Data Engineer

About the role

Arkana Laboratories is building a next-generation Laboratory Information System (LIS) that will power every facet of our renal pathology workflow. The Data Engineer plays a crucial role at the intersection of application development and analytics, owning the data layer that both groups depend on.

Responsibilities

• Design and maintain PostgreSQL schemas (multi-schema architecture) for LIS application modules

• Author and review Prisma migrations

• Develop data contracts defining access patterns and interface expectations between application modules and the data layer

• Participate in design sprints alongside backend developers and bring data layer constraints into architecture decisions early

• Generate and maintain synthetic test datasets for safe development and QA without production PHI exposure

• Design, build, and operate ETL/ELT pipelines ingesting data from legacy systems and external sources

• Own pipeline reliability end-to-end: monitoring, alerting, retry logic, and runbooks the rest of the team can use

• Help close the open ETL tooling decision (in-app code vs. Azure Data Factory vs. hybrid) and implement the chosen approach

• Build FHIR transformation pipelines that produce clean, clinically relevant output for application consumption

• Partner with analysts to translate reporting requirements into performant, well-documented data models

• Evaluate Snowflake or similar platforms as analytical reporting demands grow

• Own the team's data dictionary and documentation standards

• Implement audit-trail and history-table patterns satisfying both HIPAA compliance and operational reporting needs

• Enforce data access controls and column-level security appropriate for a HIPAA and HITRUST environment

• Serve as the data team's representative in design sprints and help enforce intake and triage processes for development team requests

• Mentor analysts growing into data engineering responsibilities

• Produce documentation that makes your work maintainable by others

Qualifications and Skills

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Data Engineering, or a related technical field. Equivalent demonstrated experience considered.

• Experience: 3-6+ years of hands-on data engineering experience in a production environment, with strong SQL skills including complex queries, query optimization, window functions, and indexing strategies.

• Technical Skills: Experience designing relational schemas in PostgreSQL (or equivalent), with a solid grasp of normalization, foreign keys, and constraint design; Fluency with Git-based version control and collaborative development workflows including pull requests, code review, and branching; Experience building and maintaining ETL/ELT pipelines with clear ownership of reliability, monitoring, and failure recovery; Ability to read and reason about application-layer code (TypeScript and Node.js preferred, Python acceptable); Demonstrated experience documenting data models, data dictionaries, and integration specifications; Comfortable working in a regulated environment with PHI and a clear understanding of HIPAA data handling obligations; Strongly Preferred: Experience with PostgreSQL specifically: JSONB, multi-schema design, and Prisma or another TypeScript-native ORM; Experience with Azure data services (Azure Database for PostgreSQL, Blob Storage, Azure Data Factory, Application Insights); Familiarity with FHIR (HL7 R4) data structures and healthcare integration patterns; Experience supporting both application dev teams (data contracts, schema migrations) and analytics/BI teams (warehouse models, reporting layers); Experience with synthetic data generation strategies for safe development environments

• Soft Skills: Strong analytical and troubleshooting skills for complex data issues; Clear communication across engineering, product, and analytics partners; Ability to work independently while collaborating effectively with cross-functional teams; Comfort working in ambiguity and helping the team converge on durable decisions

Differentiating Background

The right candidate is a data engineer who is comfortable participating in application architecture conversations, can hold their own in a design sprint with backend developers, and is equally credible when partnering with analysts on a reporting model. You will own the data layer on both sides of that boundary.

Benefits

• Competitive salary

• Generous paid time off and Paid Holidays

• Minimal cost health insurance for you and affordable options for your family

• 401(k) with immediate eligibility and match

• Company-paid life insurance

• Company-paid long term disability coverage

• Affordable vision and dental plans

• Flexible Spending Account or Health Savings Account availability

• Wellness plan and complimentary yoga classes

• Monthly in-office massages and employer-sponsored lunches