Databricks Engineer Jobs in Tennessee (NOW HIRING)

Job Summary:
Vanderbilt University is seeking an experienced Analytics Engineer to join their Education Design and Informatics team. The role involves designing and maintaining datasets and data models for educational analytics, creating Power BI dashboards, and collaborating with cross-functional teams to support predictive modeling and AI-enabled learning tools.
Responsibilities:
• Update and optimize VUSM’s cloud-based data architecture to support ongoing scalability, efficiency, and security standards
• Build and maintain processes that support data transformation, workload management, data structures, dependency and metadata
• Support monitoring and alerting processes to ensure uptime of infrastructure
• Identify, design, and implement internal process improvements such as automating manual processes and optimizing data delivery
• Manage and communicate data visualization plans to internal team and stakeholders
• Collaborate with Development team on architectural decisions
• Perform data analysis required to troubleshoot data related issues and assist in the resolution of data issues.
• Design and maintain curated datasets that support educational analytics, dashboards, and AI feature development
• Develop and improve canonical tables and views representing learners, competencies, curricular Experiences, Assessments, Progression Metrics, And Other Medical Education Concepts
• Align data models with standard medical education frameworks and ontologies (e.g., AAMC competency frameworks, EPA/milestone mappings) to ensure interoperability and domain relevance
• Maintain comprehensive documentation of key data views and catalog table definitions within Databricks to ensure data transparency, governance, and accessibility across teams.
• Build transformation workflows that convert raw data into analysis-ready structures
• Implement version-controlled data transformations using tools such as dbt, SQL-based pipelines and Databricks workflows
• Ensure datasets are reproducible, documented, and auditable
• Monitor data quality, completeness, and consistency across sources
• Build and maintain Power BI dashboards and reporting views used by educational leadership, program administrators, and faculty
• Collaborate with stakeholders to understand analytic needs and to define meaningful visualizations and metrics
• Ensure that dashboards align with institutional competency frameworks and educational goals
• Iteratively refine dashboards and reporting views based on end-user feedback, evolving programmatic needs, and emerging data sources
• Work with the Applied AI Engineer to create feature-ready datasets supporting predictive models and AI applications
• Collaborate with stakeholders in VUIT, VUSM, and VUMC IT to facilitate secure cross-institutional exchange of educational datasets
• Collaborate with software developers to expose analytics datasets to VSTAR and related applications
• Support development of learner-facing insights and faculty analytics embedded in digital learning workflows
• Design and implement intervention signals and early warning indicators to support timely learner support
• Help design experimentation datasets for evaluating educational interventions and AI tools
• Contribute to evaluation frameworks that assess the effectiveness and impact of AI-enabled educational tools and interventions
• Translate educational questions into data models and measurable indicators
• Contribute to Vanderbilt’s broader strategy for precision education, learning analytics, and AI-enabled education
• Maintain clear documentation of data models, transformations, and metrics
• Stay current with evolving approaches to educational analytics, data modeling, and data governance
• Support grant-related activities including preparation of pilot data, data architecture documentation for proposals, and reporting on funded projects
Qualifications:
Required:
• Bachelor’s degree or above in Computer Science, Data Science, Informatics, Information Systems, Health Informatics, or related technical field OR a comparable combination of on-the-job experience and technical training is necessary.
• 5 years of experience with data engineering, analytical data modeling, data transformations, or analytics engineering is necessary.
Preferred:
• 5 years of experience working in education, healthcare, or another complex regulated environment is preferred.
• 5 years of experience with Python, including object-oriented programming, is highly preferred.
• Advanced SQL skills and experience designing complex queries and transformations is highly preferred.
• Demonstrated skills with NoSQL databases (e.g., for unstructured assessment data or document stores) is preferred.
• Demonstrated experience working with cloud-based data platforms or modern data warehouses (Azure, AWS, GCP, Databricks, Snowflake) is highly preferred.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills with a keen sense of stakeholder engagement is highly preferred.
• Ability to translate stakeholder questions into structured datasets and metrics is highly preferred.
• Experience supporting and working with cross-functional teams in a dynamic, collaborative environment is highly preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to work with non-technical domain experts and navigate complex organizational structures is preferred.
• Experience supporting machine learning or feature engineering workflows is highly preferred.
• Experience with designing data models for dashboards and reporting through dimensional modeling techniques is highly preferred.
• Experience building or supporting dashboards in tools such as Power BI, Tableau, or similar platforms is preferred.
• Experience with continuous integration/continuous delivery automation and version control (Git) in Bitbucket, GitLab, GitHub, or Azure DevOps is preferred.
• Experience with REST data services, APIs, and microservices is preferred.
• Experience working with regulated or sensitive datasets (FERPA, HIPAA-adjacent environments) is preferred.
• Familiarity with competency-based education or learner progression frameworks is preferred.
• Familiarity with ethical considerations in educational data use, algorithmic fairness, or responsible AI practices is preferred.
Company:
Vanderbilt University is a private research university offering undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs. Founded in 1873, the company is headquartered in Nashville, USA, with a team of 1001-5000 employees. The company is currently Late Stage.