The Greater Boston Food | Data Engineer | Boston, MA | United States | BigDataKB.com | 2023-01-15

GBFB Overview

Through the compassion and commitment of our supporters, staff, partners and volunteers, The Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB) takes a bold, innovative and multi-pronged approach to achieve our mission to end hunger here. GBFB is the largest hunger-relief organization in New England and among the largest food banks in the country. We are committed to increasing our food distribution to provide three meals a day to every person in need in Eastern Massachusetts while supporting healthy lives and healthy communities. Our progress toward this goal is documented by town on our interactive map.

The Greater Boston Food Bank is a member of Feeding America, the nation’s largest hunger-relief organization.

Through compassion and action, together we can create a hunger free Eastern Massachusetts.

GBFB Team Members will support the Mission to End Hunger Here. They will live our Team Member Values of Team Member Wellbeing, Teamwork, Diversity Equity and Inclusion, Respect, Trust, and Our Eastern Massachusetts Community.

GBFB Core Competencies

GBFB Core Competencies summarize the capabilities that are important across all jobs and that we believe collectively contribute to GBFB’s overall success. We believe they support our mission and our values. At the same time, the expected behaviors as they relate to Core Competencies may vary according to the specific job duties, requirements, and level within the organization. Core Competences are usually interpersonal and strategic and are at the heart of how we do our work.

The GBFB Competency Framework focuses on six Core Competencies:

• Contributes to a High Performing Team
• Builds a Shared Commitment
• Empowers Others
• Drives Continual Improvement
• Communicates Collaboratively
• Displays Authenticity and Transparency

Affirmative Action/EEO statement

GBFB provides equal employment opportunities to all Team Members and applicants for employment without regard to race, creed, color, religion, national origin, citizenship status, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, age, disability, handicap, genetic information, protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, and local laws. This applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including but not limited to hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, benefits, and training.

No Team Member or applicant will be subjected to harassment, intimidation, threats, coercion or discrimination because they have engaged in or may engage in any of the following: (1) filing a complaint of employment discrimination; (2) assisting or participating in an investigation, compliance review, hearing, or any other activity related to the administration of any federal, state or local law requiring equal opportunity; (3) opposing any act or practice made unlawful by any federal, state or local law requiring equal opportunity; or (4) exercising any other right protected by any federal, state or local law requiring equal opportunity.

Other duties

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

GBFB is considered an essential response organization in times of disaster. As such, Team Members are expected to report to GBFB locations as required, after securing the safety of their families, and may be asked to perform duties that are critical (but outside of their regularly assigned duties) in times of disaster.

Job Title: Data Engineer
FLSA Classification: Exempt (Salaried)

Reports to: Director of Business and Data Analytics

Position Summary

The Data Engineer is responsible for managing and organizing GBFB’s data and identifying and implementing solutions to improve data reliability, efficiency, and quality. This role will work with system architects, data analysts, and team members across the organization to develop GBFB’s data architecture, aligned with business requirements, to support a self-service data ingestion framework.

Position Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Develop data platforms including data warehouses, analytic products, data lakes, ETL, ML models, and data pipelines in collaboration with enterprise architects, analysts, and subject matter experts
• Centralize, transform, and model data in Azure to enable powerful analysis and draw a more comprehensive picture of user flows throughout our system
• Develop and manage Boomi data pipelines and APIs
• Provide relational database expertise (Netsuite, Salesforce, SQL, etc.) to construct and execute queries to be used in data analysis activities
• Develop data models that can be used to make predictions and answer questions for the overall business
• Develop self-service data ingestion strategy and solutions to provide a range of business leaders and functional areas insights into GBFB’s operations
• Leverage industry best practices to ensure data quality standards are met
• Apply and ensure adherence to IAM and Data Governance policies
• Develop and execute tools to monitor and report on data access and quality, and ensure optimized performance
• Foster appreciation and adherence to the principles of data quality management
• Collaborate with Technology team in managing security mechanisms and data access governance
• Support ongoing Digital Transformation work; provide expertise and translate the business needs to design; and develop tools, techniques, metrics, and dashboards for insights and data visualization
• Respond to data and product related inquiries to support business and technical teams
• Support development of the “Service Insights” program, working closely with the Community Investment Team to implement network-wide adoption, providing expertise to ensure quality data capture, analytic capabilities, and support the potential for changing business needs and future growth
• Maintain and develop departmental Standard Operating Procedures

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Deep understanding of database design, architecture, and management
• Familiarity with data warehousing concepts, methodologies, and best practices
• Knowledge of data governance, data quality management concepts, and data quality tools
• Proficient in a relevant programming language for cloud platform (e.g., Python/Java/C#/Unix) as well as SQL
• Ability to develop machine learning models
• Ability to analyze large and diverse data sets
• Ability to create insightful and accessible data visualizations
• Strong critical thinking skills
• Excellent problem solving and troubleshooting skills
• Strong communication skills both verbal and written
• Project Management and Planning skills
• Flexibility and adaptability to emerging and changing priorities
• Ability to multi-task and manage tight deadlines
• Sensitivity to issues affecting low-income, food insecure populations
• Demonstrated resiliency; strong relationship building and interpersonal skills

Mandatory Education and Experience

• BS in Computer Science or related field required; MS in Computer Science or related field preferred
• 3+ years of data engineering and/or data warehousing experience required
• Hands-on experience with big data application development and/or with cloud data warehousing (e.g., Spark, Redshift, Snowflake, Azure SQL DW, BigQuery) required
• 2+ years of experience with SQL required
• 2+ years of experience with scripting languages (Python, PowerShell) required
• 2+ years of experience interacting with web service APIs (SOAP, REST) required
• 2+ years of experience designing, implementing, testing, optimizing, and troubleshooting data ETL solutions
• Experience with Microsoft Azure preferred
• Experience with Boomi preferred
• Experience in analyzing, organizing, and visualizing data
• 2+ years of experience working with a nonprofit organization preferred
• Experience with Netsuite and Salesforce preferred
• Experience with BI reporting tools (e.g. Power BI, Tableau, etc.) required
• Experience in quantitative analysis and statistical modelling required
• Experience working within process management, service management, and/or improvement/development methodologies (e.g. ITIL, Agile, Lean, Six Sigma) preferred
• Remote, high-speed internet access required

Physical Demands

• Ability to work in an office environment
• Ability to work remotely both independently and collaboratively using connectivity tools like Zoom and Teams
• Ability to sit for up to 3 hours at a time