Data Engineer At Development Aid

DRS is looking for a Data Engineer, to work for an NGO that works to take care of our forests and those who rely on them: by protecting plant and animal species, Indigenous Peoples’ rights, forest workers’ safety, and much more. The ideal candidate will make data accessible to internal and external NGO stakeholders in a way that encourages and embeds data use in all – big and small, everyday – actions and decisions.

Job Title: Data Engineer

Contract: 2-year contract (with possible extension)

Location: Bonn, Germany

Starting date: as soon as possible

Main Roles and Responsibilities:

1. Maintain, enhance and manage the quality and usage of data in the NGO by:

• Establishing processes for ETL(extract transform and load) for data from various structured and unstructured data sources into a data store that is suitable for business analytics decision-making;
• Designing stable, reliable, and effective databases;
• Optimizing and maintaining legacy systems (such as Salesforce, MySQL);
• Modifying and testing databases according to needs and requests;
• Solving database usage issues and malfunctions;
• Liaising with developers to improve applications and establish best practices;
• Gathering user requirements and identifying new features and enhancements;
• Supporting the development of technical documentation and end-user training resources;
• Research, recommend, and implement new database products, services, and protocols to meet the data and information needs of various NGO user groups/stakeholders.

2. Establish, manage, and document processes and structures ensuring high quality of data, data standardization, and consistency across various platforms and reports, including but not limited to:

• Review of the NGO information and data sources with a view to understanding, re-design, remodeling, and re-deploying the database structure where necessary to adapt best practices in data management;
• Data standardization across the NGO business units;
• Practical and user-friendly workflows and protocols that facilitate information capture, design, collection, quality, storage, and reporting on data consistently across the NGO departments;
• Compliance of data assets and data processing with relevant legislation;
• Coordination and facilitation of the rigorous clean-up and information integrity processes while delivering data products;
• Development, modernization, and improvement of Information Schemas and their maintenance;
• Compatibility of the NGO Information Models with the ISEAL Core Metadata Standard.

3. Manage projects related to data gathering, standardization, and management, including but not limited to:

• Online reporting for NGO evaluations (forest management and chain of custody);
• Enhance the certificate management processes;
• Ensure the data stores perform with high efficiency, reliability, and a single source of truth.

4. To establish, implement and manage consistent processes for data sharing with internal and external stakeholders, in cooperation with Legal Department;

5. Additional Tasks as assigned by the formal supervisor.

QUALIFICATIONS:

Experience and skills:

• 4-5 years’ relevant experience in data modeling, big data platforms, creating data pipelines, and data integration in databases, data warehouses, and data lakes;
• Proven work experience as a database developer;
• Working knowledge of software development and user interface web applications;
• Proven record of successfully managed data projects and modernization of organizational data assets and infrastructure;
• In-depth understanding of data management concepts and practices (e.g. metadata, permissions, recovery, security, privacy, quality, and monitoring) and data integration (ETL/ELT) procedures;
• Experience in manipulating data sets and building analytical models with high-quality business intelligence insights;
• Knowledge of components and aspects of GDPR(General Data Protection Regulation – in the EU) and their impact on information and data management in applicable software and platforms;
• Languages: Fluency in English (spoken and written); Spanish and/or French is a plus;
• Computing Skills: Good knowledge of and hands-on expertise with:
• Data and web service integration;
• Spark, Hadoop, Postgres, Cassandra, or similar platforms;
• Computer programming languages (preferably Python, SQL, etc.) and manipulating large data sets;
• On-premise and cloud-based solutions (preferably Azure and AWS);
• PowerBI, Tableau, or other advanced information and data analytics tools;
• Microsoft Office 365 product.

Education:

University degree in a relevant field, for example, computer science or data science;

Skills:

• Strong problem-solving skills and a strong focus on end-user experience;
• Excellent estimation and management of delivery timelines;
• Ability to perform well while handling competing priorities and several functions;
• Solution-oriented attitude to work;
• A strong sense of diligence and service;
• Strong analytical skills and attention to detail;

Communication Skills:

• Proven teamwork and collaboration and presentation skills, fostering deep stakeholder engagement;
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills;
• Ability to communicate complex technical tech concepts to business users;
• Capable to establish and maintain positive interpersonal relations;

Additional valuable skills:

• Knowledge of certification systems such as in forestry and environmental sciences.
• Statistical techniques and concepts (regression, properties of distributions, statistical tests, and proper usage, etc.) and experience with applications;
• Working knowledge of the ISEAL Core Metadata Set / Standard;
• Open Knowledge and Interoperability repositories, e.g., Dspace, Fedora.
• MS Dynamics;
• Salesforce.

General conditions:

• Full-time employment, 40 hours per week;
• The organization is providing support for taking language courses;
• 30 days’ vacation per year.