The Senior Data Engineer has responsibility for the data at the heart of the visual analytics solutions built by Playfair Data for our diverse portfolio of clients. Successful candidates for this position must possess a meticulous attention to detail and have experience working with, cleaning, and combining large amounts of data to improve quality, efficiency, and the ability to extract meaningful insights.
Essential Functions
1. Support the ideation and creation stages of Tableau visual analytics projects.
a. Establish and cultivate trust and good working relationships with client contacts.
b. Participate in the Discovery phase of Playfair Data’s Decision-Ready Dashboard Framework to identify client business objectives, dashboard requirements, and relevant data.
• Attend project kick-off meetings, participate in strategic and tactical planning discussions, review existing client data visualization tools and data sources, and upon request, attend client stakeholder interviews.
• Use the information gathered during the Discovery phase to understand client needs and gain a familiarity with their data.
c. Participate in the Dashboard Development, Distribution and Documentation phases of Playfair Data’s Decision-Ready Dashboard Framework.
• Attend project status meetings and draft project updates and briefs.
• Receive client feedback and respond to client change requests.
• Create functional and technical documentation.
d. Utilize various project management tools and software to track project milestones.
2. Manage the Data phase of Playfair Data’s Decision-Ready Dashboard Framework.
a. Plan and lead data related discussions with client stakeholders and oversee project related data acquisition on behalf of Playfair Data.
b. Design, build, and test ETL workflows, execute data preparation, modeling, blending, and the creation of data sets using Alteryx.
• Translate business rules into data workflow.
• Combine various data sources and data types.
• Perform end to end data validation.
• Prepare data for both storage and data visualization tools.
• Schedule workflows on Alteryx server.
• Prepare technical specifications and documentation for Alteryx workflows.
c. Write complex SQL queries on multiple tables using complex joins.
• Oversee database design and creation of tables, stored procedures, indexes, database check constraints, and business rules using T-SQL.
• Write conversion scripts using SQL, PL/SQL, stored procedures, functions, and packages to migrate data between various databases.
d. Create SSIS packages to take data from different sources, consolidate, validate, and merge into a single source.
e. Blend data from multiple sources, including spreadsheets, documents, databases, EDW, data lakes, enterprise applications (e.g., CRM, HCM, ERP, and ITSM), RPA bots, and more.
f. Identify, analyze, interpret, and share trends in complex data sets, including through the use of using statistical techniques (data mining – segmentation, classification, association-rule mining, etc.).
g. Develop, implement, and manage quality assurance (QA) processes.
• Oversee troubleshooting and error handling.
• Work independently and with the support of Playfair Data colleagues to conduct thorough testing for quality, performance, and accuracy throughout all stages of a project.
• Take responsibility, and strategically and appropriately communicate any errors along with corrective actions to client contacts.
h. Output data to populate the visual analytics solutions built by Playfair Data colleagues in Tableau or another visual analytics tool.
3. Provide expertise, create, and deploy policies and procedures that ensure Playfair Data client data is used and maintained properly.
a. Recommend improvements, changes, and updates to existing processes.
b. Upon request, support development of data infrastructure.
c. Upon request, support data migration efforts.
d. Maintain knowledge about data governance best practices, including current data warehousing resources available.
1. Author blog content and if inclined, team up with Playfair Data’s Creative Director to film videos for Playfair Data TV related to data engineering, Alteryx, or other visual or data analytics topics.
2. Evangelize Playfair Data’s world-class products, services and people.
a. Promote Playfair Data within his/her circles of influence.
b. Maintain a basic knowledge about data engineering best practices, as well as knowledge of data visualization and data analytics, in general.
c. Help the Director of Partner Engagement to prepare compelling project and engagement proposals and attend and assist with client pitches and other meetings, as requested.
d. Identify new opportunities, tools and practices for enhancing knowledge, innovation, communication, efficiency, and growth at Playfair Data.
e. Promote positive collaboration between the data engineering team and other Playfair Data colleagues.
