Position Summary:

The Data Engineer is responsible for building, operating, and optimizing the organization's analytical data pipelines and platforms. This position develops reliable, scalable, and performant data assets to support enterprise analytics and reporting. The Data Engineer designs, develops, maintains, and optimizes ETL/ELT pipelines, data warehouse structures, and semantic models through the use of SQL, Python, and related technologies.

The firm has one available position in either Austin, TX, Bellevue, WA, Long Beach, CA, Portland, OR, Dover, OH, Atlanta, GA, Cleveland, OH, or Fort Lauderdale, FL.

Your Contributions and Responsibilities

Data Pipeline & Platform Engineering

• Design, develop, and maintain ETL/ELT pipelines from source systems into analytical platforms, writing production-grade SQL and Python.
• Implement transformations, validations, and aggregations to support analytics and reporting
• Ensure data pipelines are resilient, observable, and performant.
• Monitor, troubleshoot, and remediate data pipeline failures and performance issues.

Database Performance & Optimization

• Diagnose and resolve slow-running queries and optimize SQL syntax for efficiency and readability.
• Design, implement, and tune indexing strategies to improve query performance.
• Implement referential integrity constraints (e.g., foreign keys) where appropriate to the platform and data model, complementing pipeline-based data-quality checks.
• Assist with memory, resource, and configuration tuning of data platforms in coordination with IT.

Data Warehouse & Analytics Enablement

• Implement and optimize data warehouse schemas and structures in accordance with the organization's architectural direction.
• Implement, maintain, and optimize data across the layers, and provide practical feedback to inform layer design and promotion logic.
• Build, optimize, and maintain physical semantic models (e.g., Power BI/Fabric star schemas, Direct Lake datasets) that implement the business definitions, metrics, and relationships specified.
• Partner with others to operationalize architectural designs and analytical data models.
• Support BI Analysts by ensuring data availability, freshness, and usability.
• Manage dependencies and sequencing across multiple source systems.

Quality, Reliability, & Operations

• Implement data quality checks, reconciliation controls, and error handling.
• Ensure data processing adheres to security, privacy, and access requirements.
• Maintain documentation for pipelines, data flows, semantic models, and operational procedures.
• Participate in incident response and root-cause analysis for data issues.

Collaboration & Continuous Improvement

• Collaborate with systems product managers to understand system changes affecting data.
• Partner with IT on infrastructure, access, and platform considerations.
• Evaluate and recommend improvements to data tooling, patterns, and performance.
• Contribute to engineering best practices, coding standards, and reusable components.

Your Background and Skills

• Strong knowledge of data engineering principles, data integration processes, and analytical data warehouse concepts.
• Knowledge of data quality, data governance, security, and privacy practices applicable to analytical data environments.
• Strong problem-solving skills and attention to operational detail, including troubleshooting and root-cause analysis.
• Ability to monitor, troubleshoot, and optimize data pipelines, databases, and related data platforms to support operational reliability and performance.
• Ability to evaluate processes and recommend improvements that enhance scalability, efficiency, and data reliability.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills with the ability to effectively communicate technical information to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with business intelligence, systems, and IT teams.
• Ability to effectively manage and prioritize a fast-paced workload while meeting deadlines and adapting to changing business needs.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team, maintaining a collaborative and proactive approach to assigned responsibilities.

Minimum Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems Management, Data Science, Data Analytics, or a related field and at least 3 years of experience in data engineering or analytics engineering roles, including hands-on development of ETL/ELT pipelines. Demonstrated proficiency in SQL and Python, as well as experience with cloud data platforms and modern analytics tooling, is required.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience with Microsoft Azure data services (e.g. Azure Data Factory, Databricks, Synapse/Fabric, Snowflake). Experience implementing medallion architectures and building semantic models in Power BI/Microsoft Fabric, including star schemas and Direct Lake. Familiarity with DevOps or CI/CD practices for data pipelines. Exposure to BI tools such as Power BI. Azure certifications (e.g., Azure Data Engineer Associate, Fabric Analytics Engineer Associate) are a plus.

We are proud to offer:

• Increased number of paid holidays per year
• Competitive salaries with continuous review of market conditions
• Flexible working hours and work arrangements
• Remote and hybrid opportunities
• Inclusive workplace, providing strong professional growth and development opportunities

The benefits of joining our team

• Strong growth opportunities
• Competitive benefits package
• 401(k) package with firm profit-sharing
• Strong emphasis on quality work-life integration
• Dress for your day policy
• Resources of a national firm
• Opportunities to engage with our active Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), affinity groups, and advance your career within a supportive, inclusive environment
• Compensation: $95,000-$128,000 depending on experience. More is possible if experience dictates.

Don't meet every single qualification?

After reviewing this job posting, are you hesitating to apply because you don't meet all the listed requirements? At Novogradac, we are dedicated to building a workplace supported by unique perspectives and experiences, so if you're excited about this role but your experience doesn't align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we still encourage you to apply.

You may still be the right candidate for this or one of our other roles.

Ready to learn more?

To be considered for this position, interested candidates MUST apply via our company website: https://www.novoco.com/careers.