Senior Data Platform Engineer Security Clearance

Position: Senior Data Platform Engineer with Security Clearance
For more than a decade, Karthik Consulting has been a reliable and trusted advisor to our Government customers, providing independent and unbiased recommendations and solutions to mitigate risk and help solve IT issues. We bring the innovation, passion, and agility of the commercial sector to meet the unique challenges of this competitive space. Karthik Consulting is seeking Senior Data Platform Engineer with the below skillset.

Senior Data Platform Engineer
Fulltime with Karthik Consulting

Location:

National Capital Region, Colorado Springs or Denver surrounding areas
Clearance:
Active TOP SECRET / SCI (Polygraph may be required) Program Description POSITION SUMMARY The Senior Data Platform Engineer serves as the foundational systems engineering and modernization engine for the cloud-hosting and data-sharing infrastructure across the Air Force Intelligence Community (AF IC) Information Environment. Operating directly at the Headquarters Air Force (HAF) staff level, this role evaluates technical feasibility, designs secure target-state data architectures, and aligns commercial classified cloud platforms with evolving mission capabilities.

The position is responsible for orchestrating robust Dev Sec Ops  automation frameworks and MLOps pipeline considerations to securely integrate multi-cloud hosting solutions. By interconnecting elastic virtualized compute, storage, and software-defined network environments, this role provides the resilient digital backbone necessary to test, deploy, and scale advanced data analytics tools globally at the speed of relevance. PROGRAM CONTEXT PROGRAM DESCRIPTION This role supports the Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) Digital Infrastructure Transformation.

The mission focuses on modernizing, designing, and sustaining an integrated digital environment that transitions from historical hardware-based industrial constraints to software-defined digital processes. This modern enterprise architecture interconnects physical and virtual technologies across Data and Analytics, Sense-Making, Automation, Augmentation, and Artificial Intelligence (AAA), Hybrid/Multi-Cloud environments, Networks, and Zero Trust security frameworks to safely deliver intelligence to warfighters at the speed of relevance.

PROGRAM SCOPE
The role operates within the operational oversight of the AF IC Chief Information Officer (CIO), Chief Data Officer (CDO), IT Risk Management Framework Authorizing Official (AO), and Chief Technology Officer (CTO). The work spans the entire spectrum of Air Force ISR Information Environment operations, encompassing infrastructure layer integration, multi-cloud optimization, platform-level security configuration, and automated data sharing across secure NIPR, SIPR, and JWICS networks.
 

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES Data Sharing Platform & Infrastructure Design

• Lead the evaluation of current AF IC Information Environment infrastructure capabilities against operational requirements to identify modernization and cost-efficiency opportunities.

• Design conceptual and logical target-state architectures for high-capacity data integration, secure multi-domain data sharing, and full-lifecycle data management.

• Provide specialized engineering support to bring together, configure, and interconnect physical and virtual technologies across the data, application, compute, and storage layers.

• Conduct exhaustive technical feasibility analyses on emerging software-defined capabilities and modern commercial tools to determine operational risk profiles.

• Create model-based systems engineering graphical models, technical implementation recommendations, and formal platform architecture reports for HAF C-suite deliberation. Cloud Alignment & Multi-Cloud Strategy

• Lead the development of best-in-class cloud strategies to build innovative, multi-cloud environments that maintain sustainable growth.

• Align platform engineering activities with the Intelligence Community, Federal Cloud Smart Strategy, and modern commercial best practices.

• Evaluate historical Air Force ISR cloud transition plans and propose technical modifications to ensure streamlined, transparent, and…