Data Engineer

Job Summary

The Institute on Aging (IOA) is a research unit whose mission is to promote the health and well‑being of adult and aging populations through multidisciplinary research, education, and outreach. IOA leads the MIDUS study (Midlife in the U.S.), a large national longitudinal study of health and well‑being in more than 11,000 American adults. MIDUS data are publicly available and used by thousands of researchers worldwide.

To date, 2,000+ publications have been generated across diverse fields, and the study is used by graduate students nationwide.

The Data Engineer processes and cleans MIDUS data delivered by the Administrative Core from several collection sites, prepares data, metadata, and documentation for new or updated releases, maintains the MIDUS Colectica Portal, and responds to data or documentation requests for non‑public released data.

• Organize data preparation and analysis steps into reproducible pipelines that can automatically process similar data sets.
• Implement data analysis steps in collaboration with data scientists, statisticians, and/or other researchers, using technologies that support data at scale.
• Might supervise day‑to‑day activities of staff and resolve routine personnel issues.
• Prepare data sets for current and future analysis, including cleaning, quality assurance, transformations, restructuring, and integration of multiple data sources.
• Serve as an institutional subject‑matter expert and liaison to key internal and external stakeholders regarding automated data management and analysis at scale for research.
• Develop, construct, test, and maintain architectures for large‑scale data management and analysis.
• Select appropriate technologies and optimize pipelines for performance.

• Position levels 1 and 2; level and pay are commensurate with experience.
• Work schedule:
  
  Monday to Friday within normal business hours.
• Location:
  
  Madison, WI. Candidate must live in or be willing to relocate to the Madison, WI area.

The starting salary for the Data Engineer I position is $50,278 and for the Data Engineer II position is $63,230; salary is negotiable based on experience and qualifications.

Benefits include generous paid time off, competitively priced health, dental, vision, and life insurance, tax‑advantaged savings accounts, and participation in the Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS) pension fund.

• Experience with survey data cleaning, coding the raw data, and creating documentation for dissemination.
• Detail‑oriented, excellent interpersonal, problem‑solving, and organizational skills.
• Experience with SPSS.

• Two years of related experience in social science, epidemiology, or population health, or equivalent training or experience in data management or data curation.
• Experience reviewing other team members’ technical work and providing constructive feedback.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Ability to work well independently as well as on a team.

Bachelor’s degree required; graduate work or degree in social sciences, epidemiology, population health, or information science preferred.

The position requires continuous eligibility to work in the United States. The selected applicant must be a citizen or national of the United States, a lawful permanent resident, or a foreign national authorized to work in the United States without employer sponsorship. The position is ongoing and requires continuous work eligibility. Proof of work authorization must be provided on or before the effective date of appointment.

University of Wisconsin‑Madison is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, pregnancy, disability, or veteran status, and other bases as defined by federal regulations and UW System policies.

Angel Stampfli
angel.stampfli