What are the responsibilities and job description for the Data / GIS Analyst I position at City of Alexandria, VA?
Data / GIS Analyst I
About the Department:
The Information Technology Services Department is responsible for enterprise technology operations for the City of Alexandria. ITS provides technology services and solutions to City departments to enhance service delivery. ITS aligns its work with City needs by providing leadership, resources, expertise, and products that enable departments to better serve the City’s residents, businesses, and visitors. ITS resources support initiatives funded through the multi-year Information Technology Capital Improvement Plan (IT/CIP) to improve the overall technology landscape. The City of Alexandria’s ITS Department has been a Top Ten National Finalist in the Digital Cities Award program for over the past 19 years.
An Overview
The Department of Information Technology Services (ITS) is looking for a detail-oriented Data Analyst to support the development of our city's data lake. This entry-level role within the Emerging Technology and Advanced Analytics (ETAA) Division will be instrumental in laying the groundwork for a comprehensive data repository. You will contribute to the core processes of data inventory, classification, and quality assurance, ensuring the data lake is a reliable and valuable resource for city-wide analytics. This position emphasizes collaboration and communication with internal systems owners, data users, and security professionals.
.
What You Should Bring
To succeed in this Data Analyst I role, you should bring a foundation of data understanding. However, equally critical are your personal attributes. We're looking for individuals who bring a strong aptitude for rapid learning and a genuine curiosity to explore data. You should bring a proactive approach, taking initiative to solve problems and contribute to our data lake's development. Patience and a collaborative spirit are essential, as we're building a long-term data resource for the city. Ultimately, you should bring a strong desire to learn and contribute to the foundational work of our data strategy.
The Opportunity
In this position, your efforts will be focused on assisting the City in moving forward with its data lake initiative. Examples of duties include:
Assist in setting up data lake infrastructure, configuring and testing data storage components under senior guidance.
- Perform basic data quality checks, identifying and documenting inconsistencies in city tabular and GIS datasets.
- Create preliminary data inventory spreadsheets, cataloging datasets with key attributes and sources.
- Document data definitions and metadata, providing clear descriptions for data elements.
- Support data migration efforts, assisting in transferring data to the data lake environment.
- Collaborate on data classification projects, categorizing datasets based on sensitivity and usage.
- Update the City’s GIS-based Open Data Portal.
- Participate in data governance meetings, contributing to discussions on data standards and policies.
- Research best practices for data management, exploring and documenting industry standards.
- Support information security compliance efforts, assisting in data access control documentation.
- Support the creation of data pipelines, assisting with the development of the data movement process.
- Ensure security considerations are addressed as part of all work.
- Perform other duties as assigned
Minimum & Additional Requirements
Four-Year College Degree in Geography, Geographic Information Systems, Earth Sciences, Urban Planning, Engineering, Information Technology, or other related field or any equivalent combination of experience and training that provides the required knowledge, skills, and abilities.
Preferred Qualifications
Four-Year College Degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Information Technology, Geographic Information Systems, or related fields that cover database management, and data architecture. Working knowledge SQL for querying data, scripting languages like Python for data manipulation, or experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP). A demonstrated ability to quickly grasp new technical concepts, particularly related to data management and processing, is highly valued.
Notes
This position requires the successful completion of pre-employment checks including but not limited to a criminal background and drug screening.
