Data Engineer

Excel Sports Management; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 100,000 - 115,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Benefits

Discretionary bonus

Job summary

Excel Sports Management is seeking a Data Engineer to build and maintain data pipelines powering reporting, modeling, and client deliverables. This hands-on role focuses on testing, data quality, and reliability, with collaboration from senior engineers. The position is based in the Chicago office.

The role requires a four-year degree or equivalent, 2+ years in data or software engineering, and strong Python/SQL skills. Familiarity with cloud services, CI/CD, and data warehousing is expected.

Qualifications

• Four-year degree or equivalent experience in CS, data science, math, or engineering.
• 2+ years of professional data engineering or related software experience.
• Proficiency in Python and SQL with data pipelines experience.
• Emphasis on testing, data quality, and reliable pipelines.

Responsibilities

• Build, maintain, and optimize data pipelines ingesting data from internal and external sources.
• Write unit/integration tests and data-quality checks (pytest, schema checks).
• Develop Python-based data workflows and orchestration tasks.
• Design relational data schemas with proper indexing and migrations.
• Support data lake/warehouse (S3, Athena/Glue, PostgreSQL/Aurora).
• Contribute to CI/CD and Docker-based workflows; ensure safe deployments.
• Investigate data/pipeline issues and improve monitoring and observability.
• Provide production support for data pipelines during business hours.
• Collaborate with analysts and engineers to deliver clean, documented solutions.

Skills

Python

SQL

Testing

Data modeling

Cloud knowledge

Git & CI/CD

Airflow

ETL pipelines

API/Services

BI basics

Education

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent

Tools

S3

Athena/Glue

PostgreSQL/Aurora

Docker

Terraform

Power BI/ Tableau

Job description

Excel Sports Management is an industry-leading sports agency representing top-tier talent, blue-chip brands and marquee properties. Our success is rooted in our people, our high character reputation and our commitment to creating a diverse and welcoming workplace. We focus on team chemistry, collaboration, strong relationships, valuable networks, and ambitious ideas to deliver innovative solutions that keep our clients and agency ahead of the curve.

Excel Sports Management is an Equal Opportunity Employer (EOE).

Position Summary

The Excel Analytics team is growing, and we are seeking a Data Engineer to help build and maintain the data pipelines and platforms that power our reporting, modeling, and client deliverables. This is a hands‑on role for an early‑career engineer who takes pride in building things the right way—with testing, data quality, and reliability built in from the start, not bolted on later. You will work alongside senior engineers and analysts to ingest, transform, and deliver trustworthy data across the business. This role will be based out of the Excel Chicago office.

Role & Responsibilities

• Build, maintain, and optimize data pipelines that reliably ingest, transform, and export data from internal and external sources.
• Write and maintain automated tests—unit, integration, and data‑quality checks—to ensure pipelines and datasets are correct, complete, and trustworthy.
• Develop Python-based data workflows and orchestration tasks following established team patterns.
• Contribute to relational data design—tables and relationships, primary/foreign keys, and appropriate indexing—and deliver schema changes as version‑controlled migrations.
• Support the data lake and warehouse layer (S3, Athena/Glue, PostgreSQL/Aurora), helping keep schemas, models, and documentation accurate.
• Contribute to CI/CD pipelines and containerized (Docker) workflows, ensuring changes are tested and deployed safely.
• Investigate and resolve data and pipeline issues, and help improve monitoring so problems are caught early.
• Provide production support for data pipelines during standard working hours.
• Collaborate with analysts, engineers, and client‑facing teams to turn business needs into clean, documented solutions.

Education and Experience

• A four‑year degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Mathematics, Engineering, or a related field OR equivalent experience.
• 2+ years of professional experience in data engineering, software engineering, or a closely related role.

Required Qualifications

• Proficiency in Python and SQL, with hands‑on experience building or maintaining data pipelines.
• Demonstrated commitment to testing—writing unit and integration tests and validating data quality (e.g., pytest, schema/row‑level checks, or similar).
• Experience with OLTP (row‑oriented) databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL, or equivalent).
• Experience with OLAP (columnar) databases (Clickhouse, Redshift or equivalent).
• Solid grasp of data modeling, indexing, and schema migrations.
• Working knowledge of cloud environments (AWS preferred; GCP/Azure acceptable).
• Familiarity with Git and CI/CD pipelines, and an understanding of data and software engineering best practices.
• Exposure to AI/ML or Generative AI/LLM‑driven solutions.
• Awareness of data security, access controls, and observability/monitoring practices.
• Ability to work collaboratively, take ownership of your work, and operate in a fast‑paced environment.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Experience with Apache Airflow or other workflow orchestration tools.
• Familiarity with Terraform or Infrastructure‑as‑Code.
• Familiarity with event‑driven or serverless architectures (e.g., S3/SQS‑triggered pipelines, Lambda).
• Experience building APIs or services to expose data (FastAPI, Flask, or similar).
• Experience with BI tools (Power BI, Tableau).
• Experience working in the sports industry and/or the agency world.
• Strong interest in sports and sports analytics.
• Familiarity with marketing data (e.g., campaign, audience, engagement, and brand/sponsorship metrics);

The pay range for this position is: $100,000 per year - $115,000 per year. This position is also eligible for benefits and discretionary bonus.

Ultimately, the salary may vary based upon, but not limited to, relevant experience, time in role, business sector, and geographic location, among other criteria.

This position is not eligible for sponsorship.

Excel Sports Management provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to age, color, national origin, citizenship status, physical or mental disability, race, religion, creed, gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, genetic information, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, leaves of absence, compensation and training.