Senior Data Engineer
CU Denver
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Benefits offered by this job
Job summary
The University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus is seeking a Senior Data Engineer to design, develop, and support backend data solutions for analytics and operations. The role emphasizes ETL/ELT development, data pipelines, data warehousing, and modern data platform modernization using Azure services and related Microsoft tools.
You will partner with data owners and BI teams to ensure scalable, secure data architectures, foster data quality, and enable reliable analytics across enterprise
Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in computer science, information systems, data science, engineering, or a related field.
- Substitution: education and related experience may substitute for the degree.
- At least two years of data engineering, data integration, BI engineering, data warehousing, or related work.
Responsibilities
- Architect, develop, optimize, and operate batch and event-driven pipelines across diverse sources.
- Create reusable SQL, Python, Spark, and orchestration patterns with logging and alerts.
- Lead modernization of legacy ETL and Microsoft BI integrations into Azure or Fabric architectures.
- Define design decisions across Azure Data Factory, Azure SQL, storage, Databricks, Synapse, Fabric.
- Support migration of legacy processes into scalable Azure-based architectures.
- Design data lakes, lakehouses, warehouses, data marts, and foundational data services.
- Focus on scalability, security, performance, and cost in cloud and AI resources.
- Maintain relational and dimensional models including star schemas and warehouse structures.
- Partner with BI developers and data owners on grain, history, and lineage.
- Design automated data-quality, observability, and CI/CD frameworks.
- Lead peer reviews, maintain architecture docs, mappings, and support models.
Skills
Education
Tools
Job description
Department: School of Medicine Office of the Dean IT Shared Services
Position #: 00853609 - Requisition #: 41245
The Senior Data Engineer independently designs, develops, optimizes, and supports backend data solutions that enable reliable analytics, reporting, and operational use of institutional data. The role is focused on ETL/ELT development, data pipeline orchestration, cloud data infrastructure, relational and dimensional data modeling, data warehousing/lake house solutions, integration frameworks, and modernization of legacy Microsoft data platforms.
This position works primarily with technologies such as Azure Data Factory, Azure SQL and SQL Server, Azure storage services, SQL/T-SQL, Python, and related Microsoft data engineering tools. The Senior Data Engineer may interact with data owners, business stakeholders, or clients to clarify requirements and troubleshoot source or integration issues. Power BI or other front-end BI experience is beneficial for understanding downstream consumption, but dashboard design and visualization are not the primary focus of the role.
- Architect, develop, optimize, and operate complex batch and event-driven pipelines across diverse enterprise sources.
- Create reusable SQL, Python, Spark, and orchestration patterns with robust logging, exception handling, and alerting.
- Lead modernization of legacy ETL and Microsoft BI integrations into approved Azure or Fabric architectures.
- Make solution-level design decisions across Azure Data Factory, Azure SQL, storage, Functions, Databricks, Synapse, Fabric, and related Microsoft data platform components.
- Support migration and modernization of legacy data processes and Microsoft BI infrastructure into scalable Azure-based architectures.
- Define technical solution architecture for data lakes, lakehouses, warehouses, data marts, integration layers, and foundational data services.
- Build solutions with attention to scalability, security, performance, and cost-conscious use of cloud and AI resources.
- Maintain relational and dimensional data models, including star schemas, facts, dimensions, semantic structures, and warehouse structures.
- Design complex integrations across databases, APIs, files, applications, and streaming or semi-structured sources.
- Partner with BI Developers and data owners on grain, history, definitions, lineage, semantic needs, and service expectations.
- Design automated validation, reconciliation, observability, lineage, and data-quality frameworks.
- Establish source control, code reviews, testing, CI/CD, release, monitoring, and incident-response practices.
- Lead root-cause analysis and resolution of complex pipeline, integration, and performance incidents.
- Lead peer/design reviews, knowledge sharing, and technical guidance that improves consistency, maintainability, and supportability across the data environment.
- Maintain architecture decisions, technical specs, mappings, and support models.
This description is a summary of the general level of work and is not intended to be all-inclusive. Duties and responsibilities may evolve based on business need and the approved organizational design. We reserve the right to add or delete duties and responsibilities at the discretion of the supervisor and/or hiring authority.
Hybrid - this role is eligible for a hybrid schedule of three (3) days per week on campus and as needed for in-person meetings.
The University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus is a world-class medical destination at the forefront of transformative science, medicine, education and patient care. The campus encompasses the University of Colorado health professional schools, more than 60 centers and institutes, and two nationally ranked independent hospitals - UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital and Children's Hospital Colorado - that treat more than two million adult and pediatric patients each year. For more information, visit www.cuanschutz.edu.
