Senior Data Analyst

Job Title Senior Data Analyst Location McLean, VA Local candidates only – no relocation Schedule Onsite Type W2 Contract Only Long-term contract (~19 months, possible direct opportunities) Pay Rate $55–65/Hr W2 Summary We are seeking a Senior Data Analyst to support advanced transaction data analysis and merchant attribution efforts. This role focuses on analyzing large volumes of raw card transaction data, developing complex pattern-matching logic, and ensuring high-precision merchant mapping through data-driven rule creation and validation. The ideal candidate is highly analytical, detail-oriented, and experienced in SQL-based analysis and unstructured data parsing. Key Responsibilities • Analyze raw card transaction data to identify transaction patterns, noise, and merchant-specific identifiers across eligible merchants • Develop and maintain complex Regex patterns and rule-based logic to accurately map unstructured transaction strings to merchant entities • Use SQL to monitor transaction volumes and performance metrics, identifying anomalies that indicate changes in merchant naming conventions or logic failures • Perform false-positive impact analysis to ensure mapping logic maintains high precision while preserving transaction coverage • Document authoritative mapping rules and pattern logic to ensure transparency, maintainability, and team-wide understanding • Manage quarterly update cycles by analyzing the impact of merchant list changes on existing logic and infrastructure • Establish and execute repeatable QA validation processes using historical datasets prior to production deployment • Identify and escalate data integrity issues or inconsistencies in raw transaction feeds that could drive downstream errors • Conduct root-cause analysis on missing or dropped transactions by querying raw data and refining existing logic as merchant behavior evolves Required Qualifications • Strong experience analyzing large, unstructured datasets • Advanced SQL skills for data querying, validation, and anomaly detection • Hands-on experience writing and maintaining complex Regex logic • Proven ability to perform detailed data quality analysis and root-cause investigation • Strong documentation skills to clearly explain logic, decisions, and outcomes • Ability to manage multiple workstreams and iterative rule updates in a production environment Preferred Qualifications • Experience working with financial or card transaction data • Background in merchant data attribution or transaction normalization • Familiarity with QA validation methodologies for large-scale data environments • Experience supporting long-term, rule-based data platforms in an enterprise setting #INDPRO