Education
[ ] No specific requirements
[ ] High School diploma or equivalent
[ ] Associates degree
[X] Bachelors degree
[ ] Masters degree
[ ] PhD
[ ] Other ___________________________________
Related Work Experience
[ ] No Experience necessary / On-the-Job Training
[ ] 1 year experience
[X] 3 years experience
[ ] 5 years experience
[ ] 7 or more years experience
Would prior work experience in the same job be accepted in lieu of a degree? Yes
If so, how many years? 4 or more years
Additional knowledge, skills, abilities or work experience, if any, necessary to complete the essential functions. He/she must:
• Be reliable, responsive and conduct him/herself in a professional manner.
• Demonstrate a commitment to timeliness.
• Possess good verbal and interpersonal communication skills, and be able to interact effectively with a wide variety of personality types.
• Have good written communication skills, including the ability to draft concise informal email communications as well as detailed but easily understandable written project and process documentation for formal use.
• Possess strong problem solving, quality assurance and analytical skills, and the ability to collect, organize, analyze, and disseminate significant amounts of information with attention to detail and accuracy.
• Know how to translate business rules and knowledge into data preparation, blending, and storage. Possess the ability to inherit, troubleshoot, and improve legacy reports, data models, workflows, etc. Have experience with database design development, data mining and statistics.
• Be capable of working independently and prioritizing, coordinating and delivering on multiple projects with and without the pressure of externally imposed deadlines.
• Have experience working with agile methodology, sprint planning, scrums, Kanban, and Jira Atlassian software for user stories, sprints, and tasks.
• Be able to quickly and independently gain an understanding of different industries and individual companies, and their needs, organizational structure, culture and vernacular.
• Be discreet and able to maintain strict client and company confidentiality.
• Have the ability to use a computer keyboard and be able to tolerate repetitive motion and eye strain resulting from extensive utilization of computer hardware and software.
• Be able to lift at least thirty pounds, climb stairs, and stand and walk for long periods.
• Be willing and able to travel domestically for client and company meetings and events hosted across the United States.
• Be adept in Alteryx Designer and Alteryx Gallery, and possess an advanced proficiency with Excel and a basic knowledge of data visualization tools, including Tableau and PowerBI.
• Have experience with ETL Tools, including Microsoft Business Intelligence Suite – SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS), and SQL Server Analysis Service (SSAS); experience with Python, R, and Oracle Databases is preferred.
• Possess existing U.S. work authorization (at this time, Playfair Data is unable to provide Visa sponsorships for any position).
Client Billing
[X] Yes [ ] No
If yes, describe: A minimum of 90% of incumbent’s time (or an average of 35 hours per week) is expected to be billable to Playfair Data clients.
Business Development
[ ] Yes [X] No
If yes, describe:
Budget and Spending
[ ] Yes [X] No
If yes, describe:
Management
[ ] Yes [X] No
If yes, describe:
[ ] Makes decisions regarding own work that typically has limited impact on client relationships, consulting projects, public and private training events, or the strategic business decisions and finances of Playfair Data.
[ ] Utilizes available data to make basic decisions regarding own work that may have some direct impact on client relationships, consulting projects, public and private training events, or the strategic business decisions and finances of Playfair Data.
[ ] Utilizes available data for decisions requiring analytical ability. Decisions have direct impact on client relationships, consulting projects, public and private training events, or the strategic business decisions and finances of Playfair Data.
[X] Creates, researches, and analyzes data not readily available for decisions having direct impact on client relationships, consulting projects, public and private training events, and the strategic business decisions and finances of Playfair Data.
[ ] Creates, researches, and analyzes data not readily available for complex decisions having direct impact on client relationships, consulting projects, public and private training events, and the strategic business decisions and finances of Playfair Data. May have direct impact on the strategic business and personnel decisions and finances of Playfair Data.
[ ] Makes decisions of significant scope requiring advanced analytical judgment. Decisions typically impact the strategic business and personnel decisions as well as the finances, mission, vision and future of Playfair Data.
To whom does this position report? Playfair Data Founder and Principal
Note: This job description includes most of the duties and responsibilities for which an employee will be held accountable. As the job evolves an employee should expect to complete other duties as assigned that may not be specifically listed above.
Review/Revision Date: September 22, 2021
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