Associate Data Engineer

The Associate Data Engineer role supports the development and ongoing maintenance of ECPI University’s cloud data platform on Snowflake, with a focus on building and operating pipelines that bring data from enterprise systems into Snowflake for reporting, analytics, and decision support.

Role Overview

Working under the Senior Director of Solution Architecture and alongside experienced engineers, the Associate Data Engineer builds and maintains ingestion and transformation pipelines that move institutional data into Snowflake. Downstream users include faculty, academic leadership, and student support staff, who rely on these data sets to advise students, monitor academic progression, and report accurately in a highly regulated environment.

This is an entry-level position designed for a recent graduate. Mentorship, regular code review, and a defined progression path toward the Data Engineer level are part of the role.

Key Responsibilities

• Build and maintain data ingestion and transformation pipelines that load data from enterprise source systems into Snowflake, following established architectural patterns and standards.
• Write, test, and tune SQL for transformations, validation, and reconciliation.
• Support scheduled data loads, monitor job execution, and escalate failures with clear diagnostic detail.
• Reconcile data between source systems and Snowflake to confirm completeness and accuracy.
• Build and run automated data quality checks, and document exceptions for resolution.
• Investigate reported data discrepancies, trace issues to their origin, and communicate findings clearly.
• Use AI coding assistants (for example, GitHub Copilot) as part of daily work, validating every generated query, transformation, or script before committing changes.
• Submit work through pull requests in GitHub and move changes through automated build, test, and deployment processes.
• Automate recurring manual tasks rather than repeating work; apply platform native AI capabilities such as Snowflake Cortex under the direction of senior engineers.
• Follow University guidelines for AI-assisted development, including approaches that keep sensitive student and institutional data out of external tools.
• Document pipeline logic, data lineage, and table definitions so colleagues can maintain and extend the work.
• Participate in code review, design discussions, and Agile (Scrum) ceremonies; collaborate with analysts and functional staff to confirm delivered data sets meet stated needs.
• Develop depth in Snowflake, SQL, and Python through mentorship and structured learning, including support for certification such as SnowPro Core.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Information Systems, Analytics, or a related field.
• Zero to two years of professional experience.
• Working knowledge of SQL, including joins, aggregation, and subqueries, with the ability to reason about whether a query produced the correct result.
• Foundational understanding of relational database concepts and data modeling.
• Familiarity with Python or a comparable language used in data work.
• Version control with Git, including branching and pull requests, plus willingness to work through a code review process.
• Practical use of AI coding assistants with sound validation judgment.
• Understanding of CI/CD concepts and willingness to work where automated tests must pass before deployment.
• Strong attention to detail, clear written and verbal communication, and sound judgment when handling sensitive student and institutional data.

Preferred Qualifications

• Exposure to Snowflake or another cloud data platform through coursework, certification, or hands-on work.
• Exposure to dbt, ELT, ETL tooling, or automated data testing frameworks.
• Exposure to GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps, or another CI/CD platform.
• Exposure to Azure or AWS cloud services, or to a BI tool such as Power BI or Tableau.
• Awareness of FERPA or comparable data privacy requirements in a regulated environment.

Technologies

• Snowflake
• SQL
• Python
• Git
• GitHub
• GitHub Copilot
• Snowflake Cortex
• GitHub Actions
• Azure DevOps
• Azure
• AWS
• dbt
• ELT
• ETL
• Power BI
• Tableau
• CI/CD
• Agile (Scrum)

Working Conditions

• Required to communicate professionally in person, over the telephone, and through email.
• Move about the school and offices; handle various types of media and equipment; and visually observe and assess.
• Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.

Location and Compensation

Location: Virginia Beach, VA (onsite).
Compensation: USD 70,000 - 82,000 per year.