Job Description

About the Department
The Institute for Transportation Research and Education (ITRE) is an institutional research center administered by North Carolina State University. Located within the University’s visionary Centennial Campus, ITRE conducts surface, water, and air transportation research, while providing professional training and educational opportunities. The Institute serves all 16 statewide campuses in the University of North Carolina (UNC) system and partners with transportation professionals around the globe.

The University of North Carolina, Office of the President, designated ITRE in a Memorandum of Understanding to work in partnership with the Technical University of Lisbon in the area of Transportation and Environment. ITRE became a member of the North Carolina Transportation Consortium in 2002, and was the lead institute for the Southeastern Transportation Center (a USDOT University Transportation Center) from 1989-1995.

ITRE is a university-based institute committed to leadership in the study of surface and air transportation issues through fostering analytical thinking, integrating technology in education and research, serving as a catalyst for problem solving, and cultivating professionals and students dedicated to excellence in transportation
Essential Job Duties
The primary purpose of this role is to provide data-informed traffic safety planning, research assistance, and analysis to our sponsored program clients (the North Carolina Highway Patrol and the Governor’s Highway Safety Program). The candidate will provide back-end data pipeline services and develop data visualizations for analyzing traffic crash and enforcement data for helping to improve traffic safety planning and improve enforcement effectiveness.

Day-to-day activities include extracting, transforming, and loading data, automating data pipelines, data warehouse management, database development, assisting with KPI development, and developing web-based visual analytics tools that provide actionable insights for improving traffic safety planning.

The applicant should have the technical skills necessary to develop data ingestion pipelines, manage data holdings, blend data from various sources, understand data relationships, create insightful data visualizations, and publish web-based analytics for client consumption. The applicant should also be comfortable with web application server stacks and be able to effectively communicate visualization products to a variety of audiences, both verbally and with digital presentation tools.

Other responsibilities include actively communicating with data providers, end users, and partner agencies to ensure continuous data availability and interoperability as well as fulfilling ad-hoc ‘quick response’ data / map requests for non-technical clients in various formats. The applicant should also be able to effectively communicate content to a variety of audiences at stakeholder meetings and national conferences.

Key Responsibilities:
Develop data analytics and visualization solutions for traffic safety and enforcement planning
Provide back-end data pipeline services and develop data visualizations for analyzing traffic crash and enforcement data
Extract, transform, and load data; automate data pipelines; manage data warehouse; develop databases; assist with KPI development
Communicate effectively with stakeholders using digital presentation tools
Manage data availability and interoperability
Fulfill ad-hoc requests
Other Responsibilities
Other duties as assigned.
Some overnight travel (10%) is required with expenses reimbursed.
Qualifications
Minimum Education and Experience
Master’s degree in Data Analytics, Computer Science, or related field, OR
An equivalent combination of education and experience.
Other Required Qualifications
Development experience with Tableau (Desktop and Server) & Microsoft Power BI
Experience using SQL for data warehouse development
Experience with ETL, workflow automation, and data pipelines using Alteryx Designer
Data management experience using SQL Server
Experience with Python
Solid communication skills for effectively working with clients and peers
Preferred Qualifications
Minimum of one year of professional experience in data analytics
Demonstrated experience with Tableau (Desktop and Server) & Microsoft Power BI
Experience with Azure Cloud and Server Configuration and Management
Demonstrated experience with ETL workflows/data automation using Alteryx Designer
Demonstrated experience with scripting languages (SQL, Python, Java Script, R, etc.)
Solid understanding of statistics
Experience with Python (arcPy, pypyodbc, pyodbc, NumPy, pandas)
Comfortable with SQL Server RDBMS
Requirements gathering skills to transform stakeholder needs into valuable solutions
Documentation experience for data pipelines, workflows, and system architecture
Proficient in multitasking diverse projects and requests concurrently
Familiarity with ArcGIS helpful
Self-starter, inquisitive, resourceful, motivated, creative and exhibits enthusiasm to learn and grow professionally
Ability to learn and communicate institutional knowledge to non-technical audiences
Transportation background helpful
Ability to adapt to changing conditions, learn new technologies and apply to work
Excellent communication and presentation skills necessary for client interaction