Data Systems Engineer

Company Description

KIPP 

Great education transforms lives. KIPP, the Knowledge is Power Program, is a non-profit network of 255 college-preparatory, public charter schools educating over 100,000 early childhood, elementary, middle, and high school students.  KIPP schools are tuition-free, public charter schools open to all students. KIPP schools, KIPP regions, and the KIPP Foundation – are united by a common mission, a commitment to excellence, and a belief that if we help children develop the academic and character strengths they need for college and choice filled lives, they will be able to build a better tomorrow for themselves, for their communities, for us all.

The non-profit KIPP Foundation trains and develops outstanding educators to lead KIPP schools, provides tools, resources, and training for excellent teaching and learning, promotes innovation, and facilitates the exchange of insights and ideas within the KIPP network and with partners including: other charters, districts, colleges and universities, and non-profit organizations across the country.

Why work at KIPP? 

By working for the KIPP Foundation, you help more students across the country receive the high-quality education they deserve. 

• Support KIPP leaders, teachers, and staff on the Network Leadership Development, KIPP School Leadership Programs, Teaching and Learning Labs, KIPP Through College, or Knowledge Sharing teams
• Ensure smart growth and great results on the Network Growth and Sustainability, Strategy, or Insights and Analytics teams
• Broaden our impact on the Government Affairs, External Impact, Marketing, Development, or Talent teams
• Keep us connected and operational on our IT or Finance team

If you believe all children deserve great schools and programs where they can gain the knowledge, skills, character, and habits necessary to achieve their dreams while making the world a better place, join us!
 

Job Description

Position Overview

Our Data Systems Engineer will own managing our data systems, enabling the team to execute high-quality reporting and insight. He/she/they will ensure that KIPP Foundation, and therefore the KIPP network, has timely access to accurate data to make data-informed decisions about how to best serve KIPP’s students, families and staff. He/she/they will simultaneously lead streamlining existing loading processes and piloting of new data pipelines.  In addition, the Insight & Analytics and Information Technology teams are engaged in several significant updates and new implementations of KIPP’s data infrastructure to accommodate the KIPP network’s growth, and subsequently, its increasingly complex, sophisticated, and large-scale data needs. The Data Systems Engineer will support this exciting, high-impact challenge as a stakeholder who is contributing to and using the improvements and new features.

The Data Systems Engineer reports to the Director, Data Systems.

Key Responsibilities and Duties

Pilot new data pipelines and drive data migration projects

• Develop and implement MVP pipelines to enable piloting of new data collection and loading processes
• Profile new and historical data sources, identifying and documenting both general understanding of data source and edge cases
• Work with Product Managers to translate learnings from pilot data and profiling into business requirements, ensuring that data quality is an automated and embedded part of our end-to-end data loading processes
• Support QA Analyst and Product Manager in user acceptance testing of requirements in production environments

Lead loading of third-party vendor data into data systems

• Clean, load, and verify data necessary for monitoring the health of our network from our schools and regions and to track student achievement
• Develop and maintain scalable, sustainable quality assurance practices to ensure high quality and reliable data
• Forecast potential data quality issues and ensure that these are given adequate consideration during tool development, in documenting our data collection processes, and in working with schools 

Drive operational excellence in data work

• Maintain various loading and data quality monitoring processes and cross-train teammates when needed
• Ensure documentation of internal technical processes are maintained and updated
• Own code base and code review processes within Insight & Analytics 

Support ongoing execution of annual data collection 

• Ensure annual data collection is as low-burden as possible to regions and schools, by continually reevaluating and surfacing bottlenecks in our data quality monitoring processes
• Assist Data Collection Specialist, Project Managers, and Product Managers in evaluating and triaging user reported data issues
• Collaborate with Product Managers to enhance requirements, ensuring data quality is embedded in our ETL processes as data systems are re-imagined and re-built
• Support Data Collection Specialist, Project Managers, and Product Managers in trainings, webinars and professional development for our internal stakeholders, with an emphasis on skill building for strong data usage and management practices

Key Competencies

• Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
• Continuous Learning and Active Listening
• Impact and Influence/Stakeholder Management
• Student Focus

Experience and Qualifications

• 6+ years of experience in a technical field
• Fluency in a SQL language and 3+ years of experience in scripting language, python preferred
• Excellent attention to detail and constant focus on data quality 
• Proven experience developing and executing on data pipelines, with track record of driving complex projects to completion 
• Adept at working with team members in a fast-paced environment while balancing competing priorities 
• Passion for KIPP’s mission and values, sense of humor, and ability to find joy in tackling hard problems
• Limited travel may be required in the future (e.g. team retreats)
• Full-time, exempt

Additional Information

Location
Flexible

Compensation and Benefits 

KIPP offers competitive salary commensurate with experience. A comprehensive benefits package, generous vacation and PTO, 401k retirement plan with both pre- and post-tax options, as well as gym reimbursement, flexible spending account (FSA), and cell phone reimbursement are also offered by KIPP.

KIPP Foundation is an equal opportunity employer and an organization that values diversity. People from all diverse backgrounds are strongly encouraged to apply.