Research Data Engineer

UW School of Medicine and Public Health; Madison (WI); Hybrid; USD 62,000 - 82,000; Full time

Job summary

UW School of Medicine and Public Health is seeking a Research Data Engineer I to join the Center for Health Disparities Research (CHDR). The role focuses on data pipeline management, database engineering, and reproducible analysis pipelines to support health disparities research and large-scale datasets.

You will collaborate with CHDR scientists and data operations peers to optimize processes across Azure cloud-based relational databases and contribute to publications and data visualizations.

Qualifications

• Intermediate or advanced experience using data processing with Python or R.
• Comfortable working in a command line environment.
• Demonstrated experience with large-scale relational database management systems.

Responsibilities

• Develops, constructs, tests, and maintains architectures for large-scale data management and analysis.
• Implements data analysis steps in collaboration with data scientists and researchers; may use data at scale technologies.
• Organizes data preparation and analysis steps into reproducible pipelines for automatic processing of similar datasets.
• Selects appropriate technologies and optimizes pipelines for performance.
• Prepares datasets for current and future analysis including cleaning, transformations, and integration of diverse data sources.

Skills

Python/R

Command line

Relational databases

Research environment

Education

Bachelor's Degree Preferred

Tools

SQL

Docker

Git

REDCap

Azure

Job description

Current Employees: If you are currently employed at any of the Universities of Wisconsin, log in to Workday to apply through the internal application process.

Job Category: Academic Staff

Employment Type: Regular

Job Profile: Data Engineer I

Job Summary

The Center for Health Disparities Research (CHDR), led by Director Dr. Amy Kind and Deputy Directors Drs. Nicole Rogus-Pulia and Andrea Gilmore-Bykovskyi, invites applications from highly motivated individuals to join our dynamic, growing, and multidisciplinary team. As a Research Data Engineer with CHDR, you will have the opportunity to contribute to research projects with far-reaching influence, including the largest study of its kind on social determinants of health in the context of Alzheimer's disease. Broadly, our work is focused on mechanisms of health disparities - the ways fundamental factors such as race, ethnicity, and identity interact with a complex array of geopolitical, socioeconomic, health care, cultural, social, psychological, physiological, genetic, and cellular factors to produce different population health outcomes. We are seeking a highly motivated individual to join our team and provide expertise on data pipeline management and database engineering within a research environment. This position will work with CHDR scientists and Data Operations peers to optimize current processes related to a relational database used for scholarly research. The Research Data Engineer will join a dynamic team that works on multi-unit projects, both internal and external to UW-Madison. These projects range from the management of a robust relational database in an Azure cloud platform to produce datasets for distribution among a 24-site consortium, the creation of data visualizations for publications, and working with data analysts and IT professionals in moving forward research in health disparities. Under the guidance of one of CHDR’s Research Scientists, the successful Research Data Engineer will assist the CHDR scientific team to optimize processes within a large-scale relational database to prepare and analyze data using reproducible pipelines for research purposes. Processing would include data from multiple sources, including geographically-linked metrics of socioeconomic factors and measures of health outcomes, furthering research on and interventions in the social determinants of health.

Availability and Work Arrangement

• This position is full or part-time, 80%-100%.
• This position may require some work to be performed in-person, onsite, at a designated campus work location. Some work may be performed remotely, at an offsite, non-campus work location.

Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities

• Excellent organizational skills, strong attention to detail, and the flexibility to work both independently and collaboratively.
• Excellent interpersonal skills related to communicating and documenting steps in the data processing pipeline.

Key Job Responsibilities

• Develops, constructs, tests, and maintains architectures for large-scale data management and analysis
• Implements data analysis steps in collaboration with data scientists, statisticians, and/or other researchers and may use technologies that support data at scale
• Organizes both data preparation and analysis steps into reproducible pipelines that can process similar data sets automatically
• Selects appropriate technologies and optimizes pipelines for performance
• Prepares data sets for current and future analysis including cleaning/quality assurance, transformations, restructuring, and integration of multiple data sources and may use technologies that support data at scale

Department

The Center for Health Disparities Research (CHDR) is a dynamic multidisciplinary Center housed within the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health (SMPH). Broadly, CHDR focuses on mechanisms of health disparities – with a particular focus on the social exposome and its relationship to health. CHDR is the home to the team that refined and curates the Area Deprivation Index and its data democratization portal, the Neighborhood Atlas®. CHDR is also home to the Neighborhoods Study, an NIH funded national initiative to examine the adverse social exposome’s impact on neuropathology and brain health biomarkers. CHDR investigators represent all areas of the translational research spectrum, from basic science to community participatory research. CHDR also has strong relationships with local, state and federal government, non-profit organizations, and industry entities.

Compensation

• The expected salary range for this position is $ 62,310 up to $82,000 for highly experienced candidates and actual pay within this range will depend on experience and qualifications.
• Employees in this position can expect to receive benefits such as generous vacation, holidays, and sick leave; competitive insurances and savings accounts; retirement benefits. For more information, refer to the campus benefits webpage. SMPH Academic Staff Benefits Flyer

Required Qualifications

• Intermediate or advanced experience using R or Python to perform data processing/ETL tasks.
• Comfortable working in a command line environment.
• Demonstrated experience with large scale relational database management systems.
• Demonstrated experience in a research setting.

Preferred Qualifications

• Intermediate or advanced experience using R or Python and/or SQL to perform data processing/ETL tasks.
• Demonstrated experience with data pipelining, task automation, data structures and algorithms.
• Experience developing, debugging, and testing data processing pipelines.
• Familiarity with Git or other version control systems.
• Familiarity with containerization and/or virtual environment management using Docker, conda, venv, etc.
• Familiarity with REDCap.
• Experience working with PHI and other sensitive data.

Education

Bachelor's Degree Preferred

University sponsorship is not available for this position, including transfers of sponsorship and TN visas. The selected applicant will be responsible for ensuring their continuous eligibility to work in the United States (i.e. a citizen or national of the United States, a lawful permanent resident, a foreign national authorized to work in the United States without the need of an employer sponsorship) on or before the effective date of appointment. This position is an ongoing position that will require continuous work eligibility. If you are selected for this position you must provide proof of work authorization and eligibility to work.

Contact Information

Kim McFarlane, [e-mail]

Relay Access (WTRS): 7-1-1. See RELAY_SERVICE for further information.

Institutional Statement on Diversity

Diversity is a source of strength, creativity, and innovation for UW‑Madison. We value the contributions of each person and respect the profound ways their identity, culture, background, experience, status, abilities, and opinion enrich the university community. We commit ourselves to the pursuit of excellence in teaching, research, outreach, and diversity as inextricably linked goals.

The University of Wisconsin‑Madison fulfills its public mission by creating a welcoming and inclusive community for people from every background - people who as students, faculty, and staff serve Wisconsin and the world.

The University of Wisconsin