Data Engineer

Working Title: Data Engineer

State Role Title:Information Technology Specialist III

Position Type:Full-time Staff (Classified)

Position Status: Full-Time

FLSA Status: Exempt: Not Eligible for Overtime

College/Division: Information Technology

Department: 100328 - Information Technology

Pay Band:6

Pay Rate:Maximum Starting

Specify Range or Amount: 95000

Is this a JMU only positionNo

Is this a grant-funded positionNo

Is this a Conflict of Interest designated positionNo

Beginning Review Date:March 25 2026

About JMU:

Mission
We are a community committed to preparing students to be educated and enlightened citizens who lead productive and meaningful lives.

Vision
To be the national model for the engaged university: engaged with ideas and the world.

Who We Are
Situated in the heart of Virginias beautiful Shenandoah Valley the city of Harrisonburg is a vibrant community with a population of approximately 52000. Harrisonburg is conveniently located approximately 120 miles from Washington D.C. and Richmond VA.

JMU is a selective public institution with a growing national reputation for offering experiences that lead to an outstanding education and supportive environment for students faculty and staff. The student body includes approximately 21000 undergraduate and 1800 graduate students with over 1000 full-time instructional faculty.

JMU offers thriving programs in the liberal arts science and technology and professional disciplines at the undergraduate masters and doctoral levels. JMU has achieved national recognition for the high quality of its academic programs focus on maintaining strong student/faculty interaction and innovative faculty research.

General Information:

Information Technology (IT) at James Madison University in collaboration with Student Success Analytics (SSA) is accepting applications for a Data Engineer as part of its work toward leveraging data and technology for improving student success and retention. This position reports to the Infrastructure and Database Services Manager in IT and will primarily be working with SSA supporting their strategic vision to achieve the highest level of data maturity that maximizes success outcomes for all students.

The Data Engineer designs builds and maintains secure reliable and scalable data infrastructure that enables high-quality analytics reporting and decision-making across the university. This position serves as a technical bridge between operational systems enterprise databases and the future data warehouse supporting SSA IT and campus stakeholders.

This position is telework eligible.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Data Collection Integration and ETL
Design develop test and maintain ETL/ELT pipelines to extract transform and load data from enterprise systems CRM platforms and external data sources.
Build and support infrastructure for efficient data ingestion using SQL Server and cloud-based technologies.
Develop repeatable and automated processes to support mandated federal state and institutional reporting.

Data Processing Quality and Governance
Clean validate reconcile and transform data to ensure accuracy consistency security and integrity.
Identify troubleshoot and resolve data discrepancies anomalies and performance issues.
Apply and promote best practices related to data governance documentation privacy security and ethics.

Analytics Reporting and Visualization Enablement
Collaborate with SSA analysts data scientists and functional partners to support complex analyses and reporting needs.
Develop and maintain data tables views and semantic layers that support dashboards and analytics tools.
Support the effective use of visualization platforms (e.g. Tableau) to improve data access and decision-making.

Data Management and Infrastructure Support
Manage optimize and support the SSA SQL Server database related data storage solutions and the future data warehouse.
Assist with performance tuning query optimization database upgrades patches backups and recovery in collaboration with IT colleagues.
Contribute to the design implementation and ongoing improvement of the universitys data warehouse or data lake environment.

Collaboration Consultation and Service to the University
Partner with Student Success Analytics IT and campus stakeholders to understand data needs and recommend appropriate technical solutions.
Participate in cross-functional projects and working groups related to data analytics and reporting.
Communicate technical concepts and data limitations clearly to technical and non-technical audiences.

Documentation and Continuous Improvement
Create and maintain technical documentation data dictionaries data maps and process documentation.
Identify opportunities to improve data workflows automation and system performance.
Stay informed on emerging data engineering tools technologies and best practices.

Qualifications:

Required Qualifications
A background in Computer Science Information Systems Data Science Statistics or a related field.
Relevant professional experience in data engineering data management or data analytics.
Strong proficiency in SQL including complex queries views and stored procedures.
Experience with Microsoft SQL Server technologies including SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) and SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS).
Understanding of relational databases data modeling and data warehousing concepts.
Demonstrated experience supporting data pipelines ETL processes or analytics platforms.
Ability to communicate complex technical concepts clearly to technical and non-technical audiences.
Knowledge of and commitment to data privacy security and ethical data practices.

Additional Considerations
Experience working in a higher education environment.
Experience building or supporting a data warehouse or data lake.
Experience automating and optimizing ETL processes.
Working knowledge of data governance and data literacy practices.
Experience designing or supporting dashboards and visualizations using Tableau.
Exposure to cloud-based data platforms or big data technologies.

Additional Posting Information:

JMUs Dual Career and Community Resources Program is available for candidates that will be relocating to the area. For more information please visit of Employment:

Employment is contingent upon the successful completion of a criminal background check.

E-Verify Notice: After accepting employment new hires are required to complete an I-9 form and present documentation of their identity and eligibility to work in the United States. James Madison University uses the E-Verify system to confirm identity and work authorization.

EEO Statement:

James Madison University is committed to creating and supporting a diverse and inclusive work and educational community that is free of all forms of discrimination. This institution does not tolerate discrimination or harassment on the basis of age color disability gender identity or expression genetic information national origin parental status political affiliation race religion sex sexual orientation or veteran status.

We promote access inclusion and diversity for all students faculty staff constituents and programs believing that these qualities are foundational components of an outstanding education in keeping with our mission. The university is interested in candidates whose experience and qualifications support an ongoing commitment to this core quality.

Anyone having questions concerning discrimination should contact the Office for Equal Opportunity: .

Reasonable Accommodation:

If you are an individual with a disability and need assistance searching or applying for jobs please contact us at or You may also visit the JMU Human Resource Office located at 752 Ott Street Harrisonburg VA 22807 and we will be happy to assist you.