Data/BI Engineer

About Mercy Corps:

Mercy Corps is a leading global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible. In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we partner to put bold solutions into action — helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within. Now, and for the future. 

Program Summary:

Mercy Corps’ Ukraine response meets the humanitarian needs of vulnerable Ukrainians and other conflict-affected people where they are: displaced inside Ukraine, refugees in Poland, and Moldova, or trapped behind frontlines. In 2022 and 2023, MC’s Ukraine response reached more than 2.5 million people with emergency cash, food, psychosocial support, and information campaigns. Notably, nearly all our programming has been delivered in partnership with Ukrainian civil society organizations through a granting program that matches humanitarian action with capacity strengthening, and with peer international NGOs through a consortium in Ukraine. Building on a substantial program addressing needs through MPCA/Cash in the Eastern and Southern regions of Ukraine, the portfolio is currently increasing with the Resilience programs focusing on supporting local value chains and SMEs.

General Position Summary:

The Data Engineer will be on the team supporting Microsoft Azure development within the data analysis and automation team. He/She will be responsible for building and iterating Azure data pipelines and databases, providing input into iterations on current Azure architecture design, and supporting response data analysts, Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) team, and other data engineers in using the Azure data systems for program decision-making.

In addition to these responsibilities, the Data Engineer will be tasked with automating processes across various systems, independently gathering all necessary requirements for automation, and ensuring the implementation aligns with organizational goals. The Data Engineer will also be responsible for creating and maintaining dashboards using Power BI, allowing key stakeholders to visualize and interact with program data effectively.

He/She will work collaboratively with Mercy Corps’ MEL and IT teams, as well as consortium partners, to coordinate architectural choices and data standards, translate policies (e.g. data protection policy) into pipeline structures, and train parties within Mercy Corps on how to understand and access the Azure systems.

Essential Responsibilities

Safeguarding Responsibilities

• Actively learns about safeguarding and integrates it into their work, including safeguarding risks and mitigations related to their area of work.
• Practices the values of Mercy Corps including respecting the dignity and well-being of participants and fellow team members.
• Encourages openness and communication in their team; encourages team members to submit reports if they have any concerns using reporting mechanisms e.g., Integrity Hotline and other options.

Main Responsibilities

1.   Data Engineering & Azure Development 

• Implement and manage analytical infrastructure on Azure in support of the programs under Resilience portfolio data architecture, centralizing program data from multiple sources (e.g. Good Grants, Commcare) and organizing it for efficient retrieval and analysis.
• Work with the MEL team and data analysts within Resilience programs to extract, transform, and load data from a wide variety of data sources using tools like SQL, Python; Support efforts to surface data to external tools, including Microsoft PowerBI.
• Collaborate with other data engineers to implement algorithms for statistical analysis, prediction, and machine learning.
• Coordinate with the Mercy Corps IT team as needed, especially to integrate Azure solutions with Mercy Corps SSO technology, integrate with third party data sources, and maintain data access permissions across the data lifecycle.
• Design and implement PowerBI reports based on stakeholder requirements.
• Implement and manage Azure infrastructure in support of reporting and analytics.
• Administer PostgreSQL databases, including creating and maintaining materialized views, regular views, stored procedures, triggers, and optimizing database performance.
• Coordinate with the Mercy Corps IT Team and others as needed.

2. Data Security & Best Practices

• Implement data protection measures within Azure in compliance with Mercy Corps’ Responsible Data Policy and with humanitarian data protection best practice.
• Implement and maintain robust security protocols for sensitive and confidential data on Azure.
• Ensure compliance with security procedures and policies as determined by country leadership wherever implementations are conducted
• Collaborate with the other Mercy Corps teams to recognize and help adopt best practices in reporting, analysis, and data science.

Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders 

Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our program participants, community partners, other stakeholders, and to international standards guiding international relief and development work. We are committed to actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects. 

Accountability 

Reports Directly To: Senior MEL Manager 

Works Directly With: MEL Managers, PaQ Lead, Resilience programs teams, other HQ Program units and other departments. 

Minimum Qualification & Transferable Skills 

Any skills you have gained through education, volunteer, work, or life experience that are relevant for the position will be considered. Be sure to fully explain transferable skills and success factors and how they apply to this position in your cover letter. 

