Senior Data Engineer, Architect (NCS)

Position Overview

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

Opportunity: The office 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 secure, reliable, scalable data pipelines. You will influence data architecture, orchestration, tooling, and governance – a high-impact opportunity to use your technical skills for public good.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop data models, Lakehouse-style tiered layers, and orchestration frameworks that ensure efficient computation and usability for both engineers and data consumers.
• Design, build and maintain ETL/ELT pipelines using Python, PostgreSQL, and modern orchestration tools while implementing data quality, monitoring, alerting, and logging mechanisms.
• Automate data ingestion from multiple sources (APIs, flat files, databases) into centralized data models for reporting and analysis.
• Collaborate with agency stakeholders, analysts, and data scientists to provide context about datasets and ensure solutions meet enterprise needs.
• Support ad hoc data curation, visualization, and statistical needs by translating business questions into technical solutions.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Information Systems, or a related field from an accredited institution.
• Five plus years of professional experience in data engineering or a related technical role (or an equivalent combination of education and experience).
• Proficiency in Python for data engineering (including libraries such as Pandas, Polars, SQLAlchemy, and ORM techniques) and strong SQL skills with PostgreSQL or similar relational databases.
• Experience building and maintaining data pipelines (ETL/ELT) and designing data models and databases.
• Understanding of cloud data workflows, APIs, and modern DevOps practices for CI/CD, logging, and monitoring.
• Proven ability to collaborate using platforms like GitHub and to communicate complex data structures to non-technical audiences.
• Commitment to privacy, accessibility, and the ethical use of data.
• Public Service Focus: Passion for public service, equity, and improving government through better data, along with experience in civic tech, open data, or public-sector digital products being a plus.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to prepare and present detailed narrative and statistical reports.
• Excellent interpersonal skills to work effectively with diverse groups including city officials, community and business groups.