Senior Data Engineer, Architect (NCS) - Mayors Office of Performance and Innovation

THIS IS A NON-CIVIL SERVICE POSITION

Salary Range:

$86,975.00 – $149,519.00 Annually

Starting Pay:

$86,975.00 Annually

Get to Know Us

Welcome to the City of Baltimore! Experience the reward of a fulfilling career and enjoy the added element of excitement in a vibrant, diverse atmosphere. The City of Baltimore offers limitless opportunities to help drive social impact, both on the job and in the community, while serving its citizens. Join us in making Baltimore a great place to live and work. In the City of Baltimore, we hire great people and provide them with the skills and opportunities to grow toward their career aspirations. If you are looking for a career change or interested in learning more, explore our opportunities and benefits programs. We are excited to have you as a part of the City of Baltimore Team! The city offers medical, prescription drug, dental, vision, optional life, AD&D, and FSA plans. This office also supplies wellness programs, support groups, and workshops. You can learn about our benefits here: https://humanresources.baltimorecity.gov/hr-divisions/benefits  

NOTE: GRANT POSITIONS ARE NOT ELIGIBLE FOR RETIREMENT BENEFITS 

Job Summary: 

The Mayor’s Office of Performance and Innovation (OPI) is Baltimore’s in-house strategy, performance, and data team. We work across city agencies to strengthen service delivery, build modern data and digital capabilities, and promote transparency. OPI uses data and design to help improve services in ways that residents and staff can see and feel.

The Mayor's Office of Performance and Innovation (OPI) is seeking a mission-driven Senior Data Engineer and Architect to help design and develop Baltimore's next-generation data infrastructure. As a core contributor on the team, you’ll co-develop a centralized, enterprise-wide data warehouse and the secure, reliable, and scalable data pipelines that feed it. 

Beyond contributing directly to our codebases, the successful candidate will influence data architecture, orchestration, tooling, and governance. This is a high-impact role for a technically skilled engineer who wants to use their talent for public good. This is an engineering role, but the successful candidate will work on an interdisciplinary team of analysts, designers, and managers to ensure products are adopted by agency staff, policymakers, and the public.  

Essential Functions:

As an architect you will develop data models, data Lakehouse-style tiered layers, orchestration frameworks that make sense for both efficient computation, fellow engineers, and data consumers.

As an engineer, you will develop, and maintain ETL/ELT pipelines using Python, PostgreSQL, and modern orchestration frameworks while implementing data quality, monitoring, alerting, and logging mechanisms to ensure pipeline reliability, performance, and transparency. You’ll automate data ingestion from multiple data sources (e.g., APIs, flat files, databases) into centralized data models for reporting and analysis.

As a member of the Mayor’s Office of Performance and Innovation, you’ll have context about what datasets mean and how they get used across the enterprise. The team works with agency stakeholders, analysts, and data scientists to get them the data and context that they need.

You’ll also broadly supports ad hoc data curation, visualization, and statistical needs in City Hall. While this is an engineering role, the team works to translate business questions into technical solutions and data products that surface insights and guide action.

Minimum Qualifications:     

Education: Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Data Science, Information Systems, or a related field from an accredited college or university.

AND 

Experience: Have five plus years of professional experience in data engineering or related technical role.

OR 

Equivalency Notes: Have an equivalent combination of education and experience.

Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities: 

• Technical Expertise
  • Proficiency in Python for data engineering (Pandas, Polars, SQLAlchemy, Object-relational mapping, requests) 
  • Strong SQL skills and experience working with PostgreSQL or other relational databases with an emphasis on geospatial data.
  • Experience building and maintaining data pipelines (ETL/ELT) using modern tools 
  • Experience with data model and database design
  • Understanding of cloud data workflows, APIs, and modern DevOps tools for CI/CD, logging, and monitoring
• Data Product & Collaboration Mindset
  • Ability to work collaboratively on GitHub and contribute to shared codebases
  • Ability to interact with people from a variety of backgrounds and skillsets
  • Strong documentation and communication skills, including the ability to explain complex data structures to non-technical audiences
  • Commitment to privacy, accessibility, and ethical use of data
• Values & Impact
  • Passion for public service, equity, and improving government through better data
  • Curiosity, problem-solving mindset, and a desire to take ownership of complex technical challenges
  • Experience working on civic tech, open data, or public-sector digital products is a plus
• Administrative management and operations
  • Knowledge of the principles and practices of public and business administration, including the process of planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling.
  • Knowledge of methods and procedures for the collection or organization, interpretation and presentation of information.
  • Knowledge of the basic principles of accounting, budgeting, fiscal controls and statistics.
  • Knowledge of management practices and methods.
  • Ability to adapt and apply the concepts and techniques of administrative analysis to the needs of specific projects.
  • Ability to identify problem areas and recommend appropriate solutions based on logical consideration of alternatives.
  • Ability to interpret and apply a variety of laws, rules, regulations, standards and procedures.
  • Ability to prepare and present reports or recommendations clearly and concisely.
  • Ability to compile financial and operational data and to analyze charts reports and statistical and budgetary statements.
  • Ability to coordinate the activities of various organizational units.
  • Ability to plan, organize and direct the work of others.
  • Ability to research and write complex narrative and statistical reports
  • Ability to speak and testify effectively before governmental and legal bodies and commissions, the media and community and business groups.
  • Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with city officials, community and business groups.

The role involves professional work in planning, coordinating or directing an administrative, programmatic or technical operation for an agency. Incumbents receive managerial supervision from an administrative superior. Initiative and independent judgment are exercised within a framework of established policies and procedures.

Employees in this class work a conventional work week. This position is required to work evening and weekend hours and 24-hour callback in an emergency.  Work is performed in an office where work conditions are normal.  Work requires minimal physical exertion.

Additional Information 

Background Check                                        

Eligible candidates under final consideration for appointment to positions identified as positions of trust will be required to complete authorization for a Criminal Background Check and/or Fingerprint must be successfully completed. 

Probation 

All persons, including current City employees, selected for this position must complete a mandatory six-month probation.

Baltimore City Government is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer, and we are committed to a workplace that values diversity, equity, and inclusion. The City of Baltimore prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, age, sex, ancestry, creed, national origin, disability status, genetics, marital status, military service, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. Applicants requiring accommodations during the hiring process should contact the Department of Human Resources directly. Do not attach your request for accommodation to the application. 

BALTIMORE CITY IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER