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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for a Talend Developer

💰 $95,000 - $155,000

Data EngineeringData IntegrationInformation TechnologyETL Development

🎯 Role Definition

A Talend Developer is a specialized data engineer who serves as the architect and builder of an organization's data integration workflows. At their core, they use the Talend software suite to design, develop, and orchestrate the processes that move data from various disparate sources into a unified, clean, and accessible format. This role is pivotal in transforming raw, often chaotic, data into a structured asset that powers business intelligence, data analytics, and operational decision-making. They are the crucial link ensuring data is not just collected, but is also reliable, timely, and fit for purpose across the enterprise.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Data Analyst with strong SQL and scripting skills
  • Junior ETL Developer or BI Developer
  • Software Engineer with a focus on data-centric applications

Advancement To:

  • Senior Talend Developer / ETL Lead
  • Data Architect or Solution Architect
  • Data Engineering Manager

Lateral Moves:

  • Cloud Data Engineer (specializing in AWS Glue, Azure Data Factory, etc.)
  • BI Architect or Developer
  • Data Governance Specialist

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Design, develop, and implement robust, scalable, and high-performance data integration processes and ETL/ELT pipelines using Talend Data Fabric or Talend Open Studio.
  • Extract data from a wide variety of heterogeneous data sources, including relational databases (Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL), APIs (REST/SOAP), flat files (CSV, XML, JSON), and cloud-based storage (S3, Azure Blob).
  • Build complex data transformation logic within Talend jobs using components like tMap, tJoin, and tFilterRow to cleanse, standardize, enrich, and aggregate data according to business rules.
  • Implement comprehensive error handling, logging, and auditing mechanisms within all data pipelines to ensure data integrity, traceability, and rapid troubleshooting.
  • Write, optimize, and debug complex SQL queries for data extraction, transformation, and loading, ensuring efficient processing against large datasets in both source and target systems.
  • Develop and maintain a reusable code repository of custom routines, components, and joblets in Java to extend Talend's native functionality and promote development efficiency.
  • Load transformed data into target data warehouses (e.g., Snowflake, Redshift, BigQuery), data marts, or operational data stores, applying data modeling best practices like dimensional modeling (star/snowflake schemas).
  • Schedule, orchestrate, and monitor ETL jobs using the Talend Administration Center (TAC) or other enterprise scheduling tools like Airflow, ensuring timely and successful execution of data pipelines.
  • Conduct thorough performance tuning of Talend jobs by analyzing execution plans, optimizing memory allocation (JVM), and refactoring data flows to minimize resource consumption and reduce run times.
  • Collaborate closely with data architects to translate data models and architectural designs into functional and efficient Talend jobs that align with enterprise standards.
  • Work with business analysts and stakeholders to understand data requirements, document data mappings, and ensure the final data output meets analytical and reporting needs.
  • Implement data quality frameworks and rules within Talend jobs to profile, validate, and remediate data issues, ensuring a high level of trust in the organization's data assets.
  • Utilize version control systems, such as Git, to manage source code for Talend projects, facilitate team collaboration, and support CI/CD (Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment) practices.
  • Design and develop solutions for real-time or near-real-time data integration using Talend's streaming and messaging capabilities to support time-sensitive business operations.
  • Participate in the full software development lifecycle (SDLC), including requirements gathering, design, development, unit testing, integration testing, and deployment.
  • Create and maintain detailed technical documentation, including data lineage maps, job design specifications, and operational runbooks for all developed data pipelines.
  • Integrate Talend with Big Data technologies like Hadoop (HDFS) and Spark, leveraging its capabilities to process massive volumes of structured and unstructured data efficiently.
  • Manage and maintain the Talend environment, including software installation, upgrades, and configuration to ensure a stable and secure development and production platform.
  • Provide expert-level support for production data integration processes, investigating and resolving complex issues to minimize downtime and impact on business users.
  • Mentor junior developers, conduct code reviews, and establish development best practices to foster a high-performing and knowledgeable data engineering team.
  • Stay current with the latest Talend features, data integration trends, and cloud technologies to continuously improve the organization's data infrastructure and capabilities.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
  • Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
  • Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
  • Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Talend Proficiency: Expert-level skill in Talend Studio, Talend Data Fabric, and Talend Administration Center (TAC) for designing and managing complex data workflows.
  • Advanced SQL: Mastery of SQL for complex data manipulation, querying, and performance tuning across various database systems like Oracle, PostgreSQL, and MS SQL Server.
  • Data Warehousing & Modeling: Strong understanding of data warehousing concepts (e.g., star schema, dimensional modeling) and hands-on experience with platforms like Snowflake, Redshift, Azure Synapse, or BigQuery.
  • Programming & Scripting: Proficiency in Java for creating custom components and routines within Talend, as well as scripting languages like Python or Shell for automation and orchestration.
  • Cloud Platform Expertise: Hands-on experience with at least one major cloud provider (AWS, Azure, or GCP), including their core data services (e.g., S3, Blob Storage, GCS, Lambda, Glue).
  • Big Data Technologies: Familiarity with big data ecosystems, including Hadoop, HDFS, and Spark, and experience integrating them using Talend's Big Data components.
  • API Integration: Proven experience in consuming and exposing data via REST and SOAP APIs using Talend's web service components (tRESTClient, tRESTRequest).
  • Version Control Systems: Proficiency in using Git for source code management, branching, and collaborating on data integration projects within a team environment.
  • Data Quality & Governance: Knowledge of data profiling, cleansing, and standardization techniques, and experience implementing data quality rules within Talend jobs.
  • Performance Tuning: Proven ability to analyze and optimize the performance of Talend jobs by identifying bottlenecks, optimizing SQL queries, and configuring memory management.

Soft Skills

  • Analytical & Problem-Solving Mindset: The ability to dissect complex data challenges, identify root causes of issues, and devise effective, sustainable solutions.
  • Clear Communication: Capable of clearly articulating technical concepts, design choices, and data solutions to both technical peers and non-technical business stakeholders.
  • Collaborative Spirit: A team player who thrives on working with data architects, analysts, business users, and project managers to achieve common data-driven goals.
  • Meticulous Attention to Detail: A commitment to accuracy and precision, ensuring data integrity and quality throughout the entire data pipeline lifecycle.
  • Adaptability & Eagerness to Learn: A proactive approach to mastering new technologies, tools, and methodologies in the rapidly evolving data landscape.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's Degree in a relevant field or equivalent professional experience.

Preferred Education:

  • Master's Degree in a related discipline or relevant industry certifications (e.g., Talend Data Integration Certified Developer).

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Computer Science
  • Information Systems
  • Data Analytics
  • Software Engineering

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 3-7 years of hands-on experience in data integration, ETL development, or data engineering.

Preferred:

  • A proven track record of successfully delivering complex data integration projects from conception to production. Experience working with cloud data warehouses and a portfolio showcasing sophisticated Talend job designs are highly valued.
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