Data Engineer Security Clearance

Position: Data Engineer with Security Clearance
Data Engineer

Location:

Chantilly, VA

Work Schedule:

Full-Time, Onsite

Clearance Required:

Active TS/SCI with Full Scope Polygraph (FSP)

Employment Type:

W-2

Position Overview We are seeking a talented and mission-focused Data Engineer to join our growing team supporting cutting-edge intelligence community initiatives in Chantilly, VA.

This role offers the opportunity to work with large-scale datasets and contribute to the development of a custom enterprise platform supporting critical mission objectives. The selected candidate will play a key role in designing, building, and optimizing scalable data pipelines and architectures that support analytics, machine learning, and enterprise data integration efforts. This position is funded for an initial 9-12 month period aligned with defined mission deliverables and system development timelines, with all development performed onsite at the customer location.

Key Responsibilities Data Engineering & Pipeline Development
* Design, develop, and maintain ETL/ELT pipelines for both batch and real-time data processing using Python and SQL.
* Integrate data from a variety of structured and unstructured sources, including databases, APIs, streaming platforms, PDFs, and Microsoft Office files.
* Build scalable and maintainable data architectures to support analytics and machine learning workloads.
* Optimize data processing workflows and queries for performance, scalability, and cost efficiency within AWS environments.
* Support future pipeline scalability through exposure to PySpark and other distributed data processing frameworks.
* Develop and maintain web scraping and data ingestion workflows to collect and process open-source data.
* Transform collected information into structured datasets and visualizations for stakeholder analysis and decision-making. Data Management & Optimization
* Collect, clean, validate, and manage large volumes of structured and unstructured data.
* Implement data quality controls, validation procedures, and version management practices.
* Design and optimize data storage solutions utilizing AWS S3 for raw, intermediate, and production datasets.
* Implement data governance best practices including documentation, cataloging, lineage tracking, and security controls.
* Ensure compliance with customer and security requirements for data management and handling. Collaboration & Machine Learning Support
* Partner closely with Data Scientists, Analysts, and Engineering teams to understand business and mission requirements.
* Prepare clean, structured, and feature-ready datasets for analytics and machine learning applications.
* Support feature engineering, aggregation, and large-scale data transformations.
* Assist with deploying machine learning models into production environments while supporting monitoring, versioning, and performance optimization.
* Integrate and consume REST APIs to support data acquisition and application workflows.
* Utilize Docker, Kubernetes, Git, and CI/CD pipelines to support deployment and operational workflows. Documentation & Communication
* Document data pipelines, architectures, schemas, and transformation processes.
* Communicate technical concepts effectively to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
* Participate in code reviews and promote engineering best practices across the team.
* Contribute to continuous improvement efforts related to data engineering, automation, and platform development.

Required Qualifications Experience
* 3-5+ years of professional experience in Data Engineering or a related technical field.
* Experience designing and implementing ETL/ELT pipelines.
* Experience processing and managing large-scale structured and unstructured datasets.
* Experience working in cloud-based data environments. Technical Skills
* Strong proficiency with Python and SQL.
* Experience with PySpark or other distributed processing frameworks (highly desired).
* Experience with Elastic Search/Open Search technologies.
* Experience working within AWS cloud environments.
* Experience supporting Linux-based systems.
* Proficiency with Git for version control and collaborative development.
* Understanding of machine learning workflows and MLOps concepts.
* Experience integrating and consuming REST APIs.
* Familiarity with Docker, Kubernetes, and CI/CD pipelines. Clearance Requirements
* Active TS/SCI with Full Scope Polygraph (FSP) is required.
* U.S. Citizenship required. Professional Skills
* Strong collaboration and communication skills.
* Ability to communicate complex technical concepts to non-technical audiences.
* Detail-oriented with a strong commitment to data quality and integrity.
* Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced mission environment.
* Strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities. Desired Qualifications
* Hands-on experience with graph databases.
* Experience modeling, querying, and optimizing Neo4j databases.
* Experience supporting advanced analytics, knowledge graphs, or entity…