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Research Data Engineer

University Of Southern California

Job Location:

Los Angeles, CA - USA

Monthly Salary: $ 126077 - 150000

Posted: 21 August 2026 (23 days ago)

Application Deadline: 18 November 2026

Vacancies: 1 Vacancy

Job Summary

The University of Southern California (USC) Information Technology Services is seeking a Research Data Engineer to help build and advance the secure computing capabilities that enable cutting-edge research across USC. This is a hands-on opportunity to work at the intersection of research computing data engineering workflow automation and secure data management helping faculty and research teams turn complex data requirements into practical solutions.

Youll play an important role in USCs expanding secure computing environment for sensitive and regulated research data. With more than 200 research projects across the university working with data subject to heightened security and compliance requirements youll help researchers manage process and use their data effectively while navigating increasingly complex research computing environments.

Working directly with faculty principal investigators researchers and students youll bring technical expertise to the full research lifecycle - from data collection and processing to advanced computing workflow automation and research outcomes. Youll also help shape how researchers interact with USCs secure computing services streamline manual processes and create scalable workflows that make sophisticated research infrastructure easier to use.

If you enjoy solving complex data problems building and automating computational workflows and applying your technical skills in an environment where your work directly enables research and discovery this is an opportunity to make an impact across USCs research community.

Key Responsibilities & Accountabilities

Design and manage secure data pipelines for ingestion transformation de-identification and export of sensitive research datasets within approved computing enclaves.
Develop implement and maintain data management plan and data usage agreements that satisfy federal sponsor requirements (NSF NIH DoD DoE etc.).
Manage necessary documentation work including data management plan usage agreement SOPs SSPs POA&M for audits and sponsor reviews.
Coordinate with Cybersecurity Office for incident management.
Design and implement data architecture solutions that translate business and research requirements into conceptual logical and physical data models prototypes testing approaches and sustainable processes.
Support faculty principal investigators researchers and students with research data management and advanced computing workflows including projects involving sensitive or regulated data.
Develop and maintain data architecture standards protocols frameworks documentation and techniques while performing root cause analysis and developing strategies to prevent recurring data-management issues.
Create and automate data-processing and research workflows that reduce manual effort and support efficient use of USCs secure computing environment.
Develop and deliver onboarding training and guidance to help researchers appropriately manage sensitive data and navigate secure research computing processes.
Partner with technical teams and stakeholders to define workflows for the secure computing user portal including processes associated with research project setup and data-use requirements.
Research and recommend data tools services API integration approaches and process improvements that advance USCs enterprise data and analytics capabilities.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

Bachelors degree.
Combined experience/education as substitute for minimum education.
2 years work experience.
Demonstrated working knowledge of federal compliance regulations including FERPA FISMA NIST 800-171 NIST 800-53 DFARS/CMMC etc.
2 years of experience in research data management data governance IT compliances or information security. Experience with Linux system scripting (pythoin bash) databases (SQL PostgresSQL etc.).
Firm understanding of data modeling master data management enterprise data warehousing ETL reporting querying requirements analysis and data integration techniques.
Understanding of database server architecture administration and security.
Ability to understand and work with large complex IT systems.
Experience contributing to and managing development policies from planning through execution.
Perseverance drive and keen attention to detail.
Knowledge of network architecture.
Excellent written and oral communication skills presenting technical topics in a technically-oriented detailed fashion to technical audiences.
Ability to develop positive working relationships and strong rapport with team members and stakeholders.

Preferred Qualifications

Bachelors degree in Computer Science Computer Information Systems or a related field; an advanced degree in computer science information systems science engineering biomedical computing or a related computational discipline is highly desirable.
Four years of relevant professional experience.
Hands-on research experience particularly within science engineering biomedical computing or another computationally intensive research discipline.
Demonstrated understanding of the end-to-end research lifecycle and experience working directly with faculty researchers laboratories or research teams.
Strong programming and scripting capabilities particularly Python with hands-on experience working in Linux environments.
Practical experience with SQL databases data processing batch scripting and workflow automation.
Experience developing or supporting sophisticated computational and data workflows in research or advanced computing environments.
Knowledge of research data security data sensitivity data classification and regulated-data practices.
Familiarity with federal research or data-security frameworks such as FedRAMP and Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) requirements is preferred but not required.
Ability to translate technical data-management and compliance requirements into practical processes and guidance for researchers who may not specialize in these areas.
Ability to work effectively across technical and research communities and communicate complex requirements to faculty principal investigators researchers students and technical partners.

USC Unifying Values Statement

In addition the successful candidate must also demonstrate through ideas words and actions a strong commitment to USCs Unifying Values of integrity excellence community well-being open communication and accountability.

Compensation Benefits & Working Conditions

Pay Transparency Statement

The annual base salary range for this position is $126077.70 - $150000.00. When extending an offer of employment the University of Southern California considers factors such as (but not limited to) the scope and responsibilities of the position the candidates work experience education/training key skills internal peer equity federal state and local laws contractual stipulations grant funding as well as external market and organizational considerations.

Benefits Statement

To support faculty and staff well-being USC provides benefits-eligible employees with a broad range of benefits and perks to help protect their and their dependents health wealth and future. These benefits are available as part of the overall compensation and total rewards package. You can learn more about USCs comprehensive benefits here.

Equal Opportunity & Background Check Statement

Minimum Education: Masters degree
Combined experience/education as substitute for minimum education

Minimum Work Experience: 3 years
Combined experience/education as substitute for minimum work experience

Minimum Field of Expertise:
Demonstrated knowledge of the research process proposal lifecycle data lifecycle and workflows.
Advanced knowledge in Linux/Unix and extensive experience in building installing and maintaining open source
software in high-performance computing environment.
Demonstrated experience conducting research in a higher education environment and providing technical support
for research projects.
Familiarity with shared memory and distributed memory parallelism (e.g. OpenMP MPI OpenACC) accelerators
(e.g. GPUs) and large-scale file systems.
Proven expertise in Unix/Linux shell scripting and one or more programming language (e.g. C/C Python Perl
MATLAB).
Strong debugging and troubleshooting skills.
Strong understanding of high-performance computing topics as well as the data and programming efforts involved in
HPC/Cloud.
Experience communicating technical details to non-technical audiences (e.g. documentation training public
speaking).
Proven ability to successfully manage and prioritize multiple projects and plans implement project specifications
report project status identify delays and raise concerns.
Exceptional interpersonal skills including demonstrated ability to interact effectively with a variety of stakeholders
including researchers IT staff IT leadership and university administrators.
Awareness of compliance regulations surrounding research data including federal requirements and granting agency
standards.
Ability to develop positive working relationships and a strong rapport with team members.

USC is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race color religion sex sexual orientation gender identity national origin protected veteran status disability or any other characteristic protected by law or USC policy. USC observes affirmative action obligations consistent with state and federal law. USC will consider for employment all qualified applicants with criminal records in a manner consistent with applicable laws and regulations including the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for employers and the Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance and with due consideration for patient and student safety. Please refer to theBackground Screening Policy Appendix Dfor specific employment screen implications for the position for which you are applying.

We provide reasonable accommodations to applicants and employees with disabilities. Applicants with questions about access or requiring a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application or hiring process should contact USC Human Resources by phone at or by email at. Inquiries will be treated as confidential to the extent permitted by law.