MDM Engineer
Cooley AI is seeking an MDM Engineer to join the Innovation team.
Position summary: As a leading technology law firm, Cooley is determined to become a leader in the digital practice of law. The Master Data Management (MDM) Engineer is a technical individual contributor within the Platform Governance & Quality function, responsible for the hands-on implementation and ongoing maintenance of the firm's Master Data Management platform. This role builds and operates the technical MDM implementation within the architectural framework defined by the Senior Data Architect, MDM & Data Modeling, including matching rule configuration, survivorship logic, golden record processing, and source system integration. The MDM Engineer is the operational technical owner of MDM delivery on the platform, working closely with the Director of Platform Governance & Quality and the Senior Data Architect to ensure the MDM implementation is correct, performant, and governed. Specific duties and responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following:
Position responsibilities:MDM Platform Implementation:- Implement and maintain matching rules, survivorship logic, and golden record processing within the MDM platform, in alignment with the architectural framework defined by the Senior Data Architect, MDM & Data Modeling. Raise any implementation questions with architectural implications to the architect as they arise
- Consume and maintain the governed data views built on the Silver layer Raw Vault and Business Vault structures that feed master data into the MDM platform. Work with the Senior Data Architect, MDM & Data Modeling and the Data Engineering & Platform function to ensure these views are correctly structured, consistently available, and aligned with the canonical entity definitions the MDM matching process depends on
- Implement and maintain the MDM matching configuration for canonical legal sector entities including client, contact, timekeeper, matter, and related master data domains. Ensure matching logic correctly reflects the canonical entity definitions maintained in the business glossary by the Senior Technical Data Governance Analyst
- Build and maintain the MDM exception handling workflow, ensuring records that cannot be resolved to a golden record through automated matching are surfaced for manual stewardship review with sufficient context for stewards to make accurate decisions
- Maintain MDM platform performance, monitoring matching throughput, golden record publication latency, and exception queue volumes. Identify performance issues and implement resolutions in coordination with the Senior Data Architect
- Publish golden record outputs from the MDM platform to a dedicated MDM catalog in Unity Catalog, separate from the Silver layer to prevent circular reference. Ensure canonical master data is available to downstream analytics, AI models, and data products through governed Unity Catalog access controls applied to the MDM catalog
Golden Record Quality & Governance:- Implement data quality checks within the MDM pipeline to validate that incoming source data meets the minimum quality thresholds required for matching and survivorship processing. Coordinate with the Data Quality Engineer on quality rule alignment between the DQE platform and the MDM layer
- Maintain the MDM audit trail, ensuring that all golden record creation, update, and merge events are logged with sufficient lineage to support governance review and ISO audit readiness
- Support the Senior Technical Data Governance Analyst in applying Unity Catalog governance standards to MDM golden record outputs, ensuring canonical master data tables are correctly classified, tagged, and access-controlled in alignment with platform governance policies
- Participate in MDM stewardship workflows, providing technical context to Business Data Stewards who are making manual resolution decisions on unmatched or conflicting records. Ensure stewards have the information they need to make accurate decisions without requiring the understanding of underlying MDM platform configuration
- Track and report on MDM operational metrics including match rates, golden record coverage, exception resolution rates, and source system integration health for the Director and cross-functional stakeholders
Source System Integration & Data Engineering Collaboration:- Partner with the Data Engineering & Platform function on the governed Silver layer views that feed master data into the MDM platform and the MDM catalog Unity Catalog configuration that publishes golden records to downstream consumers. Ensure the data view structures feeding MDM are correctly formed and consistently available, and that the MDM catalog is integrated with the platform's Delta Lake and Unity Catalog governance patterns
- Collaborate with the Data Engineering & Platform function to ensure MDM golden record outputs published to the MDM catalog are aligned with the canonical entity definitions in the Silver layer Raw Vault. Ensure hub entities in the Raw Vault and the MDM golden records reflect the same canonical entity understanding so downstream consumers receive consistent master data regardless of which layer they consume from
- Coordinate with the Reference Data Engineer to ensure reference codes used in MDM canonical entities are consistent between the reference data Silver layer and the MDM matching configuration, preventing code misalignment that would undermine matching accuracy
