Summer 2026 Data Engineer

The Information and Technology Services(ITS) department consists of 7 areas of support:

• The Help Desk Team is the face of ITS. We handle all user-related technology support requests, equipment issue and replacement, and all desktop application installations.
• The Technology Services Team manages and maintains the network, servers and endpoints (desktops, laptops, printers, phones and smart phones, etc.). Our number one goal is to support the users and allow for a trouble-free experience by building and maintaining a secure, robust, reliable and redundant network. Our team strives to be responsive to support users and helping to fulfill the needs of all BPHC staff.
• The Enterprise Applications Team is the primary resource for the planning, development, implementation, support and backup of both internally and externally hosted data collection applications, databases and reporting tools for the Commission.
• The Informatics and Analytics Team works with programs and Bureaus to provide actionable data analysis, visualization, and reporting at the Commission. We use the latest innovations in automated reporting and electronic dashboards including R, Python, PowerBI, and ArcGIS to support population health monitoring and reporting for the City of Boston.
• The Information Security Team works with the BPHC community to secure system and network resources, and protect the confidentiality, integrity, availability of clients, and staff information.
• ITS Project Management provides staff with an overview of all active ITS Projects and includes information on project status, dependencies, project contacts and more. This also helps with the smooth execution of all ITS projects and unblock any blockers for the team members.
• Data Modernization Initiative: This program helps you in planning, designing and implementing Data Governance and data engineering which includes improving data quality, breaking data silos and increasing data sharing capabilities to build data lake, building the right data architecture for better analytics and reporting by using advanced tools and technology in cloud platforms.

The Data Engineer Intern will support the Boston Public Health Commission Data Modernization Initiative (DMI), helping modernize public health data systems through cloud-based engineering, automation, and analytics solutions. The intern will gain hands-on experience designing and supporting scalable data pipelines, improving data quality and governance practices, and contributing to BPHC’s secure cloud based Data Lake ecosystem. This internship provides exposure to real-world public health technology initiatives focused on interoperability, automation, near real-time reporting, and AI-ready data infrastructure. The intern will collaborate with data engineers, analysts, epidemiologists, and bureaus on projects that directly support public health decision-making for Boston residents.

Key Responsibilities:
1. Assist in building, testing, and maintaining ELT data pipelines using cloud-based technologies
2. Support ingestion and integration of public health data from multiple data systems.
3. Contribute to the development and optimization of BPHC’s Data Lake architecture.
4. Help automate data workflows and improve operational efficiency using scripting and orchestration tools.
5. Perform data validation, cleansing, transformation, and quality assurance activities.
6. Support development of dashboards, reports, and analytical datasets for public health programs.
7. Collaborate with cross-functional teams including informatics, enterprise applications, security and infrastructure teams.
8. Assist with troubleshooting pipeline failures, monitoring jobs, and improving system reliability.
9. Follow secure coding, documentation, and DevOps best practices within a regulated public health environment.
10. Perform data validation, transformation, and documentation activities while helping automate manual workflows and improve reliability of public health reporting processes.
11. Contribute to Agile ceremonies including sprint planning, standups, and retrospectives.

Preferred Technical Exposure
Microsoft Azure ecosystem (ADLS Gen2, Azure Data Factory, Azure SQL, Azure Functions)Python, SQL, or R for data engineering and automation.
GitHub, GitHub Actions, or other version control systems.
Power BI or other visualization/reporting tools.
APIs, data integration, and cloud-based data platforms.
Data governance, metadata management, or data quality practices

Learning Opportunities:
1. Hands-on experience working on a large-scale public health data modernization initiative.
2. Exposure to enterprise cloud technologies and secure data platforms.
3. Experience working in Agile and DevOps-driven environments.
4. Opportunity to contribute to AI-ready public health infrastructure and near real-time analytics initiatives.
5. Mentorship from experienced data engineering and public health technology leaders.
6. Meaningful work that supports public health outcomes for Boston communities.

Knowledge of or willingness to learn about the role of public health in addressing racism, the social
determinants of health, and inequities in health outcomes as well as strategies to advance racial
justice and health equity.

Commitment to health equity and racial/social justice issues

1. Coursework in Computer Science, Data Engineering, or Public Health Informatics.
2. Basic knowledge of SQL or Python.
3. Strong analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills.
4. Interest in cloud technologies, data engineering, and public health innovation.
5. Ability to work independently and collaboratively in a team environment.
6. Eagerness to learn modern data engineering and DevOps practices