Data Engineer

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Location: Raleigh, North Carolina

Essential Job Duties:
The Data Engineer supports the NSF-funded Programmable Cloud Lab Center’s research mission by developing and maintaining data infrastructure for the SPEED national autonomous-science user facility. The position connects scientific instruments, laboratory automation, robotics, AI, and research data systems to support reliable, organized, and accessible experimental data. As the Data Engineer, you will contribute to an interdisciplinary research environment serving academic, government, and industry users while supporting reproducible experimentation and data-driven scientific discovery.

Core Job Responsibilities:

• Build and operate scientific data ingestion, transformation, and processing pipelines
• Design schemas for samples, experiments, metadata, provenance, and instrument outputs
• Maintain databases, object/time-series storage, indexing, and data-access services
• Implement automated data-quality, validation, unit, completeness, and provenance checks
• Integrate data systems with laboratory automation, software, AI, and user workflows
• Manage access controls, monitoring, backup/recovery, documentation, and user support

If you are a data engineering professional interested in applying your expertise to scientific research, this position offers an opportunity to support innovative autonomous laboratories and contribute to data-driven discovery in chemistry and materials science. We welcome you to apply and join our team.

Other Work/Responsibilities:

• Develop data dictionaries, API specifications, and schema documentation.
• Support FAIR data practices and persistent identifiers.
• Assist users with data access, export, and troubleshooting.
• Evaluate new databases, storage technologies, and interoperability standards.
• Participate in technical reviews, platform commissioning, and sponsor demonstrations.

Minimum Experience/Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, data science, engineering, IT, or related field..

Required Qualifications:

• Python and SQL for data engineering and automation.
• ETL/ELT pipelines, APIs, data modeling, and schema design.
• Relational/document databases and structured scientific metadata.
• Git, Linux, testing, monitoring, and technical documentation.
• Data quality, provenance, identifiers, access control, and backup/recovery.
• Ability to collaborate with scientists, automation, software, AI, and IT teams.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Scientific data engineering or laboratory informatics, including ETL/ELT pipelines and structured data models.
• Proficiency with relational, document-oriented, object, and/or time-series databases, such as MongoDB or PostgreSQL.
• Familiarity with FAIR data practices, metadata standards, ontologies, and/or provenance systems.
• Cloud or container infrastructure and scalable data services.
• AI/ML data pipelines or integration of data systems with autonomous laboratories.
• Scientific data from spectroscopy, chromatography, imaging, or process-based applications.

Required License or Certification:
N/A

AA/EEO Statement:
NC State University is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive equal opportunities for employment without regard to age, color, disability, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, and veteran status. The University encourages all qualified applicants, including protected veterans and individuals with disabilities, to apply. Individuals with disabilities requiring disability-related accommodations in the application and interview process are welcome to contact 919-513-0574 to speak with a representative of the Office of Equal Opportunity.

If you have general questions about the application process, you may contact Human Resources at (919) 515-2135 or workatncstate@ncsu.edu.

Final candidates are subject to criminal & sex offender background checks. Some vacancies also require credit or motor vehicle checks. Degree(s) must be obtained prior to start date in order to meet qualifications and receive credit.

NC State University participates in E-Verify. Federal law requires all employers to verify the identity and employment eligibility of all persons hired to work in the United States.

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