- Support Data Domain Squads and Technical Data Analysts during EPIC analysis when they identify MDM entity coverage gaps or golden record quality issues that affect their source-to-target mapping work
- All other duties as assigned or required
Skills and experience:Required:
- After orientation at Cooley LLP, exhibit proficiency in the Microsoft Office suite, iManage, and other firm applications
- Ability to work extended and/or weekend hours, as required
- Ability to travel, as required
- 4+ years of experience in data engineering, MDM implementation, or data platform role with hands-on responsibility for master data or enterprise data integration
- Hands-on experience implementing and maintaining an enterprise MDM platform in a production environment, including Informatica MDM, Semarchy xDM, Ataccama ONE MDM, Profisee, or comparable
- Strong SQL proficiency with the ability to write, review, and optimize complex data queries supporting MDM matching analysis, golden record validation, and exception triage
- Experience with source system data integration, including extracting and loading data from operational systems into a governed data platform environment
- Working knowledge of MDM concepts including entity resolution, matching logic, survivorship rules, golden record design, and stewardship workflow management
- Experience with Databricks, Delta Lake, or comparable cloud data platform for consuming and publishing master data within a medallion architecture
- Comfort using GitHub for version control and documentation management in a collaborative data platform environment
- Working knowledge of ISO (International Organization for Standardization) or comparable compliance framework and its implications for MDM audit readiness
Preferred:
- Experience with Informatica MDM specifically, including matching rule configuration, survivorship design, workflow administration, and source system integration
- Legal sector, financial services, or professional services experience with exposure to complex master data domains such as client, matter, timekeeper, or comparable professional services operational entities
- Familiarity with Data Vault 2.0 concepts sufficient to understand how MDM canonical entity definitions inform Raw Vault hub design and how golden record outputs are consumed by downstream Data Vault structures
- Experience with dbt or comparable transformation framework for publishing and transforming MDM golden record outputs in a lakehouse environment
- Familiarity with Informatica DQE or comparable data quality platform and how DQE quality rules interact with MDM matching and survivorship logic
- Experience with reference data management frameworks and how reference codes are used in MDM matching and canonical entity classification
- Comfort using AI-assisted development tools to accelerate MDM configuration documentation, matching rule analysis, and exception triage workflow development
Competencies:- Ability to communicate MDM technical concepts clearly to both technical peers and non-technical business stewards
- Strong technical implementation capability with a hands-on approach to building and maintaining MDM matching rules, survivorship logic, and source system integrations within an architect-defined framework
- Excellent attention to detail with high standards for data accuracy, matching configuration accuracy, golden record completeness, and exception handling quality
- Strong collaborative instincts with the ability to work effectively across architecture, governance, data engineering, and analytics functions to deliver a reliable MDM platform
- Excellent operational responsiveness with the ability to monitor platform health, identify issues early, and resolve MDM processing failures before they affect downstream consumers
- Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to explain MDM technical concepts clearly to business stewards who need to make manual resolution decisions
- Growth-oriented mindset with the curiosity to develop deeper MDM architecture knowledge alongside the Senior Data Architect over time
- Strong judgment
- Unwavering ability to handle and maintain confidentiality regarding firm information, projects, and client data
Cooley LLP offers a competitive compensation and excellent benefits program.
The expected annual pay range for this position with a full-time schedule is $155,000-$185,000. Please note that final offer amount will be dependent on geographic location, applicable experience and skillset of the candidate. Senior level candidates may be considered for this position and would be eligible for a higher salary range based on experience.
We offer a full range of elective benefits including medical, health savings account (with applicable medical plan), dental, vision, health and/or dependent care flexible spending accounts, pre-tax commuter benefits, life insurance, AD&D, long-term care coverage, backup care for children and/or adults and other parental support benefits. In addition to elective benefit options, benefited employees receive firm-paid life insurance, AD&D, LTD, short term medical benefits as well as 25 days of Paid Time Off ("PTO") and 10 paid holidays each year. We provide generous parental leave and fertility benefits. New employees will attend a detailed benefit orientation to learn more about our many benefits and resources.
