Data Manager
The Water Institute is seeking a Data Manager to lead and advise on projects with complex data management requirements across all dimensions of the science data lifecycle. The candidate selected for this position will work closely with the technical staff across all departments at the Water Institute to support the development, implementation, and enforcement of actionable data management policies both internally and across our project portfolio.
Candidates should be prepared to:
- Create and enforce policies for effective data management.
- Formulate data management techniques to ensure adequacy, accuracy, and legitimacy of collected data.
- Devise and implement efficient and secure procedures for data handling and analysis with attention to all technical aspects.
- Establish rules and procedures for data sharing internally and with external partners.
- Support others in the daily use of data systems and ensure adherence to contractual requirements and company standards.
- Assist with reports and data extraction when needed.
- Monitor and analyze information and data systems and evaluate their performance to discover ways of enhancing them (new technologies, upgrades etc.).
- Coordinate with IT department regarding best practices to ensure protection of digital databases and archives from security breaches and data losses.
- Troubleshoot data-related problems and authorize maintenance or modifications.
This position reports to the Chief Operating Officer in the near-term and will ultimately report to the Director overseeing IT and data management. This role will work with other data science, data analytics, data architecture, and information technology professionals supporting research across social science, biological science, physical science, engineering, planning, and policy focus areas.
Roles and Responsibilities:
- Assist program staff in data collection, data processing, data analysis, data management, data quality, reporting, and presentation of output from projects and studies.
- Develop, implement, and enforce metadata standards. Create or adopt a simplified interface for the generation of metadata according to implemented standards.
- Meet with users to define project data management requirements, technical specifications, operational problems, and customized solutions. Help users understand pros and cons of alternative solutions.
- Provide end user support for data management to personnel. Conduct necessary research on complex technical problems to develop and implement solutions.
- In coordination with the Institute’s lead data architect, GIS lead, data scientists, and computational modelers, adapt existing data management workflows and guidance.
- Develop new applications and enhance existing applications as necessary.
- In coordination with the Institute’s data team, document novel data management methods and prepare technical reports and other written materials as needed.
- Test new data management technologies and techniques to recommend efficient and cost-effective methods for system and network operations
- Develop and maintain a centralized resource for data management policies and techniques.
- Develop and support data management training for technical and non-technical end users.
- Distill and communicate data management policies and capabilities to diverse non-technical stakeholder groups.
- Be part of the data governance committee. Provide guidance to ensure that data governance evolves in a manner that ensures flexible growth.
- Lead ongoing efforts and future initiatives regarding open-source data at The Water Institute.
Required Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in computer science or equivalent combination of education in relevant field.
- 3+ years of professional experience in data management role.
- Deep knowledge of data management best practices and procedural application.
- Deep knowledge of storage technologies and associated administration, including Ceph, Cloud based storage options, object storage (including S3 compliant storage), and HDFS.
- Deep knowledge of database technologies including MySQL, NoSQL, MongoDB, DynamoDB, and Redshift.
- Extensive experience utilizing Linux-based operating systems.
- Knowledge of data management specifications developed, adopted, and maintained by stakeholders in the open data community.
Desired Qualifications
- In-depth knowledge of data storage and processing architectures with experience in day-to-day management of these systems.
- Experience in the realm of data engineering, from collection and processing through maintenance and archiving.
- Strong programming skills and experience working with Python, Bash, and other interpreted languages.
- Experience in administration of Linux systems.
The successful candidate will be a collaborative, self-motivated, results-driven professional with sound judgment, excellent interpersonal skills and the flexibility to leverage their skills across a diverse set of projects. We understand that our team members have different needs and do our best to work with their schedules/location while getting the job done. We are headquartered in Louisiana and the ideal candidate would be in Baton Rouge or New Orleans, but we are open to other locations across the country. The Water Institute expects to offer a competitive salary and benefits commensurate with a candidate’s skills and experience. This is a full-time exempt position.