Data Engineer

The Data Engineer is a key member of the Detroit Pistons Business Strategy & Analytics department, responsible for developing, maintaining, and optimizing the data infrastructure that supports business reporting, analytics, fan engagement, revenue generation, and operational decision-making across the organization.

This role will support the existing Microsoft SQL Server data warehouse while helping advance the organization’s transition to a modern data Lakehouse methodology leveraging Microsoft Fabric. The Data Engineer will work closely with the Senior Director of Data Strategy & Reporting to support the department’s data architecture, governance, reporting, and integration roadmap.

What You’ll Be Doing

Data Architecture & Engineering

• Develop, maintain, and optimize data pipelines, data models, database objects, and integration processes within a Microsoft-based data environment.
• Assist in the transition from a traditional data warehouse structure to a modern data lakehouse methodology using Microsoft Fabric.
• Build scalable ETL/ELT processes to ingest, transform, validate, and deliver data for reporting, analytics, and business intelligence use cases.
• Support the design and implementation of Microsoft Fabric components, including OneLake, Lakehouse, Warehouse, Data Factory pipelines, Dataflows Gen2, notebooks, and Power BI integration.

Data Governance & Quality

• Support the Senior Director of Data Strategy & Reporting in implementing data governance standards, data quality processes, and enterprise data best practices.
• Develop and maintain data validation rules, reconciliation processes, and data quality checks across critical business datasets.
• Ensure data accuracy, consistency, integrity, privacy, and reliability across source systems, data warehouse objects, lakehouse assets, and reporting outputs.

Reporting & Analytics

• Prepare reliable, well-documented, and governed data assets to support reporting, analytics, automation, and AI applications.
• Support Power BI datasets, semantic models, dataflows, and reporting infrastructure as needed.
• Partner with analysts and business stakeholders to ensure data models meet business requirements, reporting standards, and performance expectations.

Data Management & Integration

• Integrate data from multiple internal and external systems into the organization’s data warehouse, data lakehouse, and analytics environment.
• Work with APIs, flat files, relational databases, SaaS platforms, and cloud-based systems to ensure reliable data ingestion and availability.
• Monitor pipeline health, investigate failures, and implement long-term solutions that improve reliability and reduce operational risk.
• Maintain clear technical documentation for integrations, refresh schedules, dependencies, data transformations, and business logic.

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Data Analytics, Engineering, or a related field preferred.
• Minimum of 4 years of professional experience in data engineering, database development, business intelligence, data warehousing, or a related data role.
• Experience working in a Microsoft data environment is required.

Skills & Competencies

• Strong proficiency with Microsoft SQL Server and MS SQL data warehouse environments.
• Advanced T-SQL skills, including stored procedures, views, joins, indexing, query optimization, and data modeling.
• Experience building ETL/ELT pipelines from multiple structured and semi-structured data sources.
• Strong understanding of data warehouse concepts, dimensional modeling, star schemas, data marts, and modern lakehouse methodologies.
• Familiarity with Microsoft Fabric, Azure Data Factory, Power BI, Azure SQL, Azure Data Lake, Synapse, or related Microsoft data tools.
• Experience with Python, PySpark, Spark SQL, or other modern data engineering languages and frameworks.
• Familiarity with preparing data for AI applications, including data quality, metadata, and secure access.
• Ability to translate business needs into scalable data engineering solutions.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and deliver high-quality work in a fast-paced environment.

Are you looking to be part of a high-performing team of go-getters who make a difference both on and off the court? Join the Detroit Pistons as we harness the power of basketball to unite our city, elevate our fans, and drive lasting community impact.