Required 

• 2 years of relevant experience.
• Proficient in SQL. Experience with a PostgreSQL is a plus.
• Understanding of Database Administration (e.g., managing user access, backup and recovery, and performance tuning).
• Experience with Database Development, including creating and maintaining materialized views, regular views, stored procedures, and triggers.
• Proficient in Python with experience in data analysis libraries such as Pandas and NumPy.
• Experience in automating data processes and workflows.
• Familiarity with using Git for version control.
• Ability to apply analytical, computer, statistical and quantitative problem-solving skills.
• Working proficiency in written and English required.
  
  Preferred
• Experience in dashboard creation and management, preferably in PowerBI.
• Specific experience with Azure Data Factory, Azure Data Lake Storage, Azure SQL, Azure Databricks, and Azure Synapse is strongly preferred.
• Experience with deploying automation scripts.
• Experience with database, data lake, and data warehouse concepts and practical experience in implementing data management systems is strongly preferred.
• Experience in international relief and development programming; especially in MEL or program management functions is an asset.
• Familarity with mobile data collection platforms and tools (ODK, ONA, Kobo, CommCare) would be an asset, but not required.
• Experience working with geospatial data is preferred.

Success Factors

The successful candidate will have strong practical experience in building data infrastructure in Azure, or will have comparable experience in other cloud environments and a willingness/capacity to learn how to translate that experience into Azure. He/She will have a personal commitment to data quality and security, and an understanding of or interest in learning about humanitarian data protection requirements. He/She will be able to work collaboratively with internal teams of varying technical capacities and with peers in partner organizations, and will be a supportive resource for colleagues collecting, storing, and analyzing data. He/She will be an independent problem solver while also ensuring that country/program needs drive the work conducted.

He/She will further act in an ethical manner at all times regarding the privacy and security of program participant data, communicate ethical concerns up the chain of responsibility, and ensure the concerns are resolved appropriately.

Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions

This position can be based in Kyiv, Dnipro or Lviv Ukraine, but location is subject to reassessment given the dynamic context. Accommodations are being defined and access to services – medical, electricity, water, etc is in place but may change depending on the situation. There are no travel requirements at this time, though travel may be required for program support purposes in future due to the rapidly changing nature of the Ukraine conflict. During the field trips living conditions will be adjusted to the field conditions.

Ongoing Learning

In support of our belief that learning organizations are more effective, efficient, and relevant to the communities we serve, we empower all team members to dedicate 5% of their time to learning activities that further their personal and/or professional growth and development.   

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and work together. Through our commitment to enriching our organization with people of different origins, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of thinking, we are better able to leverage the collective power of our teams and solve the world’s most complex challenges. We strive for a culture of trust and respect, where everyone contributes their perspectives and authentic selves, reaches their potential as individuals and teams, and collaborates to do the best work of their lives.

 We recognize that diversity and inclusion is a journey, and we are committed to learning, listening, and evolving to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive than we are today.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer that does not tolerate discrimination on any basis. We actively seek out diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be collectively stronger and have sustained global impact.

 We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all. We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination based on race, color, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work.

Safeguarding & Ethics

Mercy Corps is committed to ensuring that all individuals we come into contact with through our work, whether team members, community members, program participants or others, are treated with respect and dignity. We are committed to the core principles regarding prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse laid out by the UN Secretary General and IASC and have signed on to the Interagency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. By applying for this role an applicant confirms that they have not previously violated an employer’s sexual misconduct, sexual exploitation and abuse, child safeguarding or trafficking policy. We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of our team members. As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive work environment, team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner, respect local laws and customs, and to adhere to Mercy Corps Code of Ethics Policies and values at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct eLearning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.

As an applicant, if you witness or experience any form of sexual misconduct during the recruitment process, please report this to Mercy Corps Integrity Hotline ( Отправить резюме ). 

Тільки попередньо відібрані кандидати будуть запрошені на співбесіду.

Ласкаво запрошуємо осіб з інвалідністю та ветеранів відгукнутись на цю посаду.

Mercy Corps створило робоче місце для працевлаштування осіб з інвалідністю та ветеранів, та належні умови праці для цієї вакансії, але це не обмежує коло осіб, які можуть подаватись на цю вакансію.