Job Description
Role Overview
We're looking for an Alation Platform Support Engineer to help run and support our enterprise data catalog and governance platform. In this role, you'll be responsible for keeping the Alation platform stable, ensuring metadata flows correctly from various data sources, and helping users get the most value out of the platform.
You'll work closely with data engineers, data stewards, and business teams to troubleshoot issues, improve data discoverability, and maintain overall platform health.
What You'll Be Doing
Platform Support & Operations
Provide day-to-day support for the Alation platform (primarily L2/L3 issues)
Monitor platform health, ingestion jobs, and system performance
Troubleshoot issues related to UI, search, and metadata visibility
Support platform upgrades, patches, and general maintenance
Metadata Ingestion & Data Source Support
Configure and manage connections between Alation and enterprise data sources
Troubleshoot issues with metadata extraction, sampling, and query log ingestion (QLI)
Ensure data catalog content is accurate, up to date, and complete
Work with data teams to onboard new data sources
Integrations & Connectivity
Support integrations with databases, BI tools (like Tableau/Power BI), and file storage systems
Troubleshoot connectivity issues between Alation Agent and cloud (network, firewall, HTTPS)
Work with APIs and connectors to ensure smooth data flow
Authentication & Access Management
Support SSO integrations using LDAP/SAML
Manage user roles, permissions, and access controls
Work with security teams to ensure compliance and secure access
Data Governance & Catalog Support
Help maintain business glossary, data ownership, and metadata enrichment
Support governance workflows and data stewardship activities
Troubleshoot issues related to lineage, policies, and classifications
Search & Metadata Services
Ensure Alation's search functionality is working effectively
Investigate and resolve issues with indexing or missing metadata
Support users in finding and understanding data assets
Incident Handling & Troubleshooting
Respond to platform incidents and outages
Perform root cause analysis and document findings
Work with internal teams and Alation support when needed
Monitoring & Logs
Analyze application and agent logs to identify issues
Monitor ingestion jobs, API calls, and system metrics
Use monitoring tools (Splunk, ELK, etc.) where applicable
What We're Looking For
Must-Have Skills
Hands-on experience with Alation Data Catalog (or similar tools)
Strong understanding of metadata management and data lineage concepts
Good SQL skills (for validation and troubleshooting)
Experience with REST APIs and JSON
Familiarity with JDBC/ODBC connections
Understanding of SSO (LDAP/SAML)
Nice to Have
Experience With Other Data Governance Tools (Collibra, Informatica, Etc.)
Basic scripting (Python or Shell)
Exposure to cloud platforms (AWS/Azure)
Familiarity with BI tools like Tableau or Power BI
