Data Architect

Location: US-VA-Quantico

Category: Databases & Data Warehousing

Position Type: Full-Time

Remote: No

Clearance Required: Top Secret

AMERICAN SYSTEMS is an employee‑owned federal government contractor supporting national priority programs through strategic solutions in Information Technology, Test & Evaluation, Program Mission Support, Engineering & Analysis, and Training.

The Data Architect will provide enterprise‑level data architecture, governance, and integration support to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) Digital Business Directorate (DBD). This role is critical to enabling NCIS’s law enforcement, counter terrorism, and counterintelligence missions by designing, implementing, and maintaining secure, scalable, and interoperable data architectures across classified and unclassified environments.

Additionally, the Data Architect will support NCIS’s transition from on‑premises systems to a Department of the Navy‑approved virtual private cloud environment hosted on Microsoft Azure, while ensuring compliance with Department of Defense (DoD).

• Design, implement, and maintain enterprise data architectures that support NCIS investigative, intelligence, and operational missions.
• Develop and manage conceptual, logical, and physical data models to support structured, semi‑structured, and unstructured data.
• Establish and enforce data standards, naming conventions, and interoperability frameworks, including NIEM Open.
• Architect cloud‑native and hybrid data solutions supporting on‑premises and DoD virtual private cloud environments.
• Implement and maintain data governance frameworks, including data stewardship, metadata management, and data quality controls.
• Ensure compliance with CJIS, NIST, FISMA, FedRAMP, Privacy Act, CUI, and DoD/DON data policies.
• Design secure data access controls using least privilege principles, encryption, masking, and data loss prevention mechanisms.
• Support data integration strategies, including data lakes, data warehouses, federation, and real‑time data exchange solutions.
• Maintain an enterprise data catalog to improve data discoverability, transparency, and governance.
• Collaborate with data engineering and analytics teams to ensure architectures support machine learning, analytics, and reporting.
• Optimize data platform performance through indexing, partitioning, query optimization, and scalable cloud architectures.
• Develop and maintain architecture artifacts, diagrams, and technical documentation.
• Support enterprise architecture initiatives and provide technical recommendations to government leadership on Navy, Intelligence Community, and DOJ data standards and security requirements.
• Operate within secure facilities, including Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities (SCIFs), and collaborate closely with government stakeholders, data engineers, data scientists, cybersecurity personnel, and enterprise architects.

• Active Top Secret clearance eligible for SCI access; able to obtain SCI adjudication within six months.
• Minimum 10 years of experience in data architecture, data management, or enterprise data engineering.
• Proven experience designing enterprise‑scale data architectures in regulated or classified environments.
• Experience supporting law enforcement, intelligence, or DoD organizations is highly preferred.
• Hands‑on experience with hybrid cloud and cloud‑native architectures, multiple operating systems, and containerization techniques, preferably in Microsoft Azure.
• Experience integrating data across multiple systems, agencies, and security domains.
• Proficiency with data modeling (conceptual, logical, physical), enterprise data architecture frameworks, data lakes, data warehouses, and hybrid data platforms.
• Knowledge of metadata management, data catalog solutions, data integration, and federation strategies.
• SQL and No
  
  SQL database technologies and performance optimization techniques.
• Data security, encryption, masking, and access controls.
• Familiarity with NIEM, CJIS, NIST, and DoW data standards.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with AWS and Microsoft Azure data services.
• Familiarity with DoW and DON data strategies.
• Experience supporting machine learning and analytics platforms.
• Knowledge of Zero Trust data access principles.
• Experience developing data governance policies and enterprise data standards.
• Strong documentation, briefing, and stakeholder communication skills.

AMERICAN SYSTEMS is committed to pay transparency for its applicants and employee‑owners. The salary range for this position is USD $/Yr. – USD $/Yr. Actual compensation will be determined based on several factors permitted by law. AMERICAN SYSTEMS provides a comprehensive benefits program, including healthcare benefits, paid leave, retirement plans, insurance programs, and education and training assistance.

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