Data Engineer

Salary

Current Employees:
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Academic Staff

Regular

Data Engineer I

About Us:

The Institute on Aging is a research unit whose mission is to promote the health and well‑being of the adult and aging populations through excellence in multidisciplinary research, education, and outreach. For the past 2.5 decades, the IOA has led a large national longitudinal study of health and wellbeing in 11,000+ American adults, known as MIDUS (Midlife in the US). The study examines influences of emotion, personality, biology, genetics, neuroscience, work and family life, class, culture, race/ethnicity, and historic events to understand trajectories of health across the adult life span.

Data from MIDUS are publicly available and are used by thousands of researchers worldwide. To date, 2,000+ publications have been generated across diverse fields. The study is also used by graduate students in the U.S. to complete master’s and doctoral degrees.

The Data Engineer will process and clean MIDUS data delivered to the Administrative Core by the data collection sites (Pennsylvania State University, Brandeis University, UW‑Madison, and Georgetown); prepare data, metadata, and documentation for new or updated MIDUS data releases; maintain and update the MIDUS Colectica Portal; and respond to data or documentation requests for non‑public released MIDUS data.

• Organize both data preparation and analysis steps into reproducible pipelines that can process similar data sets automatically.
• Implement data analysis steps in collaboration with data scientists, statisticians, and/or other researchers, using technologies that support data at scale.
• May supervise the 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, using technologies that support data at scale.
• 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, representing the interests of large‑scale data management and analysis for research.
• Develop, construct, test, and maintain architectures for large‑scale data management and analysis.
• Select appropriate technologies and optimize pipelines for performance.

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

• Either 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 starting salary for the position is $50,278 for the Data Engineer I, or $63,230 for the Data Engineer II, but is negotiable based on experience and qualifications. This position offers a comprehensive benefits package, including generous paid time off, competitively priced health/dental/vision/life insurance, tax‑advantaged savings accounts, and participation in the nationally recognized Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS) pension fund. For a summary of benefits, please see https://(Use the "Apply for this Job" box below)./

Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to, including but not limited to, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, pregnancy, disability, or status as a protected veteran and other bases as defined by federal regulations and UW System policies. We promote excellence by acknowledging skills and expertise from all backgrounds and encourage all qualified individuals to apply.