Neil is available for hire
Hire NeilNeil Schwalb
Verified Expert in Engineering
Software Developer
Location
Black Mountain, NC, United States
Toptal Member Since
June 17, 2021
Neil is an experienced data engineer focused on helping businesses make the most of their data by making informed decisions. He specializes in ETL processes, especially the transformation step that helps others focus on what matters in their work.
Portfolio
Mailchimp
BigQuery, Business Intelligence (BI), Agile, Apache Airflow, Looker...
Mailchimp
Apache Airflow, Cloud Dataflow, Google BigQuery, Google Analytics...
Teknicks LLC
Google Data Studio, CSV, Data Engineering, Google Analytics
Experience
Availability
Part-time
Preferred Environment
Apache Airflow, Python, SQL, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Linux
The most amazing...
...thing I've developed is a custom data pipeline that transforms 50+ TB of data into analytics-first tables that drive company-wide reporting and analysis.
Work Experience
Data Engineering Manager
2022 - PRESENT
Mailchimp
- Led the data pipeline and modeling team at Mailchimp, providing ETL services and integrations to teams across the organization.
- Led a team of 16 engineers, working across 10+ initiatives. Built 6-month and 1-year road maps to help plan near and mid-term technical strategy.
- Managed partnerships and relationships with business units across Mailchimp and parent company Intuit to ensure smooth and efficient work.
- Managed and governed our Looker instance with 1,400+ users.
Technologies: BigQuery, Business Intelligence (BI), Agile, Apache Airflow, Looker, Cloud Dataflow, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Python
Senior Data Software Engineer
2019 - 2022
Mailchimp
- Designed and built in-house BI transformation pipelines in Airflow and Google Dataflow to surface analytics-focused tables in BigQuery for our analysts, data scientists, and strategy teams to derive insights from.
- Led and managed the implementation of Looker as our BI platform and continued to lead Looker engineering and modeling work, helping drive data-informed decision-making.
- Developed and implemented internal data security models and tools with Terraform, Google Workspace (formerly G Suite), Google Cloud Platform, and Looker APIs.
- Co-led data governance efforts to centralize analytics output and content creation for senior leadership.
Technologies: Apache Airflow, Cloud Dataflow, Google BigQuery, Google Analytics, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Google Data Studio, Looker, Dataform, Node.js, Business Intelligence (BI), Data Analysis, ETL, SQL, Python, Reporting, BI Reporting, Tableau, DB, Data Engineering, Data Visualization, CSV, Paid Advertising, Google Sheets, Web Analytics
Developer
2021 - 2021
Teknicks LLC
- Architected dynamic Looker Studio (formerly Google Data Studio) dashboards to support multiple clients' engagement reporting.
- Developed BigQuery ETL pipelines to enable product reporting for new product launches.
- Built dashboards on top of transformed reporting data for executive consumption.
Technologies: Google Data Studio, CSV, Data Engineering, Google Analytics
Data Researcher
2017 - 2019
Mailchimp
- Managed and executed short- and long-term, data-driven research projects that informed company direction and application development.
- Built and maintained data pipelines using Apache Airflow and Beam to consolidate structured and unstructured data from self-hosted SQL and Elasticsearch instances into BigQuery for analysis and warehousing, as well as data cleansing and curation.
- Used statistical algorithms such as linear and logistic regression and decision trees to extract correlations from large datasets and drive business strategy.
- Embedded multiple product teams to establish and maintain KPIs, forecast use of and perform A/B tests on new products, and prioritize work based on perceived impact.
- Designed, executed, and ran A/B content experiments that led to a 2% increase in site engagement and a 9% increase in campaign creation.
- Managed company-wide KPIs and reporting used to drive strategic direction using a custom-built website.
Technologies: Python, R, Google Data Studio, PostgreSQL, Apache Airflow, Google Analytics, Elasticsearch, BigQuery, Apache Beam, SQL, Data Analysis, Looker, Reporting, Data Visualization, CSV, Paid Advertising, Google Sheets, Web Analytics
Senior Digital Analyst
2015 - 2017
Accenture
- Led the development of big data analytics projects to provide clients with unique insights into operating efficiencies and delivered value.
- Manipulated and aggregated client data with tools like Hive and R to feed into big data analytics platforms and BI dashboards.
- Led offshore and onshore development teams to deliver visualization dashboards and mobile applications.
Technologies: R, SQL, Agile, Microsoft Power BI, Data Visualization, CSV, Business Services, Google Sheets
Experience
SQL Scheduler and Dependency Manager
Designed an analyst-friendly wrapper around Apache Airflow that enables non-engineers to upload queries to a repository and have them automatically run on a set schedule. Dependencies between queries in their repository and other core tables are programmatically parsed out and set in Airflow to ensure tables are refreshed with the most up-to-date data. This has enabled many analysts and marketers around Mailchimp to build custom reports and tables that are automatically kept in sync with our main ETL jobs without requiring dedicated engineering resources.
BI Data Transformation Pipeline
A bespoke data transformation pipeline that generates raw application, log, and other 3rd-party data into analytics and reporting-focused data sets. It processes over 50 TB of data every day and produces 30+ different tables. The transformed data provides governed, cleaned, and curated data that provides analysts and data scientists with accurate and compliant data. The data is used across all company dashboards and machine learning models. It was built using Airflow, a custom YAML template, and BigQuery.
Looker Implementation
Implemented Looker at Mailchimp as the core data visualization tool. I modeled and developed 30+ explores using data from 100+ tables to enable data democratization. I also established a governed metric layer to align all business units on a single source of truth for reporting. I hosted and developed Looker training and data schools to enable peers across the business to use and build with Looker.
Skills
Languages
SQL, Python, R, YAML
Tools
Looker, BigQuery, Google Sheets, Apache Airflow, Google Analytics, Tableau, Cloud Dataflow, Apache Beam, Microsoft Power BI
Paradigms
Business Intelligence (BI), Agile, ETL, MEAN Stack
Platforms
Linux, Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
Other
Google BigQuery, BI Reporting, Data Visualization, CSV, Google Data Studio, Linear Regression, Data Analysis, Reporting, Data Engineering, Web Analytics, Dataform, Machine Learning, Data Architecture, Paid Advertising, Business Services
Storage
PostgreSQL, MySQL, DB, Elasticsearch, Google Cloud
Frameworks
Flutter
Libraries/APIs
Node.js
Education
2016 - 2017
Post Baccalaureate Degree in Computer Science
University of Florida - Gainesville, FL
2010 - 2015
Bachelor's Degree in Biological Engineering
University of Florida - Gainesville, FL
Certifications
NOVEMBER 2019 - PRESENT
MicroMasters in Statistics and Data Science
MITx on edX
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