Harold Okafor
Georgetown,TX
Summary
Dynamic data engineering leader with a proven track record at SmileDoctors, driving digital transformation and cloud optimization. Expert in Azure and Snowflake, I architected high-performance data infrastructures, enabling real-time analytics and empowering teams. Renowned for fostering collaboration and innovation, I deliver strategic data solutions that enhance decision-making and business outcomes.
Overview
16
16
years of professional experience
Work History
Lead Data Engineering & Architecture
SmileDoctors
Dallas, TX
01.2021 - Current
- Automated daily data refresh process with Airflow for integration into clinical reporting dashboards.
- Led development of scalable insurance claims system, optimizing data processing for claims and billing records.
- Utilized Scala and Python Spark for complex joins across financial datasets, ensuring data quality through Delta Lake storage.
Senior Data Engineer
LearningMate
Austin, TX
05.2017 - 01.2021
- Collaborated with over 12 state education agencies to establish reporting compliance integrations.
- Developed ETL design, specification, and mapping documents to implement CEDS, SIF, and EdFi Standards.
- Analyzed business requirements and source system behaviors for data integration.
- Designed and developed pipelines to ingest data from APIs, on-premises databases, and cloud storage.
- Built a rules engine for validating district submissions through a comprehensive validation portal.
- Executed database tuning methodologies to enhance performance and reduce response times.
- Conducted unit testing, system integration testing, and QA/UAT for new platform functionalities.
- Prepared deployment documentation and provided on-call support for production batch processes.
Business Intelligence Developer
California Creative Solutions
Poway, CA
06.2014 - 04.2017
- Developed cloud data warehouse in AWS RDS utilizing Data Vault methodology for large datasets.
- Configured Datamart to enhance analysis and visualization layer efficiency.
- Implemented data analysis tools and testing frameworks, reducing data processing errors significantly.
- Formulated strategic business intelligence roadmap enforcing data governance and PII-masking policies.
- Managed analytical dashboards in SSRS, Tableau, and Power BI while ensuring FERPA compliance.
- Analyzed business requirements to create mapping specifications from data model.
- Provided production support to address performance issues and enhance existing code.
- Executed unit testing by developing test conditions, creating test data, and documenting results.
Database Developer
Pearson Inc
Dallas, TX
01.2010 - 03.2014
- Created enterprise data warehouse in Snowflake, integrating SQL Server, APIs, Azure Blobs, and AWS S3.
Ensured data consistency by maintaining transactional replication across production databases.
Developed Power BI dashboards to deliver analytics on company-wide metrics.
Education
Master of Science - Computer Information Systems
University of Central Missouri
Warrensburg, MO04.2018
Skills
- Data engineering and architecture
- Data lake and vault design
- Dimensional modeling
- Spark programming
- ETL/ELT processes
- Data strategy and delivery
- Change management
- Cloud cost optimization
- Data warehousing solutions
- Digital transformation initiatives
- Analytics strategy and execution
- P&L oversight
- Vendor and MSP management
- High-performance team building
- Azure cloud services
- Microsoft Fabric integration
- Azure Synapse analytics
- Snowflake platform expertise
- Databricks proficiency
- Python programming
- Apache Airflow orchestration
- dbt development
- Power BI visualization
- Tableau analytics
Major Accomplishments
- Led a successful enterprise cloud migration initiative, including tool selection, POC execution, ELT architecture design, and transition from on-premise to cloud platforms.
- Oversaw the development of a modern cloud-based data and reporting platform adopted by over 2,000 users, including the executive leadership team, doctors and field team members.
- Managed a $30M P&L portfolio, ensuring strategic alignment, operational efficiency, and high-impact delivery across initiatives.
- Reduced development time by 50% through the implementation of ELT automation and advanced error-handling frameworks, significantly improving delivery velocity by migrating an 1800+ complex pipeline process from Wherescape to an optimized Snowflake Streams implementation.
- Directed five Agile sprint teams, achieving a 4x increase in delivery throughput and accelerating feature deployment for business stakeholders.
- Drove a strategic technical debt remediation program, lowering long-term operational costs and enhancing system reliability and scalability.
- Consolidated multiple ETL tools and standardized data integration processes, streamlining operations and improving data pipeline efficiency.
Cloud Technologies
- Azure Cloud
- Microsoft Fabric
- Azure Synapse Analytics
- Snowflake
- Databricks
- AWS Glue
- Apache Airflow
- Dbt
- Power BI/Tableau
Timeline
Lead Data Engineering & Architecture
SmileDoctors
01.2021 - Current
Senior Data Engineer
LearningMate
05.2017 - 01.2021
Business Intelligence Developer
California Creative Solutions
06.2014 - 04.2017
Database Developer
Pearson Inc
01.2010 - 03.2014
Master of Science - Computer Information Systems
University of Central Missouri