Part-Time Database Maintenance Contractor — Financial Data Pipeline

Overview We run an Azure-hosted SQL database that ingests financial datasets from public APIs (Federal Reserve sources such as NYFED, and related providers), processing several times a week. We're looking for a reliable data engineer to own routine monitoring and upkeep — confirming data pulls through correctly, catching breaks early, and keeping the pipeline healthy. This is a recurring part-time engagement with room for additional ad-hoc project work. Core Responsibilities (Monthly Retainer) Twice-weekly data audits at fixed times: Thursday 4:30 PM ET and Friday 4:30 PM ET, verifying that scheduled data pulls completed and landed correctly. Report status after each audit ("database is good to go" or a flagged issue with detail). Handle small fixes inline as part of the audit (guideline: fixes under ~30 minutes are included; larger fixes are quoted and billed hourly with approval first). Respond to other issues raised between audits within 24 hours. Compensation: $200–300/month for the above, depending on experience. Additional Work (Hourly) Quarterly call report and FRY9-C import. Ad-hoc data integrations and larger fixes surfaced by audits. Billed hourly at a rate agreed in your bid. Tooling / Automation You're welcome to use Claude Code (or similar) to automate the audit and monitoring workflow — this is encouraged if it lets you work efficiently and bid competitively. If you set up automation, that setup time can be billed hourly up to a pre-agreed cap tied to your retainer bid. Day-to-day audits performed via your automation remain covered by the flat retainer. Note: you remain responsible for reviewing and implementing any changes and for confirming pipeline health — automation assists, it doesn't own accountability. What We're Looking For Solid general data engineering skills and a willingness to learn our specific stack (Azure SQL, scheduled ingestion scripts). Comfort diagnosing API/schema-drift issues (e.g. when a provider changes a payload format). Reliability at the scheduled audit times and responsiveness to issues. Financial-data familiarity (FRY9-C, regulatory reporting) is a plus but not required. To Apply Please include: your hourly rate, your monthly retainer bid within the $200–300 range, any relevant data-pipeline/Azure experience, and whether you intend to use automation tooling (and your rough setup estimate).