The School of Medicine (SOM) Office of the Dean Information Services team supports a wide range of digital, data, application, infrastructure, compliance, web, and end-user technology services across departments. This role is part of the Data team and focuses on the engineering, integration, and platform capabilities that support analytics and operational data solutions.
Why work for the University?
We have AMAZING benefits and offerexceptional amounts of holiday, vacation, and sick leave! The University of Colorado offers an excellent benefits package, including:
- Medical: Multiple plan options
- Dental: Multiple plan options
- Additional Insurance: Disability, Life, Vision
- Retirement 401(a) Plan: Employer contributes 10% of your gross pay
- Paid Time Off: Accruals over the year
- Vacation Days: 22/year (maximum accrual 352 hours)
- Sick Days: 15/year (unlimited maximum accrual)
- Holiday Days: 15/year
- Tuition Benefit: Employees have access to this benefit on all CU campuses
- ECO Pass: Reduced-rate RTD Bus and light rail service
There are many additional perks & programs with the CU Advantage.
- A bachelor's degree in computer science, information systems, data science, engineering, or a directly related field from an accredited institution.
- Substitution: A combination of education and related technical/paraprofessional experience may be substituted for the bachelor's degree on a year-for-year basis.
- At least two (2) years of progressively responsible experience in data engineering, data integration, database development, business intelligence engineering, data warehousing, or a closely related technical field.
Applicants must meet minimum qualifications at the time of hire.
- Experience designing, developing, and supporting enterprise data solutions, including ETL/ELT pipelines, data integration frameworks, data warehouses, data marts, lakehouses, and production data workflows.
- Experience with Azure and Microsoft data platform technologies such as Azure Data Factory, Azure SQL, Azure Data Lake Storage (ADLS), Blob Storage, Functions, Databricks, Synapse, Microsoft Fabric, Spark, or similar cloud-based data engineering services.
- Strong experience with relational databases and SQL development, including complex queries, stored procedures, performance tuning, data modeling, and implementation of scalable analytical data platforms.
- Experience developing reusable data engineering capabilities, including frameworks for data quality, observability, metadata management, data lineage, automated testing, CI/CD, and DevOps practices.
- Experience modernizing and migrating legacy data and business intelligence platforms (e.g., SQL Server, SSIS, SSAS), and/or supporting data environments within regulated industries such as healthcare, higher education, research, or finance.
- Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States without requiring sponsorship. We are unable to provide work visa sponsorship or employment authorization for this position now or in the future.
- Knowledge of modern data engineering, data warehousing, lakehouse architectures, data integration patterns, and enterprise data management principles.
- Knowledge of data quality, data governance, metadata management, data lineage, security, privacy, and maintainability best practices.
- Skill in analyzing complex technical problems, evaluating alternatives, and applying sound judgment to develop effective and scalable solutions.
- Skill in communicating technical concepts, recommendations, risks, and trade-offs effectively to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
- Skill in leading technical design discussions and documenting solution architectures, implementation approaches, and operational considerations.
- Ability to manage multiple priorities, meet commitments, and deliver high-quality results in Agile and collaborative team environments.
- Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships, mentor and support team members, and contribute to a culture of continuous learning and improvement.
- Ability to balance business needs, technical requirements, security considerations, operational support, and cost factors when developing and recommending solutions.
The starting salary range (or hiring range) for this position has been established as $89,926 to $114,386.
The above salary range (or hiring range) represents the University's good-faith and reasonable estimate of the range of possible compensation at the time of posting. This position may be eligible for overtime compensation, depending on the level.
Your total compensation goes beyond the number on your paycheck. The University of Colorado provides generous leave, health plans, and retirement contributions that add to your bottom line.
Total Compensation Calculator
CU is an Equal Opportunity Employer and complies with all applicable federal, state, and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment. We are committed to creating a workplace where all individuals are treated with respect and dignity, and we encourage individuals from all backgrounds to apply, including protected veterans and individuals with disabilities.
The University will provide reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities throughout the employment application process. To request an accommodation pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act, please contact the Human Resources ADA Coordinator at hr.adacoordinator@cuanschutz.edu.
The University of Colorado Anschutz is dedicated to ensuring a safe and secure environment for our faculty, staff, students and visitors. To assist in achieving that goal, we conduct background investigations for all prospective employees.
CU Anschutz strongly encourages vaccination against the COVID-19 virus and other vaccine preventable diseases. If you work, visit, or volunteer in healthcare facilities or clinics operated by our affiliated hospital or clinical partners or by CU Anschutz, you will be required to comply with the vaccination and medical surveillance policies of the facilities or clinics where you work, visit, or volunteer, respectively. In addition, if you work in certain research areas or perform certain safety sensitive job duties, you must enroll in the occupational health medical surveillance program.
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