Data Architect / Quality Assurance Engineer

The City of Philadelphia offers a vibrant work environment, comprehensive health care and benefits, and the experience you need to grow and excel. With a workforce of over 30,000 people and more than 1,000 different job categories, the City provides boundless opportunities to make an impact in a best-in-class city.

About the Role

The Data Architect / Quality Assurance Engineer will help define, document, and improve the data models, standards, validation frameworks, and quality assurance practices that support the City’s enterprise data integration ecosystem. This position will work across departments, programs, systems, and technical teams to understand business processes, source-system behavior, data definitions, data quality issues, and integration needs. The role will translate that understanding into enterprise data models, data contracts, validation rules, metadata, quality checks, and architectural guardrails to make City data more consistent, trustworthy, reusable, and scalable.

The Data Architect / Quality Assurance Engineer will play a key role in reducing downstream errors, improving API and integration design, supporting data governance, and ensuring that enterprise data products are designed with quality and reuse in mind from the beginning. The position will support priority departmental and enterprise modernization efforts while contributing to broader enterprise data architecture and data quality work across CityGeo’s portfolio.

This role is well-suited for someone who enjoys working with stakeholders to understand how data is produced and used, while also creating the standards, models, and validation practices that make data more reliable across the enterprise.

Key services the team supports include:

• DataBridge
• OIT’s enterprise data warehouse
• AIS (the City’s custom address information system supporting public address search and internal geocoding)
• Databridge-Airflow (a custom workflow generator and orchestrator for departmental integrations and open data publishing)

Examples of OIT’s commitment to serving the public through effective and innovative integration of City open data include:

• Atlas.phila.gov
• Property.phila.gov
• Openmaps.phila.gov
• StreetSmartPHL
• www.phila.gov/solarmap
• www.phila.gov/stressmap

Responsibilities

• Lead data discovery and requirements-gathering sessions with departments, programs, vendors, and technical teams to understand business processes, source systems, data flows, data definitions, and data quality concerns.
• Design conceptual, logical, and physical data models that support enterprise integrations, APIs, reporting, analytics, open data, and operational systems.
• Define reusable data architecture patterns, naming conventions, entity relationships, identifiers, reference data standards, and master data concepts.
• Develop data contracts, schema standards, field definitions, validation rules, and acceptance criteria for new and existing integrations.
• Establish systematic data quality checks for completeness, accuracy, consistency, validity, uniqueness, timeliness, referential integrity, and business-rule compliance.
• Work with data engineers to implement automated validation and quality assurance workflows using SQL, Python, DBT tests, metadata tools, or similar approaches.
• Review integration designs, pipeline logic, API structures, and data models to ensure they align with enterprise standards and long-term reuse needs.
• Identify and document data quality issues, root causes, source-system constraints, transformation risks, and downstream impacts.
• Develop quality assurance processes for integration releases, schema changes, source-system changes, API changes, and data product updates.
• Support metadata management, data lineage, data dictionaries, data inventories, and governance documentation for enterprise data assets.
• Partner with data stewards and department stakeholders to clarify definitions, ownership, update frequency, quality expectations, and appropriate use of data.
• Partner with security, privacy, legal, and program teams to ensure sensitive or restricted data is handled according to appropriate rules and expectations.
• Contribute to enterprise data governance, data sharing, API development, open data, and integration standards.
• Produce clear documentation, diagrams, validation reports, data quality scorecards, and technical guidance for both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Help establish a culture of quality, reuse, and accountability across City data integration work.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree or advanced degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Data Science, Data Analytics, GIS, Public Policy, Engineering, or a related field. Equivalent work experience may be considered.
• Five or more years of progressively responsible experience in data architecture, data engineering, data quality assurance, data governance, business intelligence, systems analysis, database design, or a related role.
• Demonstrated experience designing data models, documenting data definitions, analyzing source systems, or creating validation frameworks.
• Proven experience working with SQL and relational databases.
• Experience working with technical teams and business stakeholders to define requirements, data rules, data models, or quality standards.
• Experience supporting enterprise integrations, APIs, data warehouses, reporting systems, analytics platforms, or operational data products.
• Dedication to making Philadelphia municipal government more robust, efficient, equitable, and data-informed.
• Previous work in a public-sector or large-organization setting is a plus.

Skills

• Strong knowledge of data modeling, database design, schema design, normalization, dimensional modeling, or related data architecture practices.
• Strong SQL skills and experience working with relational databases, preferably Postgres and PostGIS.
• Experience defining data quality rules, validation checks, test cases, acceptance criteria, and QA workflows.
• Familiarity with data governance, metadata management, data lineage, data dictionaries, data inventories, master data management, and reference data.
• Familiarity with API design, data contracts, JSON schemas, OpenAPI specifications, or similar approaches to defining data exchange standards.
• Experience working with Python, DBT, SQL-based testing, automated QA frameworks, or data validation tools is preferred.
• Familiarity with ETL/ELT pipelines, data warehouses, data lakes, integration platforms, and workflow orchestration tools such as Airflow.
• Experience with Git/GitHub, CI/CD practices, and modern data engineering workflows.
• Ability to create diagrams, documentation, data dictionaries, entity relationship models, process maps, and quality reports.
• Experience working with spatial datasets, addressing data, permitting, property, service request, inspection, or other municipal datasets is a plus.
• Experience working in a public-sector, civic technology, or large enterprise environment is a plus.

Competencies

• Clear and concise written and verbal communication.
• Strong facilitation and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Strong analytical thinking and attention to detail.
• Ability to understand business processes and translate them into data models, rules, and technical requirements.
• Ability to work across multiple domains, departments, systems, and stakeholder groups.
• Ability to balance governance, quality, delivery, and operational practicality.
• Ability to identify patterns, inconsistencies, risks, and opportunities for standardization.
• Commitment to documentation, transparency, public service, and continuous improvement.

Abilities

• Engage stakeholders and understand how data supports real business processes and public services.
• Design data models that support both immediate project needs and long-term enterprise reuse.
• Define clear standards that data engineers and system teams can implement.
• Identify data quality issues before they create downstream reporting, integration, API, or operational problems.
• Develop practical validation frameworks that can be automated and maintained.
• Communicate data architecture and quality concepts in understandable terms.
• Work effectively with technical and non-technical staff across departments.
• Promote consistency, trust, and accountability in the City’s enterprise data ecosystem.

Benefits

• Comprehensive health coverage for employees and their eligible dependents.
• Wellness program offering eligibility into the discounted medical plan.
• Paid vacation, sick leave, and holidays.
• Generous retirement savings options.
• Public Service Loan Forgiveness program eligibility for qualifying employees.
• Free SEPTA public transportation for eligible City employees (full-time, part-time, or provisional).
• Tuition discounts and scholarships through partnerships with over a dozen local colleges and universities (savings of 10% to 40%, sometimes extending to spouses and dependents).

Pay

Salary cannot exceed $105,000. Starting salary to be determined based on experience and qualifications.

The successful candidate must be a city of Philadelphia resident within six months of hire.