Data Platform Lead- Principal Analytics Engineer

JOB TITLE: Data Platform Lead- Principal Analytics Engineer

DEPARTMENT: Information Technology-Data Fabric & Lakehouse

LOCATION: Hybrid-Remote

Exempt/Non-Exempt: Exempt

SUPERVISOR NAME: Wayne Peacock

SUPERVISOR TITLE: Vice President of IT & CIO

GENERAL PURPOSE OF THE JOB:

Southern California University of Health Sciences (SCUHS) is rebuilding its data foundation. We are moving from a legacy Azure SQL Database warehouse to a cloud-native Microsoft Fabric Lakehouse.

Even though our current data is in the cloud, it is trapped in a legacy structure that cannot support our future. We are not looking for a maintenance engineer. We are looking for a Data Platform Lead to execute a specific technical blueprint: constructing a Medallion Architecture (Bronze/Silver/Gold) that unifies our fragmented data landscape.

You will own the architecture, the code, and the governance costs. You will solve our most complex problem—Identity Resolution—by building the "Person Spine" that links students, patients, and employees across our systems.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Architect the Fabric Lakehouse: Implement the target-state architecture using OneLake and Delta/Parquet format. You will manage the workspace topology (Ingestion, Transform, Serve) and ensure strict separation of concerns.
• Solve the "Identity Crisis": Build the int_person_spine model. You will implement deterministic and probabilistic matching to resolve records across Jenzabar (SIS), Canvas (LMS), and athenahealth (EHR) into a single "Golden Record".
• Own Capacity Governance: In Fabric, a bad query isn't just slow—it breaks the budget. You will own the "Capacity Unit" (CU) budget, implementing workload isolation strategies to ensure batch jobs (nightly) do not throttle Lakehouse users (daily).
• Master the Deployment Pipeline: You will manage a sophisticated CI/CD environment. You must handle the "Split Brain" deployment reality of Fabric: using Git/Azure DevOps for code and Fabric Deployment Pipelines for Power BI Direct Lake semantic models.
• Execute the Migration: You will build "Compatibility Views" in the SQL Analytics Endpoint to bridge legacy reports, allowing us to decommission the old Azure SQL warehouse domain-by-domain without disrupting operations.
• Enable AI Write-Back: Build the infrastructure for AI models to consume governed features and write predictions (e.g., retention risk) back into the Gold layer for reporting.
• Centralize Business Logic: Build the infrastructure for a shared feature repository to support AI models as well as power required transformations from Bronze to Silver to Gold. Winning looks like being able to adapt to changes in the business quickly, consistently, and in lockstep with our data and model governance practices.  A change in one place impacts how data is represented in the Silver and Gold layers and data consumption end points. 

Attendance
Must be punctual and timely in meeting all requirements of performance, including, but not limited to, attendance standards and work deadlines; beginning and ending assignments on time; and scheduled work breaks, where applicable.

Onsite:

This role requires onsite support on an as-needed basis to fulfill essential job functions. Onsite activities may include, but are not limited to, meeting in person with individuals or small groups at one of our campuses.

Intellectual

• Analytical - Synthesizes complex or diverse information; Collects and researches data; Uses intuition and experience to complement data.

• Design - Generates creative solutions; Translates concepts and information into images; Uses feedback to modify designs; Applies design principles; Demonstrates attention to detail.
• Problem Solving - Identifies and resolves problems in a timely manner; Gathers and analyzes information skillfully; Develops alternative solutions; Works well in group problem solving situations.
• Project Management - Communicates changes and progress; Completes projects on time and budget; Manages project team activities.
• Technical Skills - Assesses own strengths and weaknesses; Pursues training and development opportunities; Strives to continuously build knowledge and skills; Shares expertise with others.

Interpersonal

• Customer Service - Manages difficult or emotional customer situations; Responds promptly to customer needs; Solicits customer feedback to improve service; Responds to requests for service and assistance; Meets commitments.
• External Working Relationships – Develops and maintains courteous and effective working relationships with clients, vendors and/or any other representatives of external organizations.
• Teamwork - Balances team and individual responsibilities; Exhibits objectivity and openness to others' views; Gives and welcomes feedback; Contributes to building a positive team spirit; Puts success of team above own interests; Able to build morale and group commitments to goals and objectives; Supports everyone's efforts to succeed.

Leadership

• You confidently challenge report requests that do not serve business outcomes and guide stakeholders toward better approaches, ensuring alignment with governance standards and organizational goals.
• You uphold data governance principles by reinforcing approved metric definitions and aligning all outputs with the Data Governance Council standards.

Organization

• Business Necessity – The needs of the employer may be dependent on responding to and anticipating rapidly changing external and internal demands in all aspects of how business is conducted. This may include, but is not limited to, organization structure, finances, goals, personnel, work processes, technology, and customer demands. Therefore, it may become necessary to make modifications to how business is conducted, and work is accomplished, with minimal or no advance notice to employees. Accordingly, the employee must be capable of adapting, with minimal or no advance notice, to changes in how business is conducted, and work is accomplished, with no diminishment in work performance.

• Safety and Security –All employees are responsible for observing safety and security procedures as applicable and reporting potentially unsafe conditions to management.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES:

This job has no supervisory responsibilities.

EDUCATION

Bachelor's degree (B.A.) from four-year college or university in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information Systems; or three to five years related experience and/or training; or equivalent combination of education and experience.

EXPERIENCE:

• 5+ years of experience in Cloud Computing, Cloud Architecture, Data Engineering or Analytics Engineering.
• Must have deep expertise in dbt (data build tool). You have built, tested, and deployed dbt projects in production.
• Must have experience managing cloud data costs (e.g., managing Snowflake credits, BigQuery slots, or Fabric Capacity Units).
• Experience with Microsoft Fabric or a similar Lakehouse stack (Databricks/Synapse).
• Proficiency in Python/PySpark for data engineering tasks that SQL cannot handle (e.g., complex API ingestion or recursion).
• Experience working remotely and asynchronously; ability to lead and perform technical execution without daily over-the-shoulder management.

COMPUTER SKILLS:

• Platform: Microsoft Fabric (Data Factory, OneLake, Synapse Data Engineering).
• Transformation: dbt Core (SQL, Jinja, YAML) running on Spark.
• Language: SQL (Expert), Python/PySpark (Intermediate/Advanced).
• Format: Delta Lake (Parquet).
• Visualization: Power BI (Direct Lake mode).
• Orchestration: Azure Data Factory / Fabric Pipelines.