Data Engineer

As a Data Engineer within VU Amsterdam's new Data, AI, and Innovation team, you will be responsible for designing, developing, and maintaining the essential data infrastructure and systems that underpin data storage, processing, integration, transformation, and delivery for all AI and data analysis applications across the university. In this collaborative role, you will work closely with machine learning engineers, data scientists, software developers, and experts from education and research to strengthen VU's academic mission. As a member of this new team, you have the unique opportunity to significantly shape VU's data and AI strategy, with ample scope for personal and professional growth.

Your Responsibilities Include:

• Designing and developing data pipelines for extracting, transforming, and loading data from diverse sources.
• Actively collaborating with data scientists and analysts to optimize models and algorithms, focusing on data quality, security, and governance.
• Integrating data from databases, data warehouses, APIs, and external systems, ensuring data consistency, integrity, validation, and cleansing.
• Transforming raw data into a usable format through cleansing, aggregation, filtering, and enrichment techniques.
• Optimizing data pipelines and workflows with a focus on performance, scalability, sustainability, and efficiency.
• Implementing data quality controls and validations to ensure data accuracy, consistency, and completeness.
• Supporting data and algorithm governance for analytical applications, analysis, and automated decision-making.

To excel in this role, you should possess strong technical and problem-solving capabilities, combined with excellent interpersonal skills and business acumen to understand and effectively address the needs of various stakeholders. Are you the data engineer ready to join our team and contribute to the future of data and AI at VU Amsterdam?

Personal Skills:

• You are adept at collaborating effectively in teams with diverse technical backgrounds.
• You can support the successful delivery of data products and communicate outcomes clearly to stakeholders and end-users.
• You possess excellent problem-solving skills: you conduct thorough analyses, think creatively, employ a systematic approach, and are agile.
• You have a keen eye for both the big picture and the important details, and can effectively handle complex challenges by taking context into account and keeping an eye on the consequences of your choices
• You have the ability to bridge communication and translate technical concepts for executives, business units, IT departments, and other stakeholders.
• You are eager to learn and proactively stay abreast of the latest (technical) developments. You enjoy experimenting, asking insightful questions, reflecting on your work, and are open to feedback.

Technical Skills:

• Expert knowledge of Apache technologies such as Kafka, Airflow, and Spark for building scalable and efficient data pipelines.
• Ability to design, build, and deploy data solutions that capture, explore, and transform data to support AI, ML, and BI initiatives.
• High proficiency in programming languages such as Java, Python, and C/C++.
• Skilled in designing and implementing modern data architectures and concepts, including cloud services (AWS, Azure, GCP) and modern data warehousing tools (Snowflake, Databricks).
• Demonstrated experience with database technologies such as SQL, NoSQL, Oracle, Hadoop, or Teradata.
• Proven excellent debugging skills are required.
• Experience with version control systems.

A challenging position in a socially engaged organisation. At VU Amsterdam, you contribute to education, research and service for a better world. And that is valuable. So in return for your efforts, we offer you:

• a salary of minimum € 4.537,00 (Scale 11) and maximum € 6.209,00 (Scale 11) gross per month, on a full-time basis. This is based on UFO profile Engineering and Application Manager 3. The exact salary depends on your education and experience.
• a position for at least 0.8 FTE. Your employment contract will initially last 1 year. Afterwards, there is a prospect of a permanent contract.

We also offer you attractive fringe benefits and regulations. Some examples:

• A full-time 38-hour working week comes with a holiday leave entitlement of 232 hours per year. If you choose to work 40 hours, you have 96 extra holiday leave hours on an annual basis. For part-timers, this is calculated pro rata.
• 8% holiday allowance and 8.3% end-of-year bonus
• space for personal development
• hybrid working enables a good work-life balance
• a wide range of sports facilities which staff may use at a modest charge

About the team

The VU has established the AI Competence Network (AICN) to stimulate and facilitate active, cross-domain, and multidisciplinary collaboration. The primary goal is to jointly develop and apply responsible AI solutions that add concrete value and create a positive impact in education, research, and operations. From the new data, AI, and innovation team, you will contribute to this on behalf of IT.

Information Technology
We at Information Technology (IT) have the responsibility of ensuring a worry-free digital environment for researchers, students and staff. We facilitate teaching and research with IT resources, advise on IT products and services, and keep the application landscape for work and study up-to-date. We ensure that the university’s IT facilities are up and running 24/7.

At the same time, we focus on the future of digital – everything from the smart campus and cyber security to open science and artificial intelligence. Along with the faculties and service departments, we look ahead to ask: how can we prepare now for tomorrow’s questions? Together we look for better and better ways to support the university’s ambitions in the areas of education, research and valorisation.

Are you interested in joining IT? Working in IT means operating on a complex, often hectic and challenging playing field, where both development and management demand your attention. We give you plenty of scope to show initiative and take responsibility. Learning from one another is key, while remaining focused on results. In Information Technology, you will join over 200 colleagues spread over 4 departments.

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam stands for values-driven education and research. We are open-minded experts with the ability to think freely - a broader mind. Maintaining an entrepreneurial perspective and concentrating on diversity, significance and humanity, we work on sustainable solutions with social impact. By joining forces, across the boundaries of disciplines, we work towards a better world for people and planet. Together we create a safe and respectful working and study climate, and an inspiring environment for education and research. Learn more about our codes of conduct

We are located on one physical campus, in the heart of Amsterdam's Zuidas business district, with excellent location and accessibility. Over 6,150 staff work at the VU and over 31,000 students attend academic education.

Diversity
Diversity is the driving force of VU Amsterdam. VU wants to be accessible and receptive to diversity in disciplines, cultures, ideas, nationalities, beliefs, preferences and worldviews. We believe that trust, respect, interest and differences lead to new insights and innovation, to sharpness and clarity, to excellence and a broader understanding.

We stand for an inclusive community and believe that diversity and internationalisation contribute to the quality of education, research and our services.

Therefore, we are always searching for people whose backgrounds and experience contribute to the diversity of the VU community.