Data Engineer

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Job Description:

The Data Engineer supports law enforcement operations by designing, maintaining, and optimizing data systems that collect, transform, and deliver critical information to analysts, investigators, and leadership. This position focuses on ensuring data accuracy, accessibility, and security across multiple law enforcement databases and intelligence systems.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Develop, optimize, and maintain data pipelines and ETL processes connecting internal and external law enforcement data sources (RMS, CAD, etc).
• Design relational and analytical database structures to support operational reporting and investigative analytics.
• Ensure compliance with data governance, security, and CJIS requirements.
• Write and maintain complex SQL queries, stored procedures, and scripts to clean, normalize, and enrich raw law enforcement data.
• Implement data validation routines to detect and correct errors, duplicates, or incomplete records.
• Collaborate with crime analysts, investigators, and command staff to deliver accurate and timely data sets for intelligence analysis and advanced visual dashboards.
• Support data analytics, trend detection, and performance measurement initiatives.
• Assist with development of complex data visualizations and dashboards (e.g., Power BI, ArcGIS, etc) to communicate actionable intelligence.
• Provide technical support for dashboards used in command briefings and interagency task forces.
• Ability to adapt to evolving technologies and business requirements.
• Demonstrates a forward-thinking mindset by continuously refining workflows, addressing problems, and welcoming change as a pathway to improvement.
• Support training for department staff on data access, usage, and best practices.
• Continuously evaluate new tools, technologies, and methodologies relevant to law-enforcement data (e.g., real-time analytics, geospatial data).
• Ensure that all data handling complies with CJIS standards, privacy regulations, and agency policy.
• Manage access controls, audit logs, and data encryption processes.

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Data Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent work experience).
• 3+ years of experience in SQL development, data engineering, or analytics.
• Strong understanding of relational databases (e.g., SQL Server).
• Experience with ETL tools or scripting languages (Python etc.).
• Experience creating dashboards and reports in Power BI or similar tools

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with GIS or spatial data systems (ESRI, ArcGIS).
• Familiarity with data matching, identity resolution, or investigative analytics.
• Understanding of cloud data platforms (Azure, AWS, or GCP).
• Experience supporting intelligence-led policing or crime analysis initiatives.
• Familiarity with law enforcement data systems, formats, or compliance standards (CJIS, NIBRS, RMS, CAD).
• Experience interfacing with APIs.

The City of Charleston is firmly committed to Equal Employment Opportunity ( EEOC) as a fundamental policy to be implemented and observed in our daily operation. Our full EEOC statement can be found on our website: www.charleston-sc.gov[charleston-sc.gov]