Data Engineer

UDR, Inc. is now hiring a Data Engineer to join our team. **This is a hybrid position.** GENERAL SUMMARY OF DUTIES: Builds and operates the data pipelines and conformed data models that bring source data into UDR’s enterprise data platform. Primary accountability is ingestion through the conformed layer: source system connectivity, pipeline build and reliability, raw data landing, and the conformed models that downstream analytics depend on. Also contributes to curated modeling and semantic layer work under standards set by Analytics Engineering, providing overlap and coverage across a small team. Works within the platform architecture, engineering, and deployment standards established by the Senior Data Platform Engineer, and partners with the Senior Snowflake Administrator, business analysts, software engineers, and quality assurance to deliver reliable, well-modeled data in support of UDR’s digital transformation applications. ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS: Build, operate, and maintain data ingestion pipelines that move data from internal systems, vendor systems, and third-party sources into the platform, including batch and incremental loads. Develop and maintain source system connectivity and integrations, including file-based loads and API-based interfaces in both real-time and batch contexts. Land and preserve raw source data in the platform so that original records remain traceable and reprocessable. Design, build, and maintain conformed data models, including schema design, cleansing, deduplication, and standardization logic that produce a reliable foundation for curated modeling. Implement and maintain orchestration, scheduling, and dependency management so that pipelines run in the correct order and downstream consumers receive data on time. Triage and resolve pipeline failures, monitor pipeline and data health, and implement alerting that identifies issues before downstream consumers are affected. Manage source schema changes, assessing downstream impact and coordinating updates with affected consumers before they break. Write advanced SQL for complex transformations and optimize query and pipeline performance, including cost-aware design of transformation logic. Implement automated data quality tests embedded in pipelines and models so that issues are surfaced before they reach curated layers. Contribute to curated dimensional models and semantic layer development under standards set by Analytics Engineering, providing overlap and coverage across the team. Contribute business context to entity definitions and conformance rules, working with Analytics Engineering, which owns those definitions. Maintain documentation of data definitions, lineage, and transformation logic sufficient for another engineer or an auditor to trace a reported number back to its source. Work within the platform architecture, coding, testing, and deployment standards established by the Senior Data Platform Engineer and help establish best practices for pipeline development and data modeling within those standards. Provide code reviews on pipeline, transformation, and model code, applying established standards consistently and giving actionable feedback. Support the Senior Snowflake Administrator on environment promotion, platform performance monitoring, and cost-aware workload design. Apply version control practices to all pipeline, transformation, and model code, including branching, pull request workflows, and peer review. Partner with business analysts on requirements, source to target mapping, and acceptance criteria for data work. Support quality assurance on reconciliation and pipeline validation testing and resolve defects identified during release validation. Participate in engineering design sessions and escalate design questions and platform gaps rather than working around them. Ensure data accuracy, quality, and security across all pipeline, modeling, and documentation work. Perform other duties as assigned or as necessary. EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE: Bachelor’s degree in computer science, data science, information systems, business with an information systems major, engineering, or related field; or equivalent combination of education and experience required. Minimum of three years of experience in data engineering, analytics engineering, business intelligence development, or a combination, with demonstrated expansion of scope over that time. Demonstrated experience building and operating production data pipelines, including ingestion from source systems, scheduling, dependency management, and failure handling, required. Knowledge of or experience interfacing with RESTful or SOAP APIs in both real-time and batch contexts preferred. Demonstrated experience building data models and analytics-ready datasets in a cloud data warehouse environment. Snowflake experience preferred. Working knowledge of layered data architecture, including the purpose of and boundaries between raw, conformed, and curated layers, with hands-on experience applying that pattern. Experience designing and implementing enterprise data solutions. Advanced SQL for complex transformation, performance tuning, and troubleshooting required. Experience with a modern SQL-based transformation framework, including model development, automated testing, and documentation. Working knowledge of a scripting language such as Python for pipeline development, data quality tooling, and automation preferred. Proficiency with version control and collaborative code review practices in a data or software context required. Exposure to semantic modeling and enterprise reporting for business audiences preferred. Experience supporting a migration from on-premises databases to a cloud data platform preferred. Benefits Offered: Medical, Dental, Vision Plans Medical Flexible Spending Account Dependent Care Spending Account Lifestyle Spending Account Supplemental Term Life Insurance Critical Illness Plan Supplemental Short-Term Disability Insurance / AD&D Insurance Voluntary Long Term Care Insurance 401(k) Plan with company match Salary Range: • $113,575-$133,618/yr., depends on experience Bonus Potential: • 10% annual bonus potential *UDR is proud to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age