within the team, and upon request, technological initiatives for other units and departments. Determines project guidelines and timelines.
• Allocates time and resources such that objectives are achieved, operational requirements are met, or to ensure project completion, based on the priority of current workloads.
• Makes decisions on completeness of all related development and support assignments, relative to planning timelines and project work plans. Decides how work may be assigned based on the skill sets, competencies and workloads of the team members. Appropriately prioritizes, implements and oversees responses to urgent or emergency situations.
• Works as a member of the IT Services leadership team, determines approach to ensure all areas are supporting each other and collectively meeting IT Services goals.
• Determines when to advise or involve management for complex or sensitive issues.
• Assesses the suitability of job candidates and recommends the most appropriate person for hire.
• Determines priorities and makes decisions about staff utilization and the assignment of work to achieve optimum efficiencies and productivity.
• Assesses employees’ training needs and makes recommendations for internal and external training to attain proficiency.
• Monitors and assesses output and the quality of employees’ work, and recommends need for formal training or development plans to management and identifies possible staff performance and /or disciplinary issues.

Employment Equity and Accessibility Statement

The University invites applications from all qualified individuals. Queen's is strongly committed to employment equity, diversity, and inclusion in the workplace and encourages applications from Black, racialized persons, Indigenous people, women, persons with disabilities, and 2SLGBTQI+ persons. In accordance with Canadian Immigration requirements, priority will be given to those who are legally eligible to work in Canada.

The University provides support in its recruitment processes to all applicants who require accommodation due to a protected ground under the Ontario Human Rights Code, including those with disabilities. Candidates requiring accommodation during the recruitment process are asked to contact Human Resources at [email protected].